WINSTON-SALEM, NC - Does North
Carolina really know its neighbor? That’s the question I am asking as part of my efforts to
combat Alcoa’s application for a 50-year license to oversee the Yadkin
Hydroelectric Project. Apart from its
environmental abuses and neglect that it refuses to address, such as the
discovery of carcinogenic PCBs in its reservoir Badin Lake that have been
linked to Alcoa’s own former smelting operations, the company has had a pattern
of corruption and bribery over the last few years that make one question
whether they are the type of corporation that should be doing business with
North Carolina – especially handling one of our biggest water resources for
half a century.
Consider these facts:
- The
executive board of the German company Siemens wants Klaus Kleinfeld, the
current Alcoa CEO, to pay $2.95 million in damages to the company relating
to a multi-billion-euro bribery scandal.
Kleinfeld was chief executive at Siemens from 2005 until assuming
his present leadership at Alcoa. Source:
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/68159994-a8a3-11de-9242-00144feabdc0.html?nclick_check=1
- Erin
Brockovich, the health advocate portrayed by Julia Roberts in the movie of
the same name a few years ago, has championed legal action against Alcoa
on behalf of residents and former inhabitants of Yarloop, Australia,
who allege that the company’s Wagerup refinery has made them sick. Her lawsuit accuses Alcoa of poisoning
the community with toxic emissions.
Source: http://www.news.com.au/perthnow/story/0,21598,25624988-5017963,00.html
- An
Alcoa employee successfully sued the company in U.S. Supreme Court on
charges it did not comply with OSHA regulations prohibiting employees who
had been exposed to asbestos from taking their clothes home to be
laundered. The employee believes
his clothes held the dust he accumulated during his work day led to the
death of his daughter. She died in
2005 from issues related to mesothelioma, a disease caused by asbestos
exposure. Prior to the court’s
decision, an Alcoa spokesman said the case had no merit. Source: http://www.cityviewmag.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=370:alcoa-asbestos-oct-09&catid=85:features&Itemid=660
- After
cleanup had been stalled for a decade, Washington Gov. Chris Gregoire
ordered the state Ecology Department to speed up negotiations with Alcoa
to remove more than 5,000 cubic yards of
PCB-tainted sediment from the Columbia River and its shoreline at an old Alcoa
smelter site in Vancouver,
Wash. To date, Alcoa has spent about $42
million cleaning up the site, including $34 million to clean up PCBs. Source: http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/392725_cleanup18.html
- Alcoa received an exemption from state
environmental laws in Texas that allow it to continue emitting 60,000 tons
of sulphur dioxide annually into the air in Rockdale, maintaining Alcoa’s
position as one of Texas’ top polluters.
Over the border in Mexico, it operated what a National Labor
Committee report of June 2002 termed a “high tech sweatshop” where the
very highest wage a senior Alcoa worker could earn there was $86.58 per
week, including all benefits. The
reported added that “Alcoa wants to pit workers in the United States against the desperately poor
workers in Mexico
– and other developing countries – in a race to the bottom over who will
accept the lowest wages and least benefits, the most miserable living and
working conditions.” Source: http://savingiceland.puscii.nl/?p=225&language=en
These are just some of many examples I can provide right
now. More will be coming in a future installment. Taken altogether, they paint a disturbing
picture of a company focused more on the bottom line than in the communities it
serves.
Alcoa has virtually no other ties to North
Carolina apart from plundering our water in the Yadkin River
to use as a free fuel source to power its turbines and generate
hydroelectricity it sells for profit at tens of millions annually. Should we really want the likes of these
types to be our neighbors?
For more information, visit the Yadkin Riverkeeper web site
at www.yadkinriverkeeper.org or
call (336) 293-8105.