Gabby Rickards: The Chemical Industry and Its Surrounding Communities

Hi, everyone.

My name is Gabby Records, and I'm a part of

the ages capsule program in the Global Pathway program for

my research project, I was interested in looking into the

relationship between the chemical industry and how it impacts the

communities that it is a part of.

If there's one thing I would like for you to

take away from my presentation today, it is that both

big and small actions can create powerful results.

So to start big, I became interested in the impacts

of the chemical industry they're hearing about the DuPont Teflon

case in Westbrook, West Virginia.

My research involved looking at the results of different chemical

tragedies as well as nor legislation that has been enacted

to prevent future tragedies.

These events resulted from the chemical companies and the government

actions that overlooked the impact on human health for generations

to come.

I believe that if there been stronger regulations for the

industry and proper treatment of these chemicals, many of these

tragedies could have been prevented.

So to start off my research, I decided to look

into some of the chemical tragedies that it occurred.

Some of the ones that you may know off include

the Love Canal Strategy in Niagara Falls, New York, the

W R.

Grace case right here and mover.

Massachusetts and I also look more into the DuPont case,

which I mentioned earlier these cases were my story and

walk from here.

I started digging up cases all around the world from

places its closest Flint Water A ZX, Flint, Michigan, and

the Water Crisis to the Chiefs of Corporation accident in

1975 in Japan, as well as many more, however different

the start of each of these cases were, the end

result was always the same.

The lack of care and acknowledgement for the potential risks

that the company had posed to the community resulted in

the deaths of many of those who are living in

the surroundings.

And we've been unknowingly continually exposed to these toxic chemicals.

If you take the W.

R. Grace case movement, for example, in this situation, the

company dumped its waste products into the river and as

it was a public drinking water way, the river the

river became contaminated with TC and extremely talks a chemical

among many others.

This containment this contamination caused a variety of health issues

that people in the community including miscarriages, birth defects and

a variety of cancers that were later found in the

residence many years later.

All of this lasted for many years.

Once the government became aware of their actions and shut

the manufacturing plant in the dumping down the government's charge

work on cleaning up the situation through E P.

A through the e p.

A. And making this a Superfund site.

The picture of my right was taken from the W.

R. Grace facility to show the chemical dumping that they

were doing.

And so because of this, I became interested in the

e P.

A Superfund site and how this whole products are, um,

being put in place.

And so the cleanup project started after the Love Canal

tragedy and was put in place to ensure a proper

cleanup after many companies were being found out, had create

the they had created these toxic chemical waste dumps, and

this was affecting the health of those in the community.

And the official name for the E.

P. A Superfund site is the Comprehensive Environmental Response Compensation

Liability Act, and this allows e p.

A. To clean up these contaminated sites.

However, the cleanup of these sites is oftentimes very expensive

and furthermore, it takes many years to remove the toxicity

from the site as it is very lengthy process that

the townspeople have to endure in terms of payment.

Normally, the company who has been fault Onley pays for

a 70% of the cleanup costs, and this is through

the finds of the situation, and a picture you see

on the right is a total amount of E P

A site Superfund sites that are currently ongoing and this

includes the 40 Superfund sites in Massachusetts alone.

I then moved on from seeing the impact on the

US looking at the legislation that governs the U and

the U.

S. As they're some of the leading chemical manufacturers in

the world.

And so it is critical to understand the different national

legislations between the EU and the US that control chemical

safety in the U.

After many years of lax regulations in 2007 that enacted

a much more stringent program called Reach and this stands

for a registration, evaluate, an evaluation, authorization and restriction of

chemicals, and it was designed to guide companies to more

closely analyze the toxicity and used to their chemicals in

the U.

S. The government also updated its regulations, and this is

through the Lautenberg Chemical Safety Act in 2016.

The main difference between Reach and the lumberjack was that

retried relations relied on the chemical companies to evaluate their

own chemicals and to determine the RICS their risk and

toxicity. However, in the US, the Lautenberg Act relies on

the e p A.

To evaluate the risk toxicity of chemicals and how they

should be used currently in the e.

P. A.

Is requiring a new valuation of all new chemicals before

production and is testing at least 20 different hazardous chemicals

simultaneously. And so the U.

S. Had decided Teoh enact the Frank R.

Lautenberg chemical safety after the 21st century, as was an

update to the Toxic Substances Control Act, often known as

T S.

E. A.

And this act allowed the companies to leave and establish

hundreds of interviewed chemicals on the market and required the

government have risk of the camp that the chemical possessed

before being able to test them.

TSA also protected the company's from giving the government access

to pertinent confidential chemical information that would have otherwise been

able to prove the toxicity and dangerous.

That said chemicals possessed with this updated long Bomberg Some

Chemical Safety Act um, the government is now allowed now

is required to review all new chemicals before they enter

the market and removes TSC is crossed.

Benefits Safety standard, which had historically been able to keep

the e p A from banning US best.

Does the updated law also now protect sensitive populations such

as Children and pregnant woman, and limits the ability for

companies to claim confidential information so that the government cannot

challenge the toxicity of the chemicals?

We look further into it.

And during my interview with a bass if marketing manager

um, she stated that she agreed with, um the choice

as TSA was becoming outdated and definitely needed Knocked in.

However, she believes that the new law that the US

had put in place, um, is not perfect as it

sometimes requires companies to perform unnecessary tests as they were

not related to the chemical that they're working with.

However, it also does not require some tests that are

pertinent and would text with a test for the toxicity

of some of the chemicals that Sauron companies will be

working with.

And because of this, the effectiveness of these new Reliant

loss in its protection of the people still heavily relies

on the company and its own morals and dedication to

maintaining a healthy environment and giving packed to the people

that are part of its own community.

And so, after comparing these federal laws, I then moved

on to the state laws and compare the states of

Massachusetts and Texas and I, um, and for the most

part, these two states with very similar, for example, they

both have the right to know act.

However, Massachusetts, as it is a much more progressive state

in terms of their laws regarding chemical safety, did have

some acts that Texas did not.

One example of this was the Toxic Use Reductions Act,

and this required companies have produced large amount of toxins

to evaluate their operations, plan for pollution prevention and then

report there were updated results each year after Manila citing

the state.

I then moved on to local legislation and I looked

at the towns of an over and Woburn I was

able to review in over town legislation through my interview

with an Avis board member, and I learned that, and

through this I learned that there are many ways that

and over is trying to protect itself against the toxic

chemicals in their area.

And this is through a variety of means, such as

having a large amount of conservation land aggressively protecting our

wetlands and also closely following the by laws for pesticide

use on town land.

Overall, she stated that, um, Avis in the tournament over

as a whole, um, our pollution is fairly well maintained

on the local level, and we're working hard to maintain

it. I also reviewed the by loss for the Town

of Woburn and found that they're taking similar steps by

maintaining that what length in the rivers.

And although these measures are positive, the main concern is

that towns alone are still not powerful enough to maintain

control over these large companies.

However, as water contamination is one of the most powerful

ways that a company can negatively impact the community, the

community that they are a part of, I believe that

there are ways that towns can try to protect themselves,

and this is by putting preventive measures in place that

try to help keep the town's water is worth clean

and based off from the town swap report.

There are hazardous material stored near high gets pollen, and

this is within the watershed area, and they're looking at

the town of Andover's Water Report.

It seems like they're doing much to keep this potential

hazard and check.

And this includes educating local businesses on BMPs, also known

as best management practices.

And by doing this, the town hopes to protect water

supplies by encouraging companies to work based on these BMPs

in terms of their proper handling story storage and disposing

of their hazardous waste and chemicals.

The town also is working with local unregistered bed insists,

if they produce hazardous waste or oil and are trying

their best to work with local.

Um, I went to get these companies registered if, um,

if they are not registered, and I also created tangible.

That focuses on the ways that the town, um, and

over can improve their protection of our water sources.

And this includes Hagit Spawn fish Brooke in the Merrimack

River as both the fifth as both fish, Brooke and

also the Merrimack River are subsidies so high.

Its bond, however.

My Lord, My Research Martin focus on Hiatus Pond and

through the analysis of the water source and IT surroundings,

as always, a comparison of the water reports and the

stop report for the Tottenham and over as well as

other surrounding towns, I was able to come up with

a list of recommended initiatives that the town could put

in place in order to further protect our water source.

And some of these include prohibiting pesticide and synthetic fertilizers,

um, to the residents who live in zone 12 or

three, and also and encouraging less toxic alternatives for these

residents to use.

And this is through integrating a pest management approach, which

is outlined by the town of an over.

Another recommendation that I found that could protect the town's

water supply will be the implementation of multiple liners such

as contact quick and flexible membranes around the Tier two

status of the release sides of three online Lowell Street

and Love Dry Road as well.

This is the hazardous materials released site that is in

zone C for fish.

Brooke. Hopefully, by being able to implement these initiatives and

others, the town of an over will be better protected

against any potential contamination toxic chemicals.

Finally, to conclude my research, I analyze Companies are looking

into different ways to help the communities that they're part

of the job opportunities, education and green initiatives.

And through my interviews with former regional manager of um

Mobile Chemical, I learned that Mobile is a fairly progressive

company and tries to maintain good relationships with their communities.

During my research, I found that some of the initiatives

that they're taking include creation of new sites such as

one in Beaumont, Texas, and this provided over 2000 jobs

in construction and 45,000 high paying jobs.

Site Mobile Chemical also stated that they're working on a

variety of upstream projects aimed to improve the environment, socio

economic status of the community and health of the people

living there.

I also research the shell company and how they're planning

to give back to low income communities across the world,

and this is through their educational programs that teach young

adults in the Philippines how to be engineers and then

provide them jobs after the fact.

I also learned how companies such as Dow Chemical have

implemented their green initiatives and this include their includes air

partnerships with few next to produce, ah 100% circular plastic

circular plastic is material which was originally plastic waste.

However, it was then broken down polymers and reused to

make other products, which is building materials and through my

research with the marketing manager at Pass.

If it was clear to see that many of these

companies have made, um, tons of improvements from the time

that these chemicals disasters were being made and for example,

one would be how, in the nineties, mobile chemical was

trying to recycle some of its waste products and it

was able to use them and other building materials such

as composite wood.

And furthermore, Ambassador was also, as it is, a very

conscientious company.

It was also performing tests that go above and beyond

the standards and are striving to instead compile global standards.

This company make sure to test in all sorts of

ways that the that the chemical that they're working with

is safer use, and they focus on making sure the

public knows what is happening at the plant and insurance

that they will not produce any chemical if it is

anyway deemed unsafe for use.

And in my interview with the bass if marketing manager,

she stated that their company is not only acting for

the safety of those who are interacting with their own

products, but they're also working with other companies and are

trying to see if, um if they find a product

that has been grandfathered into the market.

They're trying to educate the the other companies about their

associated risk and try to encourage them to find a

different way.

Um, to make this this product more safe and in

conclusion, overall, through my research, I have found that there

have been there has been much improvement in the industry.

They're both company initiatives and legislation, and people are now

well aware of the risk associate with the industry.

There's so much work to do on both sides, and

it is clear to see where further reactions can be

taken to tighten the laws.

Looking into the future, I hope that the problems of

week of legislation and product misused by these companies will

guide future ride rising industries to be proactive and their

preventions of similar problems from occurring.

Thank you so much for listening to my talk

Gabby Rickards: The Chemical Industry and Its Surrounding Communities

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