GR ACTION #2/98: MARCH 1998

Clean Up Toxic Ash / Haiti

"We are nobody's outhouse. If they have so many acres of land in the United States, why should they dump their garbage on other people?"
-- Michael King, Executive Director
Caribbean Conservation Association

Ten years ago, Greenpeace focused the world's attention on the odyssey of the Khian Sea, a ship that roamed the ports of four continents trying to unload its cargo of toxic ash from the city of Philadelphia. It docked briefly at Haiti's Gonaives Harbor and dumped 4,000 tons of dioxin- and furan-contaminated waste on the beach before Haitian authorities could send it packing. Turned away at ports from Panama to Guinea-Bissau, the crew finally dumped 10,000 tons of toxic ash into the ocean.

For ten years Haitian organizations, the Haitian government and Greenpeace have been foiled in all their attempts to get rid of the ash at Gonaives. Some of it is still on the beach; some has been moved inland to an unlined, uncovered, unmarked bunker. Heavy metals (lead, cadmium and others) have already contaminated adjoining soil, according to a Greenpeace study.

Now we have a chance to bring this sorry story to an end - thanks to, of all places, the City of New York! Two years ago, the City created a Trade Waste Commission to weed out organized crime in the garbage industry. The Commission scrutinizes companies that apply for licenses to haul the city's trash. The Commission discovered that the CEO of a current applicant, Eastern Environmental Services, is also principal officer of the company that contracted the Khian Sea to dump Philadelphia's toxic waste. The Commission decided to grant Eastern the license, but under 2 conditions: the company must provide landfill space for the 4,000 tons of ash plus 1,000 tons of contaminated soil from Haiti, and pay $100,000 toward the costs of shipping it back to the US.

Eastern Environmental Services agreed to these conditions - in anticipation of a lucrative license. The trouble is, it's not enough money to do the job. A feasibility study carried out by Greater Caribbean Dredging estimates that it will cost $300,000 to excavate, pack and barge the trash back to the US; plus there's the additional cost of transportation from Philadelphia's port to one of Eastern's landfills. The Haitian government has committed $50,000 to the clean-up, and Greenpeace offers technical assistance to safeguard worker safety during the project.

So - we're just $200,000 short of closing the book on this shameful saga. Who should pay the $200,000? Why not the City of Philadelphia? It's their trash, and the city hasn't paid a cent for it (operators of the Khian Sea never collected on their $630,000 contract for disposal of the ash.) But mayor Ed Rendell says it's not Philadelphia's problem. In January, Rendell rejected Haitian organizations' pleas to help pay for the clean-up. Last year the city reportedly had a budget surplus of $130 million.

Another possibility is the U.S. government, represented in Haiti by the Agency for International Development. The State Department has gone as far as directing the U.S. Embassy in Port au Prince to provide advice and logistical assistance for the clean-up - but no cash.

Popular protests have persuaded Italy to retrieve toxic waste from Lebanon and Nigeria; Germany from Albania and Romania; South Korea from China. It's time to turn the pressure on the U.S.

Haitian organizations and Greenpeace ask Global Response members to join "Project Return to Sender."

Background:

Poison Ships -- "The Khian Sea...was but one ship in a seeming armada of toxic vessels unleashed by the developed world in the late 1980s. People from Philadelphia to Djibouti were outraged by the stories of these "poison ships" - freighters laden with hazardous waste, crisscrossing the Caribbean Sea and the Atlantic and Indian oceans looking for a home�..Like a modern Flying Dutchman, that legendary ghost ship condemned to sail forever without making port, the toxic ships came to represent better than any other symbol the growing global crisis in hazardous waste�.The world press branded them �ghost ships,'�'ships of fools,' �leper ships,' �gypsy vessels,' and �vais-seaux du poison.' International outcasts, the ships changed crews and captains, owners and flags, in a futile attempt to outwit increasingly irate citizens and public officials around the world." -- Center for Investigative Reporting and Bill Moyers, Global Dumping Ground, 1990.

The Basel Convention - The scandal of the poison ships led to the negotiation of a landmark international environmental treaty, the Basel Convention, which prohibits the export of toxic waste from the industrialized countries to the rest of the world. The United States is the only industrialized country that has not ratified the Convention. Over 100 nations are parties to the treaty.

Requested Action:

Please write polite letters to the Mayor of Philadelphia and to the Administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development (AID). Urge each of them to:

• Pay the $200,000 needed to safely clean up the dump site in Haiti and transport the toxic ash to a Pennsylvania landfill;

• Commit these funds before the May expiration date for the New York City - Eastern Environmental Services agreement;

• Honor the spirit of the Basel Convention.

  Send letters to:
  Hon. Ed Rendell, Mayor
  City of Philadelphia
  City Hall, Room 202
  Philadelphia PA 19102

  Send a copy of your letter to:
  Jane Eisner, Editor
  Editorial Page
  Philadelphia Inquirer
  400 N. Broad St.
  Philadelphia, PA 19101
  FAX: 215/854-5884

  Also write to:
  J. Brian Attwood, Administrator
  U.S. Agency for International Development
  1300 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
  Washington, DC 20523-4810
  FAX : 202/216-3524

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  This Global Response Action was issued in support of and with information provided by the Haitian Collective for the Protection of the Environment and Alternative Development (COHPEDA) and Greenpeace. For more information: Kenny Bruno, Greenpeace, Tel. 212/966-4386. Website: www.greenpeace.org

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  GLOBAL RESPONSE is an international letter-writing network of environmental activists. In partnership with indigenous, environmentalist and peace and justice organizations around the world, GLOBAL RESPONSE develops Actions that describe specific, urgent threats to the environment; each Action asks members to write personal letters to individuals in the corporations, governments or international organizations that have the power and responsibility to take corrective action. GR also issues Young Environmentalists' Actions and Eco-Club Actions designed to educate and motivate elementary and high school students to practice earth stewardship.

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