Greenpeace USA

Environmental groups release unpublished accident scenario reports

At the Dow Chemical annual shareholders meeting, representatives of survivors and support organizations demanded Dow CEO, Michael Parker, clean up the contamination, and compensate the victims for the ongoing medical and economic hardships caused by the gas disaster in Union Carbide's pesticide factory in Bhopal, India, in 1984.

Greenpeace sent a letter to the Indian Ambassador to the United States, expressing outrage over the Indian police's excessive use of force on peaceful individuals, including four American citizens, in Bhopal, India.

In a major step forward, Dow Chemical in India, accepted contaminated soil, water and 4,000 brooms from more than 200 Bhopal gas affected survivors and their international supporters on the eve of the 18th anniversary of the Union Carbide disaster.

In a letter sent to Dow Chemical's CEO, Michael Parker and board Chair, William Stavropoulos, a group of investors urged Dow Chemical to take responsibility for the toxic gas leak in Bhopal, India that killed thousands of people.

At midday today, Greenpeace and survivors of the world's worst industrial disaster in Bhopal, India, started returning toxic waste collected from the disaster scene to its rightful owner, Dow Chemical.

Following a four and a half hour protest at Dow Chemical's Texas headquarters, 12 activists representing the International Campaign for Justice in Bhopal were arrested by Houston Police.

Twenty years after the Bhopal tragedy, the survivors and people of Bhopal are amazed and appalled we are still dealing with the same problem the world over," commented Bhopal survivors Rashida Bee and Champa Devi Shukla. "America must recognize that thousands of Bhopals are waiting to happen within its borders, and should take steps to ensure that a similar disaster does not happen here.

Greenpeace and the Working Group on Community Right to Know (CRTK) released today, previously unpublished catastrophic chemical accident scenarios prepared by 50 chemical companies in Louisiana. After the chemical company lobbied Congress in 1999 to restrict public release of these accident scenarios, the information has not been readily available until today. The company data shows that more than a million people are at risk from only one worst-case scenario chemical accident.

Greenpeace activists around the world held public demonstrations today with AACCTT, Bhopal (a coalition of survivors' groups), calling on the Dow Chemical Co. to take responsibility for the toxic legacy in Bhopal and to do what's needed to prevent a Bhopal-type disaster from happening again. Greenpeace unveiled maps of Midland and selected chemical plants across the U.S., showing what would happen if there were major chemical leaks at these plants from terrorist attacks or accidents.