ESC 20 Environmental Science and Engineering

Group Case Analysis

I. The Khian Sea

On August 31, 1986, the cargo ship Khian Sea loaded 14,000 tons (28 million pounds) of toxic
incinerator ash from Philadelphia and set off on an odyssey that symbolizes a predicament we all share:
what to do with our refuse. Starting in the 1970s, Philadelphia burned most of its municipal garbage and
sent the resulting incinerator ash to a landfill in New Jersey. In 1984, when New Jersey learned that the
ash contained enough arsenic, cadmium, lead, mercury, dioxin, and other toxins to be classified as
hazardous waste, it refused to accept any more.
When six other states also rejected incinerator ash shipments, Philadelphia was in a predicament.
What would they do with 180,000 tons of the stuff every year? The answer was to send it offshore to
countries with less stringent environmental standards. A local contractor offered to transport it to the
Caribbean. The Khian Sea was to be the first of those shipments. When the Khian Sea tried to unload its
cargo in the Bahamas, however, it was turned away. Over the next 14 months, the ship also was refused
entry by the Dominican Republic, Honduras, Panama, Bermuda, Guinea Bissau (in West Africa), and the
Netherlands Antilles. Finally in late, 1987, the Haitian government issued a permit for "fertilizer" import,
and the crew dumped 4000 tons of ash on the beach near the city of Gonaives. Alerted by the
environmental group, Greenpeace, that the ash wasn't really fertilizer, Haitian officials canceled the
permit and ordered everything returned to the ship, but the Khian Sea slipped away in the night, leaving
behind a large pile of loose ash. Some of the waste has been moved inland and buried, but much of it
remains on the beach, slowly being scattered by the wind and washed into the sea.
After it left Haiti, the Khian Sea visited Senegal, Morocco, Yugoslavia, Sri Lanka, and Singapore
looking for a place to dump its toxic load. As it wandered the oceans looking for a port, the ship changed
its name from Khian Sea to Felicia to Pelacano. Its registration was transferred from Liberia to the Bahamas
to Honduras in an attempt to hide its true identity, but nobody wanted it or its contents. Like Coleridge's
ancient mariner, it seemed cursed to roam the oceans forever. Two years, three names, four continents,
and 11 countries later, the troublesome cargo was still on board. Then, somewhere in the Indian Ocean
between Singapore and Sri Lanka all the ash disappeared. When questioned about this, the crew had no
comment except that it was all gone. Everyone assumes, of course, that once out of sight of the land, it
was just dumped overboard.

Questions to answer:
1. What significant environmental issue/s is/are involved in the case?
2. Was it right for Philadelphia to send off their residual waste to places other than their own? Why or
why not? Defend your answer.
3. Was it right for other places to reject the residual waste, risking it for the waste to contaminate
waters that will also ultimately affect everyone?
4. Recommend at least three (3) engineering solutions to the environmental problem presented.
 II. Poisoning Bhopal
Just after midnight on December 3, 1984, a thick, acrid, gas cloud rolled through the quiet streets
of the industrial city of Bhopal, in central India. In the still night air, the poisonous fog crept along the
ground and quietly seeped into houses where families lay asleep on mats. People awakened coughing,
gasping for air, and rubbing their burning eyes. As they emerged from their houses, they joined a panicked
crowd surging through the narrow streets trying to escape the toxic vapors. Some never made it beyond
their doorstep. Others collapsed in the street and died where they lay. Hospitals overflowed with terrified,
suffering victims, many of whom were children and older people.
The noxious gas blanketing the city was methylisocyanate (MIC), a component of the pesticide
Temik, which was being made at the Union Carbide plant in Bhopal. Water had gotten into a tank
containing about 40 tons of MIC and set off a chemical reaction that resulted in an explosive eruption of
the toxic cloud. Control panels that should have detected rising temperatures and pressures had been
shut down for repairs. Safety equipment that was designed to neutralize or incinerate the escaping gas
had failed. Workers blamed management for cutting corners and creating unsafe conditions.
Management blamed the staff, claiming that water must have been put in the tank by a disgruntled
worker.
Morning revealed a horrifying sight. Human bodies, along with those of dogs, cats, cows, and
birds, littered the streets. Whole families perished. Hardest hit was the crowded shantytown of
Jayprakash Ngar, which lay just outside the Union Carbide fence. Exactly how many people were killed by
the poison gas will never be known; many corpses were disposed of in emergency mass burials or
cremations without documentation. Amnesty International estimates that at least 15,000 people died
immediately, while 800,000 suffered medical problems, including chronic obstructive lung disease, eye
injuries, immune system dysfunction, nerve damage, memory loss, cancer, miscarriages, birth defects,
and impaired mental health. Families needing medical care, but without an adult able to work, were
plunged even more deeply into poverty and misery.
More than 20 years after this catastrophe, which was probably the greatest industrial disaster in
history, no one has been punished. Most of the $470 million in compensation that Union Carbide paid to
the Indian government has yet to be distributed to the victims. The Bhopal tragedy has, however, served
to alert us to the environmental health effects of air pollution and the risks inherent in manufacture,
storage, and use of highly toxic industrial chemicals

Questions to Answer:

1. What significant environmental issue/s is/are presented in this case?

2. Who should have been punished for the disaster that happened?
3. Recommend at least three (3) environmental solutions to the environmental problem presented.