Prosecution for toxic fumes?

Press, 20 May 1987, Page 6

Prosecution for toxic fumes?

PA Tauranga The Health Department has recommended that the Bay of Plenty Co-op Fertiliser Company;- Ltd, be prosecuted; under the Clean Air Act-for an al-, leged toxic fumes discharge in early April. ; ? Two . residents t of the - Whareroa marae pen- > sioner village at Mount Maunganui required medical treatment' after the fumes swept through the village. Medical problems continue for those who breathed the fumes. The regional air pollution control officer,- Mr Kevin Rolfe, said he was highly critical of inade- - quate records kept by and the lack of emission testin&oione by the company duffing the start-up of the plant that is alleged to

have caused the : discharge, : . The, Health Department study of the Incident found that a discharge of sulphur dioxide; and perhaps sulphur trioxide, escaped train toe sulphuric acid lt was restarted about. 4.15 p.m. on April 6 after arepalr shutdown of about* 10 hours. What concerned him was that the first records available were for. a time 26 minutes after thestartup and the production log did not resume till several hours later. ' , ,<‘ . Stack emimioh , tests were not done, and' the automatic sulphur dioxide readout was amMguous in thayt went off the scale whvfhe plant was shut down, he said.