West Virginia State University President Hazo Carter has sent eight letters to Bayer Crop-Sciences and its former subsidiary Rhone-Poulenc in regards to previous chemical leaks that has occurred at the facility in Institute, which sits adjacent to West Virginia State University. In each of the letters Carter expressed concern over the chemical leaks, emergency preparedness and the safety of the students and the community.
The announcement of Bayer Crop-Sciences re-starting the production of the controversial chemical methyl isocyanate or MIC on Monday sent a direct message to WVSU officials who must again anticipate the eminent dangers of the plant. About 5,000 students attend West Virginia State University and more than 2,000 residents live in the surrounding communities of Institute, West Dunbar and Pinewood Park. If a chemical leak or explosion was to occur, these people will be the first ones affected.
President Carter has also sent letters to the West Virginia Office of Air Quality requesting information on new permits and permit modifications by contractors that operated on the facility. WVSU also expressed support for implementing community advisory boards to monitor the facility and the need for independent environmental and safety audits on an annual basis.
These are issues that most universities around the country don’t have to deal with. And if anything similar to the Bhopal, India incident was to occur at the Institute plant, the precautions that are taken may not be enough to prevent the type of devastation MIC and other chemicals housed at the plant may cause.
Comments