Some excerpts from another article in the Charleston paper.
S.C. has worst toxic waste climb
Thursday, December 4, 1997
By LYNNE LANGLEY
Of The Post and Courier staff
Toxic waste generated by South Carolina industries kept
climbing during the
past five years while the weight nationwide leveled off,
according to a report
issued Wednesday by the U.S. Public Interest Research Group.
South Carolina ranked worst in the country, having the
highest percentage
increase in toxic waste generated in recent years. Waste in
the state was up a
projected 223.7 million pounds.
When also considering progress made by industries to
reduce waste, the
state was ninth worst.
The total toxic waste generated by South Carolina
industries rose an
estimated 40 percent in the past three years.
(snip)
"People think of the South as pristine with a great
climate and open space,"
said Robert Pregulman, Southern field organizer for PIRG in
Atlanta. "It's a dirty
little secret that industry is moving here and causing a lot
of toxic waste."
S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control
officials had not seen
the PIRG report Wednesday and could not comment, said DHEC
spokesman
Thom Berry.
South Carolina produced far more toxic waste than some
others that
generally are considered industrial states. For example,
South Carolina
generated 577.9 million pounds in 1995 compared to 106.9
million in
Massachusetts and 385.9 million in New Jersey.
And South Carolina released 54.3 million pounds of toxic
materials into the
air, water and land in 1995, more than 2-1/2 times the total
of New Jersey and
Massachusetts combined, Pregulman said.
"Although manufacturing industries across the country
continue to make
progress at reducing toxic emissions to air, land and water,
they are failing to
prevent toxic pollution at the source," the report found.
Seven years ago, Congress passed the Pollution
Prevention Act to reduce the
creation of pollution rather than just treatment of it.
Data for the PIRG report comes from the federally
required Toxic Release
Inventory, said Pregulman.
(snip)
South Carolina projections for 1995 through this year
show major increases
in toxic waste generated in the making of plastic materials
and resins, organic
fibers and hydraulic cement but reductions in industrial
organic chemicals and
miscellaneous electrical equipment.
This state has about 500 manufacturers, and more than
700 chemicals are
tracked in the Toxic Release Inventory, according to Michael
Juras, manager of
DHEC's Community Right-To-Know. The chemicals include such
things as
sulfuric acid, chlorine, benzene, heavy metals, organic
solvents and inorganic
acids, he said.
Juras said he had not seen the PIRG report and could not
discuss it, as did
representatives of local environmental groups.
Toxic waste has decreased in states with strong
right-to-know laws such as
Massachusetts and New Jersey, according to Pregulman. In New
Jersey, he
said, for every $1 spent on additional reporting and
planning, companies save $5
to $8 on pollution reduction. Massachusetts companies saved
$14 million over
seven years - in part by streamlining processes, using fewer
chemicals, and
producing less toxic waste, he said.
South Carolina has no such laws, Juras said.
Last year, the General Assembly adopted an environmental
audit that allows
companies to monitor their own activity and voluntarily
report environmental
violations to DHEC on the condition that the violations will
not be made public.
Some environmental groups opposed that legislation.
The audit information is not part of the Toxic Release
Inventory report, which
EPA receives, Juras said.
South Carolina is the place to be if you are bad enough.
Charles
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