Advocacy Group Brings in Doctors to Make Case Against Mittal

Thursday, November 15, 2007
Topics: Environment, Health, Other
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The advocacy group Ohio Citizen Action is enlisting area doctors and nurses to make their case that pollution from Mittal Steel's Cleveland plant is harming residents. The group organized a public meeting on community concerns about the plant at Tri-C's Metro Campus last night. ideastream's Dan Bobkoff has the story.

Since 2005, activists and concerned residents have been pressuring Mittal Steel to clean up emissions from its large Cleveland plant.  They complain that in nearby communities like Tremont and Old Brooklyn soot from the mill covers homes and there’s a pervasive smell of sulfur.  And there are anecdotal reports of increased health problems like asthma. At Ohio Citizen Action’s public meeting, residents expressed what they believe the plant is doing to the community.

Voice 1: If I would have known that the pollution is as bad as it is, I probably would have never moved to Tremont.
Voice 2: I didn’t invest in my home and my business so that I could move to the suburbs.
Voice 3: We say Mittal: we urge you to do the right thing.

Mittal Steel has long said its emissions are below Environmental Protection Agency standards. Physician Kathy Fagan, a strong critic of Mittal, says that might not be enough.

Kathy Fagan: I’m looking at these figures, and I’m thinking maybe these standards aren’t good enough. Maybe we can’t rely on the standards the Ohio EPA has.

Fagan is among nearly 400 doctors and nurses Ohio Citizen Action says have signed on to the effort. Their challenge is to prove a link between the pollutants known to come from the Mittal Steel plant and the symptoms residents report.