US lawmakers want Dow to clean Bhopal gas leak plant site

Lalit K Jha

Washington/New Delhi, June 18 (PTI) US lawmakers have
asked Dow Chemical to clean up the soil and underground water
contaminated by the deadly gas leak at Union Carbide plant at
Bhopal but the US firm disowned the liabilities saying that it
never owned or operated the disgraced plant site.

As many as 27 lawmakers have requested Dow Chemical
Company to meet the demands of the survivors of Bhopal tragedy
for medical and economic rehabilitation.

"Dow acquired shares of Union Carbide in 2001, seven
years after UCIL became Eveready Industries India Ltd.

"Union Carbide had no assets in India at the time of the
transaction with Dow. Dow never owned or operated the UCIL
plant site," a spokesperson for Dow said in a statement.

Union Carbide paid USD 470 million in damages for the
deadly gas leak from the plant on December 3, 1984, which left
several hundred dead and thousands medically ill.

In a letter to the Dow Chairman and CEO Andrew Liveris,
the American lawmakers said, "We request that Dow ensures that
a representative appear in the ongoing legal cases in India
regarding Bhopal, that Dow meets the demands of the survivors
for medical and economic rehabilitation, and cleans up the
soil and groundwater contamination in and around the factory
site".

The US lawmakers' letter has endorsed the survivors'
demands for remediation, as put forth by the International
Campaign for Justice in Bhopal (ICJB), mainly that Dow provide
medical and economic rehabilitation and clean up the factory
and groundwater contamination.

US Congressman Frank Pallone led the effort to support
the ICJB demands.

"The polluter pays" principle in the domestic laws of
both India and America state that the polluter, rather than
the public agencies or taxpayers, should be held responsible
for its environmental pollution in its entirety, the letter
said.

However, the Dow statement noted that "polluter pays" law
is misinterpreted in the letter.

"The law applies to those who owned and operated plant
sites. The Bhopal site was owned and operated by UCIL, a
separate, publicly traded Indian company.

"With the Supreme Court, Union Carbide sold its interest
in UCIL in 1994 and UCIL was renamed Eveready Industries India
Ltd -- a company that continues to operate in India today and
is the company that was involved in the tragedy," the
statement pointed out.

The plant site has been under the ownership of the Madhya
Pradesh government since 1998. PTI LKJ
DEP
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