Terrorism, Freedom, and Security: Winning Without War

After a brief but comprehensive overview of the chemical industry, public relations ("greenwashing"), and the history of dumping chemicals in poor areas, the authors turn their focus to a fight in Mercer County, Missouri. They tell the story of local activists trying to stop Waste-Tech, Inc.'s attempt to set up a toxic waste incinerator. Through public pressure, they struggle to defend their own health.

If you want a good book on the environment, try this one. The authors know how the system works and, although detractors may disregard their emphasis on the profit motive, everything here rings true. The footnotes are extensive, leading you to additional information.

Debates over global warming and fossil fuel dependence dominate public discussions of the environment. For many of us, these debates are abstract because environmental problems do not yet disrupt our daily lives. But in communities throughout the United States and around the globe, environmental activism is not a matter of choice, it is a necessity.

East Liverpool, Ohio, is one of those places. Since 1993, the eastern Ohio River Valley has been home to a massive hazardous waste incinerator. The WTI incinerator in East Liverpool burns 60,000 tons of hazardous waste each year, has experienced dozens of accidents, and is located within 100 yards of an elementary school. Yet, it continues to operate.

Toxic Burn is a gripping account of the activist movement against the imposing WTI incinerator in this struggling rust belt town. Drawing on personal interviews with key participants as well as official documents, Thomas Shevory tells the story of building, maintaining, and resisting the incinerator. It begins in the 1970s with community leaders who responded to failing pottery and steel industries by proposing the incinerator as a source of jobs and tax revenue. The incinerator’s opponents fought back, challenging EPA permits in court. They also enlisted the support of Greenpeace and publicly called presidential hopeful Al Gore to task for the Clinton administration’s backing of the incinerator. These activists’ efforts have not only helped to curtail the industry’s expansion, Shevory concludes, but have also encouraged movement toward more sustainable models of industrial production.

Hazardous waste disposal is a hot-button issue in many communities. By analyzing the obstacles faced by the WTI incinerator’s opponents, as well as their victories, Toxic Burn shows that the actions of decent and determined citizens are powerful and essential to developing new environmental models and ultimately saving the health and lives of those in the path of potential disaster.

Thomas Shevory is professor of politics at Ithaca College. He is also author of Notorious H.I.V.: The Media Spectacle of Nushawn Williams (Minnesota, 2004).

Toxic Burn tells of the grass-roots movement against the incinerator.......2007-09-04