£800k safety bill for ex-dump
Wednesday 3rd June 2009, 6:45PM BST.
Telford & Wrekin Council is set to spend nearly £1 million to ensure safety for people living near a former dumping ground used by international chemical giant Monsanto.
But fears Stoney Hill landfill site – close to the huge Lightmoor “urban village” – contains deadly Agent Orange are unfounded, an investigation has revealed.
But chemical, medical and “difficult” waste was buried there between 1984 and 1991, including up to 1,000 BSE “mad cow” carcasses.
Controversy over exactly what was dumped at Stoney Hill tip from Monsanto’s South Wales factory has been raging for years.
Residents found waste in a quarry near Cardiff, which came from the same factory, contained toxic material including Agent Orange, a herbicide used by the Americans as a defoliant in the Vietnam War.
Monsanto denied illegally dumping any such material at Stoney Hill and said all its waste was disposed of by contractors who were told what it was.
Telford & Wrekin Council is liable for any past, present or future claims at Stoney Hill, which is officially rated a high-risk site due to polluted water leaching out of the tip and gases forming underground.
The council cabinet will on Tuesday be asked to spend £800,000 to improve management of Stoney Hill, which is 100 metres away from the 900-home Lightmoor Village.
A report says environmental health experts have finished a £72,000 probe of the site, which shut in 1992, and have concluded there is no risk to properties or residents.
It recommends cutting leachate levels by increased pumping and better gas emissions management.
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Unbelievable! A wealthy, multinational pharmacorp can dump potentially dangerous waste, hundreds of miles from its source and is then free to shed all future responsibility for it to us, the taxpayer via T&WC. Thanks Monsanto. Ironic that their vision is “Abundant Food and a Healthy Environment”. Send them the bill if they’re so committed to their vision.
I’m glad that I haven’t just bought a new house in Lightmoor, although I’m more worried about the fact that I live down the hill from the Stoney Hill site.
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A simple check on the internet tells me that Monsanto is very much still around – and therefore still able to accept liability for their honest mistakes.
Here is an extract from their website:
“Monsanto is an agricultural company. We apply innovation and technology to help farmers around the world produce more while conserving more. We help farmers grow yield sustainably so they can be successful, produce healthier foods, better animal feeds and more fiber, while also reducing agriculture’s impact on our environment”.
Now, no company with that kind of ethical business ethos is going to let local taxpayers pick up the bill for their mistakes, are they?
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Why aren’t monsanto being made to pay?
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Why should the Tax payer foot the bill for this clean up? someone made money by dumping this waste here. It’s alright Monsanto saying that contractors were responsible, but they have a duty of care to ensure the Contactors are reliable and responsible themselves. from their comments it would have been ok if anyone would have taken the waste. NO ITS THIR RESPONSIBILITY. Make them pay for the clean up. and put the tax payers £800k to better use.
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Some ironic comments from Huw Peach on another thread, http://www.shropshirestar.com/2009/06/01/protest-against-burner-plans/
#12” I support Alan Goater and Safe Waste in Shropshire, …..and aiming for zero-waste like the Welsh are doing)”
#14“Greens want Shropshire to be as ambitious as Wales, putting sustainability and tackling climate change at the heart of our waste policy”
Ah ha, I see, the Greenies want to apply strict and cost prohibiting regulation on Shropshire so our waste gets moved on to the less fortunate and probably it will end up in the third world, just as the Welsh forced Monsanto to dump out of Wales and in Shropshire.
Send it all back to our Celtic cousins. They enjoyed the prosperity of the employment it brough – they can sort their waste out!
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I look forward to the court case to claw back from Monsanto the costs to local people.
Are Monsanto being employed by the council anywhere in Telford & Wrekin at the moment, where the costs could be added or payments with held until reparations are complete?
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The “polluter pays” principle is usually enacted but responsibility can also fall to the landowner which must be why T&W have to pay.
Landfills are terrible, so bad for the environment. Imagine the state Granville will be in when they finish dumping there.
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shoking disgusting pollution shows why we must all recycle more and landfill less
with the polluter pays princple
i say get monsanto in court now
we the tax payer should not foot this bill
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To compare Granville and Stoneyhill is ridiculous. The site at Stoney Hill finished 20 years ago and new legislation has ensured that the site at Granville operates on a far higher standard.
As for getting Monsanto in court – on what charge ? the waste was accepted by the site at the time they could have refused it so I dont know what Monsanto did wrong
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