Before Bhopal, there was Love Canal.
In the late 1970s, hundreds of residents living on top of what
in the 1940s and '50s was a Hooker Chemical dump site were sickened
by toxins the firm had left behind. No chemical firm wanted to
be associated with Hooker.
Robert A. Roland, president of the Chemical Manufacturers
Association at the time, said, "Hooker Chemical was persona non
grata within the Manufacturing Chemists Association." MCA was
the predecessor of CMA and today's American Chemistry Council.
Roland retired in 1993.
As Roland recounts in an oral history maintained at the Chemical
Heritage Foundation, Hooker legally dumped chemicals in what was
once a canal in Niagara Falls, N.Y. The local school district
bought the land from Hooker but was not supposed to sell it for
development.
Roland took Hooker's case to the MCA executive board
and told them: "There but for the grace of God goes every one
of you around this table. ... You can turn your back on Hooker,
but you can't turn your back on this problem. ... You're setting
yourselves up for a great fall."
Executives learned something from the drubbing that the
chemical industry took over Love Canal, and by the time the Bhopal
accident occurred, Roland had convinced executives to advocate
on behalf of the industry in public and before Congress. Bhopal
"was a benchmark event because it took us to the next plateau
that was really called proactive," he said. Responsible Care grew
out of that proactive approach resulting from a terrible event.
As the industry wrestled with safety issues immediately
following Bhopal, public officials were on high alert to the possibility
of chemical accidents in their communities. Warren Anderson, vice
chairman of the industry association and Union Carbide's chairman,
said in a January 1985 C&EN interview: "If you had tried six
months ago to get a bunch of different people involved in evacuation
plans around a chemical plant, you might have been hard-pressed
to get everybody's attention.
"You must get doctors, hospitals, TV stations, radio
stations, police, state troopers, the governor's office. Now you
can get their attention." When the Bhopal disaster occurred, the
industry's association didn't run from a member in trouble. Mindful
of Roland's warning, its members realized that any one of them
might suffer a similar disaster.
Edward Donley, chairman of Air
Products & Chemicals at the time of the Bhopal accident,
says, "I was appalled at the massive fatalities. It heightened
our sensitivity to the possibility of such an accident, and it
drove us to be more vigorous about safety." Donley served a stint
as chairman of CMA's Environmental & Safety Committee.
Harold A. Sorgenti, who was president of Arco
Chemical when Bhopal occurred, recalls that his company was
negotiating to buy Union Carbide's petrochemical division. The
accident quashed the deal. Sorgenti, who was also chairman of
CMA at the time, said the accident was "a huge shock to the CMA
board." But he sees the development of Responsible Care as a positive
outcome. "It's been very effective at reducing risks and helped
improve people's perception of the industry."
Former Crompton
Corp. chief executive officer Vincent A. Calarco says that,
because of Responsible Care, "we are safer today than we were
before Bhopal." He remembers clearly the difficulties the accident
posed. "It was a real turning point for the industry."
Calarco was active in the industry association as the
Responsible Care program got under way and championed the program
at his firm until his recent retirement. He admits that "accidents
do happen," but he says all Responsible Care adherents have one
goal in mind: "zero accidents."
 CONTINUE
EXPLORING ISSUES ADDRESSED IN THIS STORY WITH THESE ADDITIONAL
FEATURES:
TWENTY YEARS
AFTER BHOPAL
Smokescreen or true reform? Has the
chemical industry changed enough to make another massive accident
unlikely?
TRACK US, TRUST
US
American Chemistry Council says it will supply the facts to
earn the public's trust |
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