TKCSA ‘Silver Rain’

Toxic graphite dust spewed from the steel plant TKCSA. Local Santa Cruz residents put the dust in bottles during a Toxic Tour conducted during Rio+20.

On November 2, 2012, ThyssenKrupp AG’s Brazilian carbon steel mill has been fined 10.5 million reais ($5.17 million) for air pollution violations, Reuters reported.

The plant was fined for the emission of “silver rain,” or clouds of silvery particles caused by slag, a steel-making byproduct used to remove impurities from iron ore and help balance the chemical composition of steel. The particles in silver rain can cause respiratory and skin problems, Reuters reported. The graphite dust particles have covered the nearby communities of Santa Cruz and Sepetiba Bay causing serious health problems.

Though designed to have technologically advanced pollution-control equipment, the CSA mill has been fined for similar emissions before in 2010. In May 2012 it signed an accord with Rio de Janeiro state officials promising to improve its environmental performance and was fined 14 million reais ($6.9 million), according to Reuters. However community members have been suffering from a wide range of pulmonary and dermatological problems since the opening of the plant in 2010.

The Environmental Injustice Allegation: The notion of proximity, e.g., the effects of pollution on the proximate community verses the adverse health effects on the population affected by off-site operations.

ThyssenKrupp claims the dust isn’t toxic!

ThyssenKrupp Factory in Santa Cruz

ThyssenKrupp has issued apologies in the past for any nuisance caused by the graphite dust emissions, but says there have been no incidents in nearly two years. ThyssenKrupp spokesperson Luciana Finazzi told DW that there had been graphite dust exposure in three communities within a two kilometer range of the steel plant. But she added that it wasn’t dangerous.

Claudia Besch disagrees. The dermatologist lives in Santa Cruz and says her car is sometimes covered by the silver rain. It’s an inconvenience, she explains, but the main threat actually lurks in the air. “The problem is the poisonous particles in the air that we can’t actually see. When the concentration in the air is continuously high, this can have consequences.”

One Santa Cruz citizen shows a doctor’s prescription note, linking her dermatological and pulmonary problems to the graphite dust in her community.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the amount of graphite particles should never be more than 50 micrograms per cubic meter of air. If a plant crosses this threshold, the WHO recommends they limit this over-exposure to three days a year at most. Brazilian authorities actually allow for three times this amount to be emitted, but ThyssenKrupp has failed to stay within Brazilian limits.

ThyssenKrupp has already been fined four million euros ($5.1 million) by Rio authorities plus an additional compensation package of 1.7 million euros. They have also been ordered to plant 15,000 trees in the suburb around the steel plant. But are the fines having any effect? This is the third time that ThyssenKrupp has been fined for graphite dust emissions.

Source: Deutsche Welle

Brazilian Right to Health

For the people in the nearby communities, many have not been able to find relief. A class action law suit has been filed against the government, claiming that the community of Santa Cruz’s right to health has been violated. The Brazilian constitution is one of the few constitutions that guarantees all citizens the right to health, however often individual cases are more likely to be won than large class action suits. Due to the lengthy process for large class action suits, it could take up to 20 years for these people to receive proper health care, and with many unable to find doctors in their communities to treat these rare skin and lung problems, it could be too late.