http://www.environmental-expert.com/STSE_resultEach.aspx?cid=23745&idprofile=10822>
Aug.
12, 2009
General Motors has quit working with a partnership that collects toxic
parts from scrapped automobiles, jeopardizing an effort to prevent mercury
pollution just as hundreds of thousands of clunkers are headed to recyclers.
Participants in the environmental program told The Associated Press the
timing of GM’s departure could hurt their work. The government’s
'cash-for-clunkers' program will lead to trade-in and recycling of an
estimated 750,000 vehicles, some of which contain mercury switches.
GM says it’s a new company, formed with substantial government aid in the
wake of bankruptcy protection, and is not a member of the partnership
because it doesn’t make vehicles with mercury switches and is not
responsible for the older vehicles. The old company, which is still under
bankruptcy court supervision, says it is reviewing agreements involving the
former company and declined to comment.
Roughly 36 million mercury switches were used in trunk convenience lights
and antilock brakes in vehicles built in the 1980s and 1990s. More than half
of them are in GM vehicles built before 2000.
Mercury released into the air can accumulate in plants, fish and humans.
Children and fetuses are vulnerable to the effects of the toxic metal, which
can damage the development of the nervous system.
The auto industry partnership, called the End of Life Vehicle Solutions, or
ELVS, was created in 2005 to prevent mercury emissions from being released
into the environment when vehicles are crushed and shredded. It works
closely with the National Vehicle Mercury Switch Recovery Program, which the
Environmental Protection Agency helped form with automakers, the steel
industry and environmentalists in 2006.
The program, which is scheduled to run until 2017, has recovered 2.5 million
switches and disposed of nearly 5,600 pounds of mercury. General Motors,
prior to its bankruptcy, was the group’s largest participant and informed
the partnership of the change last week.
Mary Bills, the partnership’s executive director, said GM has not paid its
dues since filing for bankruptcy and owes an estimated $700,000 to $1
million, a substantial portion of the program’s funding. Without the money,
the organization may be forced to scale back or cease operations, making it
more difficult for recyclers to dispose of mercury recovered under the $3
billion 'cash-for-clunkers' program and other recycled vehicles in the
future, she said.
See GLOBE-Net article Green Car Purchases Soar as Older Gas Guzzlers are
Retired
'We’re surprised that GM, who wants to have this great, green image, would
do this,' Bills said.
General Motors Co., 60.8 percent owned by the U.S. government, emerged from
Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection last month under a plan in which its
best-performing assets were sold to form a new company. The former company,
now called Motors Liquidation Co., is a conglomeration of GM’s liabilities
and underperforming assets that remains under court supervision.
GM spokeswoman Sharon Basel said GM’s former entity remains a member of the
partnership. The new automaker, however, 'has never produced vehicles with
mercury switches and has no mercury switch responsibility under the terms of
the bankruptcy court order,' Basel said.
Tim Yost, a Motors Liquidation spokesman, declined to comment about the
partnership, saying the old company has been analyzing its nearly 500,000
contracts and agreements, 'including this one.'
ELVS manages programs to collect and dispose of the mercury switches,
providing white storage buckets to recyclers to collect them. Thirteen
automakers participate, including Chrysler Group LLC, Ford Motor Co. and
Daimler AG, and the companies’ fees are based on market share and their
portions of the switch population.
Fifteen states require automakers to set up a collection system to recycle
the switches. Most of them also require recyclers to remove the switches
before a vehicle is shredded. Thirty-four states conduct voluntary programs.
Maine has its own program.
Bills said it was unclear how they would continue service in the 34 states
without more funding.
In a letter Friday, Bills told the 15 states with auto industry requirements
that the ELVS board would 'continue to recycle any GM switches that arrive
at our waste contractor in our collection buckets as long as funds permit.'
If the organization remains unfunded for the GM costs, 'we will no longer be
able to accept GM switches for recycling,' she wrote.
The 15 states with the requirements for automakers are Arkansas, Illinois,
Indiana, Iowa, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, North
Carolina, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Texas, Utah, Vermont and Virginia.
[image: MARKET NICHES]MARKET NICHES
--
roger w
From Proverbs:
Under three things the earth trembles, under four it cannot bear up: a
servant who becomes king ...
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