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TOXIC WASTE THAT CAUSED RIOTING IN CAMBODIA MIGHT BE SENT TO IDAHO

Associated Press

SEATTLE, USA, 10 June 1999 -- Toxic waste from Taiwan that has been blamed for several deaths and rioting in Cambodia might be shipped through Puget Sound for processing and disposal in Idaho. Texas or Nevada also could become the final resting place for more than 4,530 metic tons (5,000 U.S. tons) of mercury-laden by products from the manufacture of polyvinyl chlorine pipe by [Formosa Plastics Group], Environmental Protection Agency officials say. That's enough to fill 20,000 208-liter (55-gallon) drums, which would be hauled in 350 5-meter (20-foot) cargo containers from dockside in Seattle or Tacoma to Envirosafe Services in Grand View, Idaho, for treatment and burial in a former Titan missile site 55 kilometers (35 miles) south of Boise.

Kevin Wong, a senior environmental scientist with the EPA, said the agency has yet to decide where the waste would be shipped. He said there was also the possibility the waste would be shipped to a disposal site somewhere in Europe.

He said the sites in the United States under consideration, beside Idaho, are administered by US Ecology in Beatty, Nevada, and by Waste Control Specialists in Andrew, Texas.

He said all three companies have permits that allow them to accept hazardous wastes.

A dump in Imperial County, California, was dropped from consideration this spring after the operator, Safety-Kleene Inc., learned that mercury levels in the waste were higher than previously believed.

Thousands of people fled the Cambodian port of Sihanoukville in December following word that the material had been dumped there. Its discovery and the subsequent death of a dock worker who handled it sparked hysteria and rioting. Four people were killed in traffic accidents when panicked residents fled. Another person who rummaged through the waste also died.

EPA officials said the World Health Organization found no mercury contamination in villagers around Sihanoukville.

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