Take Action To Clean Up Berkeley Steel Mill Heavy Metal Pollution
The stacks of Pacific Steel Casting rise high above the northwest Berkeley skyline of Oceanview. Once surrounded by manufacturing and light industry, the foundry now finds itself constrained by residential neighborhoods and a growing retail presence. This move towards gentrification is on a collision course with PSC’s massive expansion of its operations. Indeed, Pacific Steel, which claims to be the third largest facility of its kind in the country, has been the city’s number one zoning conflict for over a dozen years.
Despite huge increases in the steel mill’s production and the commensurate increase in odors, airborne chemicals and particulates over the last decade, Berkeley’s Zoning Adjustments Board has refused to move forward and demand an honest measurement of the health risks to residents. Since 1991, the board has allowed Pacific Steel to operate with an incomplete use permit, and has consistently avoided a review of the foundry’s operations.
It’s time to set aside all the regulatory speculation and politics regarding PSC’s emissions once and for all. Verify, verify, verify! This can only be done with continuous stack and fence-line air monitoring of actual emissions levels. Permanent air monitoring should be made mandatory with the pending use permit. Compared to the two million dollar price tag of another carbon system, monitoring is a small enough investment given what’s at stake. Pacific Steel’s cost to operate should not be paid for with a community’s health. ( Excerpt from Pacific Steel Casting: At What Cost? L A Wood, Berkeley Daily Planet June 20, 2006)
Please send an email today to Berkeley Mayor Tom Bates and City Council member Linda Maio asking them to prevent pollution from Pacific Steel and protect human health and communities.
The stacks of Pacific Steel Casting rise high above the northwest Berkeley skyline of Oceanview. Once surrounded by manufacturing and light industry, the foundry now finds itself constrained by residential neighborhoods and a growing retail presence. This move towards gentrification is on a collision course with PSC’s massive expansion of its operations. Indeed, Pacific Steel, which claims to be the third largest facility of its kind in the country, has been the city’s number one zoning conflict for over a dozen years.