Unproven Technology
The Bhopal, India plant was established in 1969 by Union Carbide and expanded to produce carbaryl (Methyl isocyanate or "MIC" is a intermediary) by 1979, they hoped that the large agricultural presence in the region would be a potential gold mine as farmers would purchase pesticide in large quantities. The forecast proved to be wrong; Indian farmers struggling with droughts and floods simply could not afford the chemicals, and by the end of the early 1980s, the plant had ceased active manufacture.
With the end of active manufacturing, the plant was effectively left to rot with sub-standard maintenance, myriad unsafe cost cutting measures and the fact that Union Carbide had been secretly installing untested technology since its establishement in the plant all combined to play in the failure of the plant.
There were 6 safety systems at the plant at the time of the failure, but all were either turned off as part of cost cutting measures or under repair when they were needed the most:
- Flare Tower: Designed to burn off gas; the connecting pipe had been disconnected for maintenance.
- Vent Gas Scrubber: Could have detoxified the leaking gas, but it had been turn off. In addition it was out of lye and undersized.
- Water Curtain: Prevents toxic gas release, it was undersized.
- Pressure Valve: Defective.
- Mandatory Refrigeration Unit for MIC: Turned off to cut costs.
- Run Off Tank: Already contained MIC.
"A Disgruntled Employee"
The unsafe conditions and deplorable maintenance at the Union Carbide plant would come to a head at 12:02 AM on December 3, 1984 when a worker did a routine pipe flushing; multiple stopcocks failed in the corroded pipe and water flowed freely into tank E610 which held 40 tons of MIC. This led to the catastrophic events as the exothermic reaction blew the tank out of its concrete sarcophagus and poisoned the city.
According to Union Carbide however, the resulting disaster was not the result of corporate negligence, but of a disgruntled employee who attempted to ruin a batch of pesticide. The problem is Union Carbide has never attempted to charge, much less reveal the name of this employee.
Union Carbide's and its current owner Dow Chemical Company's (Purchased in 2001) refusal to appear in India to face charges is only further proof of their negligence, in fact, Union Carbide publicly admitted their refusal to submit to the summons years ago. Warren Anderson, Union Carbide's CEO at the time of the disaster, is also named as defendant, was detained and released on bail when he visited India immediately following the disaster, but he has never returned to face the charges against him as well. Extradition attempts are only half-hearted and have never succeeded.
Twenty Years of Contamination
Amidst the ruins of the Bhopal plant, children play and women gather firewood. The vine strewn ruins of the Union Carbide facility remain as deadly as ever. Located near the heart of the city, only half-hearted attempts at cleanup of the site have been attempted. Pools of mercury contaminated water, open waste containers, and batches of MIC remain strewing around the compound seeping into the groundwater and poisoning a new generation of victims.