Todd Carlson, PACE Local 5-857, Ponca City, Okla., facility (580) 762-1112
Richard Abraham, PACE environmental consultant, (713) 299-5659
Joe Drexler, PACE Special Projects Director (615) 594-2074
Taiwanese Owned
Continental Carbon Company’s Federal Operating Permit Challenged by Pace
Union, Ponca Tribe, and Local Landowners
Permit Said to
Contain Mistakes and Conflict with Federal Law
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
- Feb 11, 2004 - - The Paper, Allied-Industrial, Chemical and Energy Workers
International Union (PACE), the Ponca Tribe of Oklahoma, and local landowners
have filed a Petition with the U.S. EPA that seeks to reopen the Title
V federal operating permit for Continental Carbon Company’s Ponca City
facility. The permit was issued by the Oklahoma Department of Environmental
Management (ODEQ) and establishes monitoring requirements and sets limits
on air pollution emissions from the carbon black production facility.
The citizens’ Petition
calls on the EPA to revoke or revise the permit because it fails to assure
protection of the public and compliance with emissions limits and provisions
of the Clean Air Act. The Petition charges the permit:
* Contains language
that contradicts EPA policy by limiting the use of credible evidence to
document violations.
* Fails to include sufficient monitoring to assure compliance with
emissions limits.
* Contains language that violates the federal requirements and renders
the permit practically unenforceable.
* Contains material mistakes and has conditions based on inaccurate
statements.
According to citizens,
the permit includes a Statement of Basis that fails to set forth a legal
and factual basis for the permit or allow for adequate review and analysis
by members of the public. Citizens claim they were not told the full
story on plant’s operations before the permit was issued. "We had
no idea that the plant’s emissions would be bypassing pollution control
devices, said Ponca Tribe member Casey Camp. The Petition identifies
such instances, including one lasting five hours in July of 2001 with emissions
each hour of 10,909 lbs. of carbon monoxide, 973 lbs. of volatile organic
compounds, 130 lbs. of total reduced sulfur, 82 lbs. of hydrogen sulfide,
and 46 lbs. of carbon disulfide.
The company has been
accused of pollution violations that endanger the environment and the health
of people working in the plant and living nearby. The alleged violations
include the failure to comply with federal and state operational and reporting
requirements, and the failure to control carbon black emissions that enter
people's homes and coat their properties. Carbon black dust has been
listed as a cancer-causing chemical by the California EPA and International
Association for Research on Cancer.
On Feb. 3, 2004 the
company and the ODEQ were served with a "Request for Investigation
and Notice of Alleged Violations and Intent to Sue." This "Notice"
is the required first step to a federal lawsuit that citizens can bring
under the Clean Air Act when government agencies fail to take appropriate
enforcement action. Also served were Continental Carbon's Taiwan-based
parent companies, China Synthetic Rubber Corp, CSRC, USA, and Taiwan Cement
Corp.
Representatives of
the citizens groups are seeking a meeting with Governor Brad Henry to discuss
what they see as the problem of Oklahoma’s environmental agency "being
soft on polluters." Citizens claim the history of pollution problems
at Continental Carbon point to the much bigger problem of the Oklahoma’s
unwillingness to enforce environmental protection laws and protect its
citizens.
"We are turning to
the courts and EPA because the State has turned its back on us," said local
property owner, Bud Vance. "We have taken pictures of pollution pouring
from the plant, blackened washrags from our homes, and even black snowballs,
and presented them to State officials. Still, they’ve done nothing
to help us," he said.
In August of 2003,
members of the Ponca Tribe filed a Civil Rights complaint accusing the
DEQ of environmental racism. Members of the Tribe, represented by Enid
Attorney, Michael Bigheart, live closest to the plant and suffer from asthma
and other respiratory problems. "State officials would never tolerate this
same pollution in their own communities," said Bigheart.
All three of Continental
Carbon's plants in the United States have been the subject of environmental
lawsuits. The plant in Phenix City, Alabama is being sued by the
City of Columbus, Georgia and local businesses that claim to suffer from
carbon black air pollution. Continental Carbon’s parent companies
are controlled by the Koo’s Group of Taiwan. The Koo family is one
of Taiwan’s richest and also controls Chinatrust Bank, which operates 18
branches in the United States.
PACE International
Union represents over 300,000 workers in the oil, chemical, pulp and paper,
pharmaceutical, atomic, kaolin, auto parts and corn milling industries.
The Ponca Tribe has over 2,500 members with 1,750 living in the Ponca City
Area. Copies of the Petition are available.
