Grassroots campaign results in several accomplishments

By ROGER ADKINS, radkins@newsandsentinel.com
VIENNA — A grassroots campaign to encourage Eramet to reduce manganese emissions has resulted in several accomplishments, officials said.

The effort was discussed during a 7 p.m. public meeting Tuesday at Neale Elementary School.

On hand were representatives of the Mid-Ohio Valley Health Department and the Ohio Citizen Action Group, the organizations spearheading the effort with help from the Neighbors for Clean Air group in Marietta. In addition, a group of about 30 concerned citizens attended.

The concern is over manganese emissions at the Eramet Plant along Ohio 7 in Washington County, organizers said.

According to OSHA data, the safe work exposure level for manganese is 0.05 micrograms per cubic meter. OSHA data, which deal with occupational exposure, are the only data available on exposure levels.

Air monitors have been placed in several areas of the region. The highest level of manganese recorded was 0.35 micrograms per cubic meter at Neale School in Vienna.

There is much that is unknown about manganese in terms of safe levels and periods of exposure, said Dick Wittberg, executive director of the Mid-Ohio Valley Health Department. However, the numbers are concerning given that manganese emissions are not highly regulated or studied, he said.

“I still say to people that if manganese isn’t hurting anybody, nothing we’re breathing is,” Wittberg said.

Melissa English, program director for OCAG Cincinnati, said numerous achievements have been made in getting Eramet on the path to reducing emissions, but more work needs to be done at the grassroots level.

“Every single gain we’ve had as a people has happened on a grassroots level,” she said.

During the last couple of years, the effort to reduce emissions at Eramet has been ongoing on several levels, English said.

Concerned individuals were able to get to know Eramet workers who were locked out in 2006 and 2007, which allowed a better understanding of some internal issues at the plant, she said.

In addition, residents familiar with the cause have sent thousands of letters to Eramet officials. Even upper-echelon Eramet officials in France have received letters regarding concerns over emissions at the plant in Washington County.

English said Citizen Action officials were able to make contact with the president of France, who spoke with Eramet officials and voiced his concerns.

“We absolutely know that we’re going to succeed,” English said.

English stressed that the group does not want to shut down Eramet. Citizens involved in the effort want the company to invest money in reducing emissions in Washington County in similar fashion to emission-reduction measures the company has taken at facilities in other countries.

Wittberg said he believes Eramet officials genuinely believe that manganese emissions are within safe limits. It may be difficult to get the company to take appropriate action, he said.