Eight Philadelphia area residents join an eleven member delegation to Haiti March 5 to 17 to learn about Haitians' struggles and to support Haitians who are protesting Philadelphia's toxic incinerator ash dump in Gonaive, Haiti. The waste dump has been denounced by Greenpeace as one of the most blatant and long-standing examples of environmental racism and injustice worldwide. In an ironic situation which provides perhaps a final opportunity to return the ash to the United States and clean up the waste site, New York City's Trade Waste Commission has spurred a project to return the waste while the City of Philadelphia has refused to participate. The citizens are traveling under the auspices of Witness for Peace, a national non-profit organization which works to change U.S. policies that contribute to poverty and oppression in Latin America and the Caribbean and to promote just alternatives. The delegation, led by Robin Hoy of Wrightstown, PA and Ray Torres of Willow Grove, PA, will seek first hand reports through interviews with individuals, community and peasant organizations, church groups, and government representatives, in order to promote a just U.S. response.Ten years ago the cargo ship Khian Sea was contracted by the City of Philadelphia to dispose of some 15,000 tons of Philadelphia's incinerator waste containing the toxic chemicals lead, cadmium, and benzene. Promoted as fertilizer, the waste was approved to be received by Haitian officials. An estimated 4,000 tons was dumped on a beach in Gonaive before the Haitian government learned the true nature of the waste, retracted their approval, and ordered the ship to re-load and leave the country. The ship left in the night without removing the waste, and eventually dumped the remaining 11,000 tons into the Indian Ocean after not finding a country that would accept the waste.
Lab tests have since confirmed migration of heavy metals from the ash into the surrounding Haitian soils, and local Haitians claim ill effects from the waste. Although Philadelphia citizens paid the City of Philadelphia for the disposal of the waste, Philadelphia refused to pay the waste haulers, citing illegal dumping, saving $630,000 in their 1988 budget. Since then Haitians have steadfastly demanded that the waste be returned, and Philadelphia has claimed that it is a matter between Haitians and the private waste hauler. New York City has negotiated an agreement with the responsible waste hauler by which the hauler will pay $100,000 toward returning the waste and will purchase $250,000 worth of landfill space in PA. The agreement expires May 31, 1998. The U.S. Dept. of Environmental Protection (EPA) has sent two missions to Gonaive and the U.S. State Dept. has voiced its support for the project, but says it has no statutory authority to spend money "because no law was broken." Shipment of the waste to the port in Philadelphia is estimated to cost $300,000. The scandal led to the Basel Convention on transnational toxic waste trade, which was approved by the U.S. Administration but has yet to be ratified by Congress. The U.S. is reportedly the only developed country still withholding ratification.
WITNESS FOR PEACE-MIDATLANTIC
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