VILLAGE
OF RICHFIELD -- "I am writing this letter on behalf of the many
concerned citizen residents of the greater Cleveland area who are
affected by pollution from the Cleveland Arcelor Mittal Steel plant.
This letter is prompted by many requests I have received from my
constituents.
I would encourage you to take an open, proactive approach to the
mitigation of the pollution from the Cleveland Plant," Michael K.
Lyons, Mayor, Village of Richfield. 29 Kb doc.
JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA -- "Vaal residents
protested outside the offices of ArcelorMittal this afternoon, claiming
that pollution generated by the steel giant was causing them to become
ill.
They handed a memorandum to board member Thami Dikiza at the company’s
head office in Vanderbijlpark, south of Johannesburg.
Thabiso Radebe, an office bearer of the South African Communist Party,
said 'many residents are sick' as a result of extensive air and
groundwater pollution.
'They suffer from chronic respiratory diseases.'
Residents of shack settlements and smallholdings, who joined the
protest, claim their neighbourhood is still being used as a dump-site
by the steel giant," Victor Khupiso, Johannesburg Times.
BOSTON, MA -- "On May 13, individuals and groups from from Kazakhstan,
Czech Republic, South Africa, Romania and the United States gathered at
Luxembourg for ArcelorMittal’s annual general meeting with a long list
of complaints against the world’s largest steel company. Charges of
pollution, a bad safety record, forceful eviction and little or no
information sharing with communities rent the air as ArcelorMittal’s
directors began taking stock of the company’s fortunes," Sunita Dubey, Groundwork
USA.
LONDON,
UK -- "Lakshmi Mittal, Britain's richest man and a prominent Labour
Party donor, has bought his third property in London's most expensive
street for £70 million.
The steel tycoon, whose fortune is estimated at £27 billion, already
owns two large homes in Kensington Palace Gardens, where Princess Diana
spent her last years.
It has now emerged that the Mittal family has bought another home on
the street - nicknamed 'Billionaire's Row' - from the Crown Estate.
The purchase comes just a month after the 58-year-old bought Britain's
most expensive home for £117 million,"Mira
Bar-Hillel, Evening Standard.
CLEVELAND --
"We have seen other
companies in Ohio engage in constructive dialogue with communities at
the local level to resolve pollution problems at a facility. I agree
that this is an effective approach to working out these problems.
However, as we demonstrated in the memo attached to our letter to you
dated June 5, the Cleveland neighbors continue to invite Mittal
officials in Cleveland and Chicago to meet and it is clear that there
are no Mittal officials in the United States with the authority to
talk. I look forward to your reply to my letter of June 5," letter
from Liz Ilg, Cleveland Program Director, Ohio Citizen Action,
to Michel Wurth, Board Member, ArcelorMittal,
29 KB doc.
LUXEMBOURG,
LUXEMBOURG -- "With
respect to your specific comments concerning some of the sites
mention[ed]
in the document dated 13 May named 'Global Action on ArcelorMittal,' we
intend to revert to you with a consolidated global answer to the points
you have raised. We would then welcome an opportunity to discuss our
responses with you in the spirit of transparency, fairness and ongoing
dialogue with our stakeholders. This will allow us to further elaborate
upon our existing initiatives and programs to address the issues you
have raised in further detail. For example, we believe that there are
several instances where you may not have received all the relevant
information to make a fully informed judgment about our operations.
We look forward to establishing a constructive dialogue with your
respective groups of NGO's [non-governmental organizations] at
international level but we share your
views with respect to the need for an open dialogue at local level. We
very much encourage our sites to participate in such dialogue with our
stakeholders and local communities," letter from Gonzalo Urquijo,
Michel Wurth, ArcelorMittal, to Blanche Weber,
Sunita Dubey, Friends of the Earth Luxembourg, on
behalf of Global Action on ArcelorMittal, of which Ohio
Citizen Action is a member, 688 KB pdf.
Letter
from Blanche Weber, Sunita Dubey, Friends of the Earth
Luxembourg, on behalf of Global Action on
ArcelorMittal to Michel Wurth, Board Member, ArcelorMittal,
May 20, 2008, 56 KB doc.
Jun 18: ArcelorMittal's first
virtual shareholder's
meeting
CLEVELAND
-- "I attended ArcelorMittal's first virtual shareholder's meeting
yesterday in Second
Life. I was hoping to ask Mr. Mittal what his plans for
investing in pollution controls at the Cleveland Works facility are.
Unfortunately, the company did not plan the event well and so I was
unable to hear or see the presentation let alone ask my question. As
ArcelorMittal continues its foray into the virtual world I hope they
keep in mind their real world pollution," Chris Martin, phone
canvasser, Ohio Citizen Action.
CLEVELAND -- "At 10:45 this
morning I looked out the window from my office desk in downtown
Cleveland and saw a huge orangey brown cloud coming
from Mittal Steel. The haze seemed to be coming from
somewhere within the plant not from the stacks but reached up to
them. I called the Cleveland Division of Air quality
and left a message reporting what I saw,"
Christa Ebert, neighbor of Mittal Steel on West 28th St.,
Office Manager, Ohio Citizen Action.
CLEVELAND -- "ArcelorMittal, the
world's biggest steel maker, plans to take over Bulgarian producer
Kremikovtzi AD, after it is declared insolvent, and invest $650 million
to meet European Union anti-pollution rules. ArcelorMittal made the
proposal in a letter to the government, said Volker Schwich, vice
president of projects for Central and Eastern Europe, in an interview
Tuesday," Cleveland Plain Dealer.
CLEVELAND -- "On Friday, June 6,
175 Cleveland area neighbors gathered at the Museum of Contemporary
Art for the premier viewing of 'Mittal Steel: Clean Up for
Real, the Documentary.' The screening of this short
documentary film about Mittal Steel, Cleveland's biggest polluter, was
followed by a question and answer session where people could
speak their mind on the topic. The film runs 19 minutes and
30 seconds and will be available on our website
for viewing. If you would like a copy of the
documentary mailed to you, please call me at 216.861.5200 or email me
with your address," Liz Ilg, Cleveland area Program Director, Ohio
Citizen Action. More
photos
JHARKHAND,
India -- "Economic
Times reported that ArcelorMittal's proposed 12 million tonnes steel
project in Jharkhand seems to have run into trouble as a company team
comprising of Mr Vijay Bhatnagar CEO for India, Mr Sanka Mishra CEO of
Jharkhand & Orissa projects and Mr PS Prasad GM technical of
ArcelorMittal has been made to retreat from the survey work after
protests by a local group. According to Torpa Block Development Officer
Mr RB Singh, around 500 people of Rania, Karra, Torpa, Kamdara and
Basia blocks in Jharkhand's Khunti and Gumla districts, under the
banner of Adivasi Moolvasi Astitva Rakhya Manch, forced the 6 member
ArcelorMittal team to retreat," SteelGuru.
Michel Wurth,
ArcelorMittal Group Management Board
Member.
CLEVELAND -- "In the spirit of your statements, we are ready to begin
talks with ArcelorMittal on what can be done to protect the health and
safety of the 392,000 people who live within five miles of the
Cleveland mill. Over the years, it has become clear to us that no
ArcelorMittal official in Cleveland or anywhere else in North America
has the authority to conduct such talks. I
have attached a memo containing the evidence supporting this conclusion.
Every company can decide for itself how it distributes authority
internally, of course, and it is apparent that in ArcelorMittal, the
people with the necessary authority for such talks are in London or
Luxembourg. Accordingly, we invite you or another ArcelorMittal
decisionmaker from London or Luxembourg to meet with us without
preconditions," Liz Ilg, Cleveland Program Director, Ohio
Citizen Action.
Jun 5: Dr.
Joseph and Betts Skrha Members of the
Neighbors of Mittal Steel group from the North Broadway neighborhood
CLEVELAND -- "Joe and Betts Skrha have lived on Broadway
Avenue in the North Broadway neighborhood for 54
years. Both had careers in the medical field. In a
conversation about Mittal Steel, Betts and Joe
say, 'We're very unhappy with Mittal Steel because
they keep polluting without thinking about the outcome. Air
pollution is the biggest problem from the mill.' Betts and
Joe explain, 'In the last few months we have observed it getting
worse.' Betts says, 'There are times
when five chimneys are pouring out smoke at the same
time.' Betts and Joe believe
their neighborhood is filled with really good people who take
care of where they live," Kathy Hart, volunteer, Ohio
Citizen Action.
CLEVELAND -- "Please join Ohio Citizen Action and Neighbors of Mittal
Steel this Friday, June 6, at 7 pm at the Museum of
Contemporary Art (MOCA) to celebrate the release of a short documentary
film on Mittal Steel in Cleveland. Come to hear what Mittal
Steel's neighbors have to say about why Mittal should invest in
Cleveland and become a leader in preventing
pollution. The Museum of Contemporary Art is located
at 8501 Carnegie Ave in Cleveland (directions).
For more information call me at 216.861.5200 or email me at lilg@ohiocitizen.org," Liz Ilg, Cleveland
area Program Director, Ohio Citizen Action.
Terry Fedor, General
Manager of ArcelorMittal Cleveland
CLEVELAND --
"ArcelorMittal
Cleveland is committed to environmental excellence and community
engagement, contrary to an individual's allegation in a recent
Associated Press story, 'Environmental
activists target ArcelorMittal' (May 14). Since 2002, we have
spent $156 million to comply with state and federal environmental
regulations. In fact, our control systems of particulate matter average
only 31 percent of the levels permitted under U.S. EPA standards.
Particulate matter in the area surrounding the plant, as measured by
the city of Cleveland, continues to decline," Terry Fedor, General
Manager of ArcelorMittal Cleveland, letter to the editor,
Cleveland Plain Dealer. Published May 31.
CLEVELAND -- "ArcelorMittal
Cleveland's commitments to sustainability were recently acknowledged
with two major recognitions that ultimately provide benefit to our
neighbors as well as to the plant and our employees... 'These
recognitions are the fruits of several years of hard work to make our
plant friendlier to the environment and a better neighbor,' said Terry
Fedor, general manager of ArcelorMittal Cleveland. 'Our mission is to
be a leader in our industry. We must respect the environment along the
way,'" ArcelorMittal Cleveland.
CLEVELAND
--
"Hi, my name is Angelica, I go to Lincoln West High School. I'm writing
in concern of the pollution that is coming from Mittal Steel. With all
this pollution my asthma has been out of control. I have been in the
hospital six times in the last year. I have to do breathing treaments
several times a day. Why don't you start thinking about the community?
when I go to the steel yard all I see is black air. A lot of teens like
me would like to live our lives. But with all this pollution we are not
going far," Angelica, Lincoln West High School.
KOLKATA,
India -- "Residents to be affected by ArcelorMittal’s steel plant in
Patna tehsil today staged a dharna in front of the district collector’s
office where a consultative workshop organised by the UK-based company
on 'Roadmap of corporate social responsibilities activities' was being
held.
'Mittal go back, we don’t want displacement,' shouted activists of
Mittal Pratirodh Manch and All India Krishak Khet Mazdoor Sangh, who
have been opposing the steel project.
'We will not allow the plant to come up on agricultural land. We are
ready to face bullet,' said Muralidhar Sardar," The
Telegraph.
The entrance to the so-called
billionaires row at Kensington Palace Gardens
LONDON, UK --
"A neo-Georgian house on the so-called Billionaire's Boulevard in
London is to become Britain's most expensive when it is bought by the
steel industrialist Lakshmi Mittal for £117 million ($230 million). Mr
Mittal, Britain's richest man, is understood to be in negotiations to
buy the property in Kensington Palace Gardens, one of the most
prestigious addresses in London.
When the deal goes through, the house will be the magnate's second
property in the tree-lined private avenue near the Royal residence that
was home to Diana, Princess of Wales," Tom Peterkin, The
Telegraph. Published May 24.
BHUBANESWAR,
India -- "After Aditya Birla Group, Vedanta Aluminium Limited, Tata
Steel and POSCO-India, it is now the turn of global steel giant
ArcelorMittal to face opposition from the villagers facing displacement
by its proposed 12 million tonne capacity mega steel project in
Orissa's Keonjhar district. It was for the second day on Monday that
residents from as many as 17 villages from Patna area of the district
staged a protest demonstration to oppose the steel venture,"
Kalinga Times.
BANGALORE, India --
Will Mittal Steel be a raw deal for Orissa?,
"With Mittal Steel moving into India, it becomes even more important to
look at the firm's poor environmental and social track record around
the world in its rise to become the world's largest steel maker,"
Sunita Dubey, India Together. Published August 8,
2007.
Dana Sadykova, Karaganda
Ecological Museum, Kazakhstan, speaks about pollution problems and
worker deaths from Mittal Steel's mill and coal mines in her country.
To her left is Samson Mokoena, Vaal Environmental Justice Alliance,
South Africa.
CLEVELAND --
"Last week Phil Pavarinni, from the Tremont neighborhood next to
ArcelorMittal Steel in Cleveland, and I traveled to Luxembourg to
attend
the May 13 annual shareholders meeting of ArcelorMittal. We met with
neighbors of ArcelorMittal plants from around the world and formed a
new group called 'Global Action on ArcelorMittal'. The group includes
people from the Czech Republic, South Africa, Kazakhstan,
Ukraine, Romania, India, and the United States. Leading up to our
meeting in Luxembourg we produced a joint
report
on ArcelorMittal's pollution record, which we handed out at
a press conference and at ArcelorMittal's annual shareholders meeting.
The group met with Michel Wurth, an ArcelorMittal board member, and
later with Claude Turmes, Vice Chairman of the Group of Greens/European
Free Alliance in the European Parliament. Global Action on
ArcelorMittal
plans to expand its membership to include neighbors from other
nations, share information, and launch a website," Liz Ilg, Cleveland
Area Program Director, Ohio Citizen Action.
May 22: News
from two Mittal neighborhoods:
Mittal
officials insist they
cannot hear the jet
engine noise coming
from their own Cleveland Works
CLEVELAND --
"I got a call from Mittal Steel yesterday. He told me that Tom Krizman
retired and he was calling back for him. He said he was following up on
my complaint from May 17. He said he gave strict orders to his guards
that they're not allowed to take anymore calls at the security gate
from my phone number. The number at the gates is for emergencies only.
Neighbors are supposed to call the good neighbor hotline and someone
will call back on the next business day. He said he followed up on the
last noise complaint and he said there was no noise recorded to match
up with the complaint. I said I'm so sick of Mittal Steel telling the
neighbors that we're wrong and they're right. I heard the noise and saw
the black smoke myself. I wouldn't be complaining if it wasn't there.
At that time of night I would be sleeping instead of wasting my time. I
am so fed up with them. They should come up here and be a neighbor for
a while," Donna Levandowski, neighbor of Mittal Steel on Independence
Rd., leader in the Neighbors of Mittal Steel group.
KENSINGTON, LONDON,
ENGLAND --
"Property sources told The Times that the family of Lakshmi Mittal, the
billionaire steel magnate and Britain’s richest man, had made an
approach for Mr [Noam] Gottesman’s home, which is next door to the
Israeli Embassy.
Mr Mittal’s son Aditya, 32, has been searching for a London house of
his own over the past few months but wants to stay near his family. Mr
Mittal lives in Kensington Palace Gardens, having paid £57 million in
2004 to buy the house from Bernie Ecclestone, the Formula One chief,"
James Rossiter, Times of London.
SYDNEY, Australia -- "The head of Luxembourg-based ArcelorMittal,
Indian billionaire Lakshmi Mittal made his fortune in steel and spent
it on steel, too, in the form of a 262', US$198.5 million superyacht.
The Amevi, launched last year, boasts a swimming pool, a helipad, a gym
and room for 12 guests. Lakshmi and Roman are just two of the
multi-millionaires and billionaires from emerging markets who are
snapping up superyachts," Jeni Bone, Marine Business News.
Published May19.
CLEVELAND -- "The former LTV Corp. plant along the Cuyahoga River is
running flat out. Last year, the mill produced 2.5 million tons of
steel. This year, it's slated to hit 3 million tons, said Terry Fedor,
general manager of the Cleveland mill as well as rolling mills in
Weirton, W.Va., and Lackawanna, N.Y., and coke ovens in Warren.
'I think a lot of it has to do with the weak dollar,' he said.
The dollar has kept imports at bay, providing more opportunity for
domestic mills. Also, some of the plant's customers are exporting more,
Fedor said," Peter Krouse, Cleveland Plain Dealer.
Published May18.
CLEVELAND -- Did
ArcelorMittal Steel ever plant native flowers, trees and shrubs to
green up the steel valley?, "Environmental
activists have argued that ArcelorMittal - the world's largest steel
company - still has much to do in the way of cleaning up the air coming
from its stacks. Still, the native greenery sprouting up so far
represents one green promise that is coming to fruition - even if only
on a fraction of the mill's 1,000-acre property," Michael Scott, Cleveland
Plain Dealer.
May 16: Kids, do you or someone you know have
asthma?
CLEVELAND
-- "Get involved in this good neighbor campaign. Read and color, Sarah
and James: Can Dragons Be Good Neighbors? Learn
how two kids convince a dirty dragon to clean up and be a better
neighbor to their community. Then, write your own letters to Mittal
Steel's local plant manager, Terry Fedor, asking him to do the same.
Send us a copy, and we may post it on our website. Thank you and have
fun. To get a free copy email
Jessica Kramer or attend the Hessler
Street Fair this weekend. Please
include your name and your mailing address in the email.
Please allow one week for the book to arrive," Liz Ilg, Cleveland Area
Program Director, Ohio Citizen Action.
200 protesters marched to
protest Mittal Steel pollution in Vanderbijlpark on Tuesday.
CAPETOWN, SOUTH AFRICA -- "A
coalition of activists targeted ArcelorMittal at its annual general
meeting in Luxembourg yesterday, to mark the start of a campaign that
aims to mould the world's biggest steel maker into a more responsible
global corporate citizen. The coalition's strategy appears to be one of
embarrassing ArcelorMittal's senior international management to the
extent that it will take a hand in improving local conditions across
nine countries. Two South African representatives were among those
present to highlight ArcelorMittal South Africa's poor environmental
legacy at its Vanderbijlpark facility," Ingi Salgado, Business
Report & Independent. Published May 14, 2008.
LUXEMBOURG
-- "A newly-formed coalition of environmental and community groups -
Global Action on ArcelorMittal - today released a report showing how
local residents and workers around the world pay the price of
ArcelorMittal's success. The report was launched at a press conference
in Luxembourg to coincide with the company's annual shareholder
meeting. It contains nine case studies detailing ArcelorMittal's legacy
of pollution, environmental damage, health impacts and poor worker
safety. In the report the coalition demands that ArcelorMittal
implements environmental and health action plans in consultation with
residents adjacent to the plants and plant workers in a democratic
manner; Governments should not give ArcelorMittal perverse tax breaks
or allow it to dispossess people from their land; and Public financial
institutions should not support polluting industry such as
ArcelorMittal, which has extensive resources of its own," press release,
BankWatch Network.
LUXEMBOURG -- At the
ArcelorMittal shareholder meeting yesterday, Liz Ilg, Ohio Citizen
Action's Cleveland Program Director, asked Lakshmi Mittal, "Why do
neighbors of your facilities around the world have to breathe rotten
eggs, and children can't play outside in their yards?" An ArcelorMittal
official approached Ilg and Phil Pavarinni, a Mittal Steel neighbor
from Cleveland, and
started to say that we shouldn't be allowed to speak. At this point,
Pavarinni stood up and said, "We're shareholders, and we were told
that's we're not allowed to speak. I don't know if that's how most
companies would want to run their business." After Lakshmi Mittal
defended his company's pollution record, Ilg told him, "You should come
to Cleveland. Come and breathe the air that we're breathing there."
AKRON -- "Liz Ilg, an activist at Ohio
Citizen Action, said the steelmaker has refused to
respond to concerns flagged by local people near the Cleveland plant it
bought in 2005 - including letters from more than 526 doctors and
nurses detailing health problems linked to air pollution.
She says the plant manager last met with campaigners in 2005 but the
company had since decided to 'cut that dialogue off and address it only
with public relations and no longer with decision makers.' ... 'The EPA
doesn't even expect the company to test in every part of the facility,'
she said. 'They (ArcelorMittal) plug in their production numbers and
voila, they're in compliance every year. So they look really good on
paper but in reality they have no idea how much they are polluting,'"
Aoife White, Akron Beacon Journal.
LONDON, England --
"ArcelorMittal, the world's largest steelmaker, faces charges of
leaving a trail of environmental destruction in its plants across the
globe as environment campaigners plan to descend on Luxembourg next
week to protest the company's lack of sensitivity towards pollution
control. Protestors will present Arcelor's shareholders at its annual
meeting with a 40-page dossier of evidence about the firm's lack of
interest in controlling pollution at its manufacturing units across the
globe, from Orissa in India to Vanderbijlpark in South Africa, a media
report said today... Liz Ilg, from Citizen Action
in Cleveland, Ohio, demanded that the company put more effort into
cutting pollution at her local works," Daily News and
Analysis.
LUXEMBOURG -- "Steel giant
ArcelorMittal will be accused of leaving a trail of environmental
destruction in its wake this week when campaigners descend on
Luxembourg to protest at its annual meeting... Liz Ilg, from Citizen
Action in Cleveland, Ohio, will demand the company put
more effort into cutting pollution at her local works. She said: 'This
is the most urban steel mill in the US: they've got more people living
around them than any other plant - 390,000 within five miles.' Mittal
took over the plant from International Steel Corporation in 2004. 'The
main message is: start to look at pollution prevention at your
facilities. The best way to do that is to sit down and talk to
community members,' said Ilg. She has collected 34,000 signatures on a
petition, but says the company has so far refused to meet local
people,'" Heather Stewart, The Guardian Observer.
CLEVELAND -- "Fine particle
pollution is the most dangerous health threat to people from air
pollution. I am aware that you have received communications from a
large number of residents and local doctors and nurses expressing
concerns and urging you to play a leadership role in having Mittal
Steel develop and implement a much more effective program of pollution
prevention. I am writing to ask you and other leaders at Mittal Steel
to sit down with residents and community leaders in your neighborhood
to develop a working relationship that will lead to implementation of
effective pollution prevention programs at Mittal Steel," Dale Miller,
State Senator, Ohio's 23rd District.
May 8: Mittal Steel neighbors in Central meet
CLEVELAND -- "Neighbors of
Mittal Steel who live and work in the Central neighborhood met Tuesday
night to discuss the odors and soot they are dealing with from the
company. Central neighbor and property owner Dionne
Carmichael hosted the meeting, and Mary Keith, Annie Coleman,
Lashunda Lee, Henry Glover, Mary Seawright, Luther Smith, Ada
Averyhart, Ina Roth, Rachael Belz, and I attended. The group
plans to begin keeping logs of when
they smell rotten egg odors and see soot coming into the
neighborhood as well as to plan other activities this summer
to educate more neighbors in Central about the pollution from Mittal
Steel," Liz Ilg,
Cleveland Area Program Director, Ohio Citizen Action.
CHESTERTON, IN -- "A steelworker died Wednesday in a 'freak accident'
at the Burns Harbor facility of Mittal Steel USA, after being pinned
between two girders.
Paul Gipson, president of United Steelworkers Local 6787 identified the
member as Russell Payne, 60, of Portage. Payne leaves a wife and two
sons... A total of 27 people have died at the mill in its 42-year
history, Gipson said. Most recently, in July 2006, Kevin Sullivan, 50,
of LaPorte, was crushed to death at No. 1 Coke Battery when he was
caught between the battery and a machine which opens its doors. 'A
steel mill is a terrible place to die,' Gipson said," Kevin Nevers, Chesterton
Tribune.
Apr 28: 526 Cleveland area doctors and nurses write
Mittal Steel
CLEVELAND -- "Since the spring
of 2007, 526 Cleveland area doctors and nurses have written Mittal
Steel's plant manager Terry Fedor urging the Cleveland manager to work
on pollution prevention at the downtown mill. 'Presently I work as a
hospice nurse,' writes registered nurse Theresa Giersz in a letter to
Mr. Fedor in September 2007. 'Dying from a lung disease is one of the
hardest to witness, not being able to breathe is terrifying. I am aware
that lung disease is caused by many factors. One of those factors is
the pollution coming from your factory.' The Neighbors of Mittal Steel
group and Ohio Citizen Action continue to invite Mr. Fedor to meet and
begin dialogue on how Mittal Steel and the community can work towards
the common interest of producing steel with fewer emissions," Liz Ilg,
Cleveland area Program Director, Ohio Citizen Action.
CLEVELAND -- "Global warming
gets going right here in Cuyahoga County. In fact, only three places in
the United States are more responsible than we are for the carbon
dioxide emissions that most scientists say are leading to accelerating
climate change, a new study claims. Two Ohio counties -- Cuyahoga
(fourth) and Jefferson (14th), home to Steubenville -- rank among the
worst areas for the amount of carbon released into the atmosphere,
according to the first-of-its-kind inventory of all 3,141 U.S. counties
by researchers at Purdue University," Michael Scott, Cleveland
Plain Dealer.
BALTIMORE, MD -- "A young
worker remained in critical condition Monday evening after suffering
serious burns in a chemical explosion at the former Bethlehem Steel
plant in Sparrows Point, fire officials said.
Baltimore County firefighters responded to an explosion at what is now
the Arcelor Mittal plant just after 12:30 p.m. Monday, said department
spokeswoman Elise Armacost. The contractor, who was not identified, was
burned by a burst of molten slag — a 3,000-degree steel waste product —
that he dumped into a pit of water, officials said," Jaime Malarkey, TheExaminer.
NEW YORK, NY -- Forbes
richest people in the world stocks, "The
fourth-richest person in the world is Lakshmi Mittal, a resident of
London and the head of the largest steel manufacturer in the world,
Arcelor Mittal," TheStreet.
CLEVELAND -- "The top twenty carbon dioxide-emitting counties in the
United States have been identified by a research team led by Purdue
University... Gurney says Vulcan, which is named for the Roman god of
fire, quantifies all of the CO2 that results from the burning of fossil
fuels such as coal and gasoline. It also tracks the hourly outputs at
the level of factories, power plants, roadways, neighborhoods and
commercial districts," Science Daily. Published
April 17.
CLEVELAND -- "Donna Levandowski,
neighbor of Mittal Steel on Independence Road and leader in the
Neighbors of Mittal Steel group, has been taking notes on the noise
levels in her backyard from Mittal Steel. The average person cannot
sleep if subjected to 45 decibels of noise, according to the Columbia
Encyclopedia. 'At 120 decibels the ear registers pain, but hearing
damage begins at a much lower level, about 85 decibels.' The following
log shows readings starting at 72 decibels. All of the following
readings are taken at night or early morning hours. Eleven out of
twelve of these noise readings are above 85 decibels, the level at
which hearing damage can begin," Liz Ilg, Cleveland Area Program
Director, Ohio Citizen Action.
VILLAGE
OF RICHFIELD -- "I am writing this letter on behalf of the many
concerned citizen residents of the greater Cleveland area who are
affected by pollution from the Cleveland Arcelor Mittal Steel plant.
This letter is prompted by many requests I have received from my
constituents.
I would encourage you to take an open, proactive approach to the
mitigation of the pollution from the Cleveland Plant," Michael K.
Lyons, Mayor, Village of Richfield. 29 Kb doc.
LONDON,
UK -- "Lakshmi Mittal, Britain's richest man and a prominent Labour
Party donor, has bought his third property in London's most expensive
street for £70 million.
The steel tycoon, whose fortune is estimated at £27 billion, already
owns two large homes in Kensington Palace Gardens, where Princess Diana
spent her last years.
It has now emerged that the Mittal family has bought another home on
the street - nicknamed 'Billionaire's Row' - from the Crown Estate.
The purchase comes just a month after the 58-year-old bought Britain's
most expensive home for £117 million,"Mira
Bar-Hillel, Evening Standard.
CLEVELAND
-- "I attended ArcelorMittal's first virtual shareholder's meeting
yesterday in Second
Life. I was hoping to ask Mr. Mittal what his plans for
investing in pollution controls at the Cleveland Works facility are.
Unfortunately, the company did not plan the event well and so I was
unable to hear or see the presentation let alone ask my question. As
ArcelorMittal continues its foray into the virtual world I hope they
keep in mind their real world pollution," Chris Martin, phone
canvasser, Ohio Citizen Action.
CLEVELAND
--
"Hi, my name is Angelica, I go to Lincoln West High School. I'm writing
in concern of the pollution that is coming from Mittal Steel. With all
this pollution my asthma has been out of control. I have been in the
hospital six times in the last year. I have to do breathing treaments
several times a day. Why don't you start thinking about the community?
when I go to the steel yard all I see is black air. A lot of teens like
me would like to live our lives. But with all this pollution we are not
going far," Angelica, Lincoln West High School.
KOLKATA,
India -- "Residents to be affected by ArcelorMittal’s steel plant in
Patna tehsil today staged a dharna in front of the district collector’s
office where a consultative workshop organised by the UK-based company
on 'Roadmap of corporate social responsibilities activities' was being
held.
'Mittal go back, we don’t want displacement,' shouted activists of
Mittal Pratirodh Manch and All India Krishak Khet Mazdoor Sangh, who
have been opposing the steel project.
'We will not allow the plant to come up on agricultural land. We are
ready to face bullet,' said Muralidhar Sardar," The
Telegraph.
BHUBANESWAR,
India -- "After Aditya Birla Group, Vedanta Aluminium Limited, Tata
Steel and POSCO-India, it is now the turn of global steel giant
ArcelorMittal to face opposition from the villagers facing displacement
by its proposed 12 million tonne capacity mega steel project in
Orissa's Keonjhar district. It was for the second day on Monday that
residents from as many as 17 villages from Patna area of the district
staged a protest demonstration to oppose the steel venture,"
Kalinga Times.
Mittal
officials insist they
cannot hear the jet
engine noise coming
from their own Cleveland Works
CLEVELAND
-- "Get involved in this good neighbor campaign. Read and color, Sarah
and James: Can Dragons Be Good Neighbors? Learn
how two kids convince a dirty dragon to clean up and be a better
neighbor to their community. Then, write your own letters to Mittal
Steel's local plant manager, Terry Fedor, asking him to do the same.
Send us a copy, and we may post it on our website. Thank you and have
fun. To get a free copy email
Jessica Kramer or attend the Hessler
Street Fair this weekend. Please
include your name and your mailing address in the email.
Please allow one week for the book to arrive," Liz Ilg, Cleveland Area
Program Director, Ohio Citizen Action. 
LUXEMBOURG
-- "A newly-formed coalition of environmental and community groups -
Global Action on ArcelorMittal - today released a report showing how
local residents and workers around the world pay the price of
ArcelorMittal's success. The report was launched at a press conference
in Luxembourg to coincide with the company's annual shareholder
meeting. It contains nine case studies detailing ArcelorMittal's legacy
of pollution, environmental damage, health impacts and poor worker
safety. In the report the coalition demands that ArcelorMittal
implements environmental and health action plans in consultation with
residents adjacent to the plants and plant workers in a democratic
manner; Governments should not give ArcelorMittal perverse tax breaks
or allow it to dispossess people from their land; and Public financial
institutions should not support polluting industry such as
ArcelorMittal, which has extensive resources of its own," press release,
BankWatch Network.
LUXEMBOURG -- At the
ArcelorMittal shareholder meeting yesterday, Liz Ilg, Ohio Citizen
Action's Cleveland Program Director, asked Lakshmi Mittal, "Why do
neighbors of your facilities around the world have to breathe rotten
eggs, and children can't play outside in their yards?" An ArcelorMittal
official approached Ilg and Phil Pavarinni, a Mittal Steel neighbor
from Cleveland, and
started to say that we shouldn't be allowed to speak. At this point,
Pavarinni stood up and said, "We're shareholders, and we were told
that's we're not allowed to speak. I don't know if that's how most
companies would want to run their business." After Lakshmi Mittal
defended his company's pollution record, Ilg told him, "You should come
to Cleveland. Come and breathe the air that we're breathing there."
May 13:
ArcelorMittal faces critics
AKRON -- "Liz Ilg, an activist at Ohio
Citizen Action, said the steelmaker has refused to
respond to concerns flagged by local people near the Cleveland plant it
bought in 2005 - including letters from more than 526 doctors and
nurses detailing health problems linked to air pollution.
She says the plant manager last met with campaigners in 2005 but the
company had since decided to 'cut that dialogue off and address it only
with public relations and no longer with decision makers.' ... 'The EPA
doesn't even expect the company to test in every part of the facility,'
she said. 'They (ArcelorMittal) plug in their production numbers and
voila, they're in compliance every year. So they look really good on
paper but in reality they have no idea how much they are polluting,'"
Aoife White, Akron Beacon Journal. 
ArcelorMittal President and CEO Lakshmi
Mittal
BALTIMORE, MD -- "A young
worker remained in critical condition Monday evening after suffering
serious burns in a chemical explosion at the former Bethlehem Steel
plant in Sparrows Point, fire officials said.
Baltimore County firefighters responded to an explosion at what is now
the Arcelor Mittal plant just after 12:30 p.m. Monday, said department
spokeswoman Elise Armacost. The contractor, who was not identified, was
burned by a burst of molten slag — a 3,000-degree steel waste product —
that he dumped into a pit of water, officials said," Jaime Malarkey, The
Examiner. 
CLEVELAND -- "Donna Levandowski,
neighbor of Mittal Steel on Independence Road and leader in the
Neighbors of Mittal Steel group, has been taking notes on the noise
levels in her backyard from Mittal Steel. The average person cannot
sleep if subjected to 45 decibels of noise, according to the Columbia
Encyclopedia. 'At 120 decibels the ear registers pain, but hearing
damage begins at a much lower level, about 85 decibels.' The following
log shows readings starting at 72 decibels. All of the following
readings are taken at night or early morning hours. Eleven out of
twelve of these noise readings are above 85 decibels, the level at
which hearing damage can begin," Liz Ilg, Cleveland Area Program
Director, Ohio Citizen Action.