For three hours this morning, the activists blocked the entrance
to the EPA headquarters. They were locked inside a school bus,
impaled by a mock incinerator smoke stack. A camera hidden inside
the bus provides footage of police entering to remove the activists
from their locked positions. They are now in custody, but will be
released shortly.
Today’s protest focused on the EPA’s refusal to shut down the
WTI hazardous waste incinerator in East Liverpool, Ohio. The
incinerator is located just 400 yards from the town’s elementary
school. On Friday, an independent EPA Ombudsman’s report
recommended that the WTI be forced to stop operations immediately.
But the EPA has made no move to shut down the plant.
The activists and protestors also singled out Vice President
Gore who has not delivered on promises to block operation of
WTI.
This afternoon’s satellite feed will include interviews with
Greenpeace toxics specialist Rick Hind and East Liverpool resident
Terri Swearingen who was among the activists arrested today.
Meanwhile in East Liverpool, officials at the WTI incinerator
are reporting a fire at the facility this morning around 7:30 a.m.
Greenpeace is calling for a prompt investigation. Altogether there
have been over 130 violations of WTI’s operating permit. EPA has
deemed the facility a “significant non-complier.”
