PPG Industries

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WARNING! Sewage sludge is toxic. Food should not be grown in "biosolids." Join the Food Rights Network.

PPG Industries is a global manufacturer of coatings and specialty products which it states on its website are aimed at the "construction, consumer products, industrial and transportation" industries.[1]

Toxic Sludge Controversy

In 1998, PPG's "Lime Lake Reclamation Project" in Barberton, OH, received awards from the Environmental Protection Agency for "National Beneficial Use of Biosolids" (toxic sewage sludge) in 1998.[2] In 2006, however, the EPA cited the same PPG plant for alleged clean-air violations, stating that it "failed to comply with a 1-pound per hour permitted emission limit on volatile organic compounds from its air stripper, which removes the VOCs from wastewater by contacting the water with air. Tests done in January and February at EPA's request showed VOC emissions as high as 8.8 pounds per hour."[3]

Then, in October, 2011, Lime Lakes Energy LLC, a subsidiary of Cleveland-based Quasar Energy Group, received $2 million in federal funds from the USDA to construct a $4.5 million anaerobic digester in cooperation with PPG. "The plant, scheduled to be fully operational by January, will turn sewage sludge into compressed natural gas for vehicles," the Beacon Journal reports. "Leftover wastes from the operation will be used to speed up the reclamation of Lime Lake 6 by PPG Industries."[4] According to the Quasar Energy Group website, "For more than 70 years, PPG produced soda ash to make plate glass at the Barberton plant. The liquid and solid wastes were pumped from the soda ash operation into six ponds covering more than 600 acres. The result of the historically accepted practice created 'lime lakes,' where the fine-grained spoil is too alkaline and lacks nutrients to support vegetation. Since 1985, [Ohio EPA] approved biosolids have been mixed on site with the lime spoil to create a stable soil matrix that supports long-term vegetation growth and wildlife habitat."[5]

This "remediation" doesn't address the long list of contaminants in toxic sludge itself, which include Dioxins and Furans, Flame Retardants, Metals, Organochlorine Pesticides, 1,2-Dibromo-3-Chloropropane (DBCP), Naphthalene, Triclosan, Nonylphenols, Phthalates, Nanosilver, and thousands more substances.[6]

For more on experimenting with "biosolids" for "remediation," see the SourceWatch article on Poor Black Baltimore Families Used as Human Guinea Pigs in Sludge Study.

Manufacturing Plants with Coal Power Stations

PPG's Natrium Plant is a Proctor, West Virginia coal-fired power station owned and operated by the company. The plant supplies power for PPG's chemical plant which produces a range of products including caustic soda.[7]

Contact Details

Website: http://corporateportal.ppg.com/ppg/

Articles and Resources

Sources

  1. ↑ PPG Industries, "About PPG Industries", PPG Industries website, accessed February 2009.
  2. ↑ Environmental Protection Agency, EPA RECOGNIZES REGIONAL SEWAGE TREATMENT PLANTS AMONG TOP IN NATION, press release, October 9, 1998, archived on Scribd.com, accessed October 31, 2011
  3. ↑ Environmental Protection Agency, EPA cites PPG Industries for clean-air violations, press release, April 27, 2006, accessed October 11, 2011
  4. ↑ Bob Downing, Summit County digester gets $2 million federal grant, Beacon Journal, October 28, 2011
  5. ↑ Quasar Energy Group, Barberton, Ohio - PPG Industries, Inc. Reclamation Project, corporate website, accessed October 31, 2011
  6. ↑ TNSSS: EPA-822-R-08-016 and EPA-822-R-08-018. Published by EPA, January 2009.
  7. ↑ PPG Industries, "Natrium", PPG Industries website, accessed February 2009/

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