Bayer gives up fight to restart Institute MIC unit (Charleston Gazette) {Bhopal, WV}

[eppur_se_muova]

By Ken Ward Jr.
The Charleston Gazette

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Bayer CropScience has decided not to restart the unit that makes the deadly chemical methyl isocyanate at its Institute plant, officials revealed today.

Al Emch, a lawyer for the company, told a federal judge that Bayer officials in Germany did not want to restart the MIC unit while there was an ongoing government inspection of the facility.

U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration officials are conducting a broad review of the plant, including the MIC unit, and have said they may not complete their work until September.

Emch said that timeline made it impossible for Bayer to resume producing the pesticide Temik, which is made with MIC, until after the 2011 growing season had ended.

The move ends a quarter-century effort by some local residents to rid the Kanawha Valley of the Institute plant's stockpile of MIC, the chemical best known for killing thousands of people in a 1984 leak at a Union Carbide plant in Bhopal, India.
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more: http://sundaygazettemail.com/News/201103181523?page=1

[bananas]

1. Some threads from 2009

These have links to other threads:

Bayer safety lapses 'could have eclipsed Bhopal' http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x3843838

Remember that explosion last year at a Bayer chemical plant in Institute, West Virgina? http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x5195046

[eppur_se_muova]

2. Thanks, I had missed that.

I checked the date and realized I was in the middle of relocating to a new job at the time. I'm sure I would have remembered it otherwise.

My delayed reaction is that "9/11 changed everything" sure has proven a handy excuse for keeping secrets from the populace -- not just for the Bu**sh** maladministration, but for all its fellow-travelers in the private sector. I picture one of those WWII-style posters with a message along the lines of "Best not to know, Citizen!" or "What you don't know you can't reveal!" with frustrated spies in the background. Better to be gassed in your sleep and die a true patriot than to know more than you NEED to know!