First of all, are you one of the employees living and working in this community, or are you in Girard? Next, how is dumping mercury into the Savannah river exceeding expectations?
I have read in your paper a few letters and guest columns saying how bad a citizen Olin Corp. has been or is being to this community. As an Olin employee, I would like to try to set the record straight.
First, Olin continues to meet or do better than environmental regulations require.
Second, Olin is a good corporate citizen of this community. All of the workers take great pride in having one of the best safety records in our industry. Our employees live and rear families here. Many of us volunteer time in community activities, maybe even coaching your children in recreational sports. We participate in the United Way, the Children's Miracle Network and many other organizations.
Everyone knows how the economy is now. Yet, there is proposed government legislation that will require Olin to convert or shut down mercury-cell technology plants within two years. How would you feel if the government were to tell your employer that, no matter what you do, in two years you have to shut down or start doing business a totally different way?
Olin has said that the timing of a conversion is not right for the Augusta plant at this time because of the economy, and the fact that the Augusta plant continues to meet or do better than every emission standard the government sets.
Olin has lived up to its responsibilities in this community. The least that can be done for it is to give it enough time to make a smooth changeover to a new operation.
Rick Lamie, Girard, Ga.
Comments
First of all, are you one of the employees living and working in this community, or are you in Girard? Next, how is dumping mercury into the Savannah river exceeding expectations?
How are a corporation's actions justified if they benefit a small group of individuals and harm the wider community?
Because they produce a product that is vital to manufacturing many things consumers use/require on a daily basis. The same as electricity plants, mafhoom?
Also you need to realize for every job lost it affects 4 other working people. Do you really want to send a message to Augusta Industrial employers that you aren't willing to work with them?
The community certainly sympathizes with every job lost in the area. And we hope the employees at Olin can understand the concerns for environment and public health come first.
If they are meeting all govrernment expectations, why do they need to do anything? Was the old rules not tight enough? I really symphasize with the writer, but I wonder why they havent been using the latest technology.
Do y'all understand that they are just asking for a little extra time to upgrade their technology? They are not seeking a permanent exemption. Yeah, I'm sure if they could do it tomorrow for free, they would have done it yesterday. In the meantime they are doing a great job of staying within compliance with existing regulations.
It is all about money. Olin wants money, Rick wants money and the government wants power and money. And have you noticed that the "government deadlines" are always TEN YEARS, for everything. Is that a magic number. Oh, a president's term is EIGHT YEARS so he is gone before a conclusion. And the next president declares another TEN YEARS. Changes could have been made before now if it had been economically beneficial to Olin. Welcome to the World of Socialist California. Visible plume of smoke, shut it down. Effluent leaving property, shut it down. Neighbors complain, shut it down.
Actually Jerry, they could have done it well before yesterday. They changed all the other plants over well before now. They shifted a plant in Niagra Falls, NY before 1990. They switched their plant in McIntosh, AL by 1982. The sad thing is at that area they still have mrecury in their water this far down the road. So it is not something you want to sit on your hands about. I think Olin is just buying time until they can shut down the Augusta plant and open a new one elsewhere. So not only are the polluting, but they are gonna use us then leave us.
Proof of what southern? That they did change at other plants? Those are facts. You can easily find them. That alone is proof that they could have changed Augusta's plant years ago as well.
No one is saying Corporations are all bad Southern. The problem with people like you is you are too simplistic. Maybe your mind is just not intelligent enough to wrap itself around issues realistically. Everything is no black or white. There are many bad things that overall good corporations have done throughout history and some have done so many bad things or such majorly bad things, that yes, they can be considered bad corporations. I am not saying Olin is one of the bad corporations, but some of what they are doing with stalling this change over is bad. I also think if you believe they are not planning an entirely new plant to be built elsewhere then them suddenly shutting down in Augusta once it is open is naive.
Everyone should go to http://takeaction.oceana.org/t/7445/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=11 and write your congressmen to pass H.R. 2190: Mercury Pollution Reduction Act
In 2006 Olin spent $11 million to double the plant's output using the same old mercury-cell technology. They could close it down now and it would generate hundreds of jobs for the cleanup for the next 20 years. There is already a push to store thousands of pounds of mercury at SRS. The taxpayers will end up paying to get rid of the mercury. I guess we can just allow Olin to continue then we wont have to pay to store it. We can just let them continue to send it down the river.
I say put it in the bathtub of everyone that supports their dawdling around.
Encapsulate it like the Canadians.....you guys would rather [filtered word] and moan...
Fed, you have no clue. $11 million to double capacity on the chlorine plant?!? Please don't throw out numbers like that unless you have some sort of knowledge or experience that would produce at least a believable fabrication. Did you make those numbers up as you wrote your comment?
The Augusta Chronicle ©2012. All Rights Reserved.
