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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE –
February 27, 2006
Glynn Environmental Coalition
P. O. Box 2443
Brunswick, Georgia 31521-2443
Tel. (912) 466-0934
Email:
gec@darientel.net
CONTACT: Daniel Parshley, Robert
Randall
GIBBS JOINS LOCAL CITIZENS IN
PROTEST
OF HERCULES POLLUTION |
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Fifteen people gathered outside of the Hercules
Plant in Brunswick Saturday morning to call for an end to "foot-dragging"
and immediate clean-up of the 39 toxic sites on its property. Holding signs
saying "Save Our Children" and "Clean Air 4 Kids", they were joined by
Lois Gibbs, a nationally
known environmental activist who became famous for getting her Love Canal,
NY, neighborhood relocated from a chemical dump site. Ms. Gibbs (7th from
left in picture), founder and Executive Director of the national Center For
Health, Environment, and Justice (CHEJ), stated, “Our communities and our
children deserve better treatment than continuing to be human guinea pigs
for chemical experimentation. The data is in. We know this stuff harms and
kills. |
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There is no excuse for any company not to clean up whatever chemical messes
it has created.” She encouraged local people to organize politically to get
the Plant cleaned up. "Put pressure on your elected officials to do what
they are supposed to do," she said.
In
1987 the Georgia Environmental Protection Division ordered Hercules to
investigate the extent of its toxic problems as a first step toward
assessing the risk to human health and the environment – a necessary
precursor to developing plans for cleanup or containment of those risks.
After 18 years, Hercules has not yet completed this investigation.
The event was
organized by the Glynn Environmental Coalition, a local nonprofit
organization which works for a clean environment and healthy community for
coastal Georgia. “Other
companies have cleaned up when called upon to do so, but Hercules is simply
foot-dragging,” states Daniel Parshley, GEC’s Project Manager. “They know
that if they stall forever on the first step, they’ll never have to do any
cleaning up. Meanwhile, their mess stays in the middle of our community.
The health of our children is more important then Hercules' profit,”
asserted Parshley.
That
“mess” includes residue from the manufacture of the pesticide toxaphene.
Although manufacture of toxaphene ended in 1980, Hercules has still not
cleaned up. Toxaphene residue is suspected to be a source of continuing
releases into Terry and Dupree Creeks, one of Glynn County’s four Superfund
sites. Another Superfund Site, the 009 landfill site along Spur 40, is also
a toxaphene site created by Hercules.
Bill
Owens, GEC President, put it bluntly: “Hercules claims it is a good
neighbor, but good neighbors don’t behave like this. Until Hercules moves
ahead with cleaning up its mess, it is a
bad neighbor.
And this community needs to do whatever it takes to get this matter finally
resolved and get this poison away from our families. The GEC will learn
what we can from Ms. Gibbs and use that knowledge to clean up our town.”
Ms. Gibbs conducted an afternoon
leadership training at Coastal Georgia Community College, attended by
representatives from several environmental organizations in coastal
Georgia. Saturday evening she spoke at the College on lessons which could
be learned from her Love Canal experiences.
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P. O. Box 2443