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ACTIVISTS CALL HALT TO US PCB WASTE SHIPMENTS PENDING SAFER DISPOSAL POLICY

Basel Action Network Press Release

SEATTLE, USA, 5 April 2000 -- The Basel Action Network (BAN), a Seattle based international coalition of toxic activists that works to end toxic trade, demanded today that 14 containers of PCB (polychlorinated biphenols) contaminated waste arriving today in the port of Seattle from US military bases in Japan not be unloaded in the United States at this time. The waste was originally destined for Canada but due to the lack of proper paperwork and permits for import, the port of Vancouver has announced that it will not be allowed for import. Frantic efforts by the Defense Department are now underway to get permission to off-load the waste in Seattle.

"The Defense Department is out of control," said Dave Batker of Basel Action Network (BAN) in Seattle. "They should not be trying to sneak this waste into Canada and when that fails, dumping it here in Seattle so that it can be loaded onto trucks and shipped off to be burned in an incinerator in Louisiana or Texas, contaminating a poor community there. Its time to act responsibly," he said.

BAN and other environmentalists claim that the Defense Department has an inventory of 1,780 tons of PCBs abroad and that this 14 container shipment is just the "tip of the toxic iceberg." They are asking that the Defense Department and the Environmental Protection Agency stop looking for the "cheap and dirty" way out of their toxic problems, and utilize commercially available mobile destruction technologies that do not produce dangerous by-products of incineration - dioxins and furans. Dioxins and furans are two of the most deadly classes of chemical compounds known and are produced when toxic wastes such as PCBs are incinerated. These two chemicals are targeted for global phase-out under a newly negotiated United Nations treaty.

While BAN believes that this particular waste is a US waste and should therefore not be considered as an import into the USA and should therefore not legally fall under a USA PCB waste import ban, they nevertheless believe that it is preferable to treat such waste onsite. In this case they assert that the waste should be returned to Japan where it can be de-toxified in the Japanese military base by mobile units so long as it is agreeable to the Japanese people.

"This export for burning scheme is doubly wrong," said Jim Puckett of BAN from Geneva where he is attending a conference of the Basel Convention which regulates the international trade in toxic wastes. "Not only has the Department of Defense failed to explore the option of onsite destruction to avoid dangerous transport of wastes, but they hope to burn this material in North American communities rather than use proven safer, chemical methods for PCB destruction simply to save money." he said.

For more information on this shipment and the international trade in toxic waste: Visit the Basel Action Network website at: www.ban.org (see Toxic Trade News) Section.

Contact: Dave Batker in Seattle at: 1-253-846-7436

FAIR USE NOTICE. This document contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. The Basel Action Network is making this article available in our efforts to advance understanding of ecological sustainability and environmental justice issues. We believe that this constitutes a `fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond `fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.
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