What Lies Beneath Rattlechain Lagoon?

It has recently been announced that this useless document which sets out proposals for building yet more houses over the next several years to 2039 attracted thousands of comments- most I would imagine in objection. It was also revealed that most of these came from within the borough of Dudley itself!

This is perhaps not a surprise when this council itself was responsible for the publication and processing of said useless plan. It is clear to me that the fact that they put out a flyer to every household in their borough, whereas at least with Sandwell, this council did not, that the councillors in Dudley were intent on ensuring maximum vocal opposition to proposals so that they could then turn round at a later date to remove “controversial” proposals from within their own back yard. It is playing to the gallery, and there were no shortage of moments throughout the process where Dudley councillors were whipping up public opinion to make this happen.

Indeed, the latest stop press headline sees this council removing two such sites from the plan, before this even happens. I would imagine that this was the plan all along, conveniently timed just two months before local elections, where they can claim to have “listened to the people” etc.  😡

The plan is therefore to not build houses in Dudley, and fuck the rest of the Black Country and West Midlands; they can have them there.

I have looked before at the statistics regards land areas in the four black country boroughs and populations from the last census in 2011, and I doubt that these will have changed much when the 2021 census becomes available in terms of the dire population density compared with other areas in the West Midlands and the country.

Sandwell has the highest density of population living in any of the Black country boroughs and the highest density per hectare. This is demonstrated by the 2011 census figures – Sandwell has 36 people per hectare compared with the West Midlands and National figure of just 4. Nature conservation it seems is also shrinking as more so called “brownfield land” , that has re-wilded is usurped for this purpose.

The Birmingham and Black Country Wildlife Trust did an excellent response to this nonsense, and I will be looking more at this, including their objections to land around rattlechain in another post.

Draft Black County Plan Full Consultation Response – WTBBC_6 (1)

Sandwell council appears intent on destroying green space and building houses, such as the bent deal at Friar park with the former Severn Stench land. They want more council tax as they hike up the bill by 4.99% per household, and the crumbs from Government, (sorry our tax payers money) , only becomes music to their ears when getting hand outs from Tonka’s combined authority for so called “clean up”.

I have taken one aspect of Street’s hand outs to The Information commissioner regards land at Shidas Lane, where a proxy appears to have facilitated money being given by grant for land owned by a Jersey Registered company which was formerly the Accles and Pollock waste lagoon.  This is deeply suspicious and goes against Mayor Street’s own claims about not approving of tax avoidance schemes. We shall see if his office are forced to reveal how much was paid out, but be in no doubt, I will take this all the way to reveal what has gone on here, and also ask questions as to why Walsall council appear to have a stake in the land in Sandwell.

Come the summer when the next stage of this “plan” comes out, it is your duty if you do not live in Dudley to ensure that your voice is heard. Bone idleness and leave it to someone else is not an option here in Sandwell. The councillors are not on your side, they are on their own side and will not speak out for you. Prove me wrong, but we shall see…..

Thou was a complete tosser…

There is nothing more perverse to me than the Liberal mindset. It is a thinking based on some noble large intention, but the problem for the Liberal is that it is completely unobtainable and doomed to failure in the real world. The Liberal however cannot and will not see that, blindly believing that their big idea trumps all others and that by persuasion, (or brainwashing), a tiny few can sway the opinion of the many, particularly if they have the money to do so.

They are also fond of unions, the EU being a prime example, but like all unions they are grossly unequal and based on a pyramidal system of hierarchy, where the Liberal elite can make the most money from their place at the summit. The wealth does not cascade down at all to those at the bottom, but they bizarrely actually believe that they are doing “good” in the world through “philanthropy” and helping the poor by attempting to change their behaviour . It becomes even more misplaced when they also attach some religious benevolence to it in “doing God’s work” through secret societies.

To a Liberal when they look in the mirror, they truly believe they are seeing the face of God. A free press, individualism and non conformity that they preach is a smokescreen for “do it my way or it’s the highway for you.” Modern day pricks like Justin Trudeau show how when you scratch a Liberal, what you find is a hypocritical despotic Fascist.

#BlackfaceHitler Liberal twat-A theme we shall return to at the end of this post with these warped thinkers…

And so to Arthur Albright (b 1811), one of many of the fake religion of Quakers, (they are not, just a society of Liberal business friends), who I have alluded to before were about family capitalist monopolies. This post is based on a very difficult to find book written after his death in 1900 entitled “notes on his life”. It is a year by year summary of his dealings and is compiled by his family. The rough page edging in the 162 numbered  volume shows that it appears to have been handmade and guillotined and cut to fit. Bizarrely, it often calls Albright “Our Father”, as though he has somehow been elevated to deity status.

Some of this was shortened into the company history of Albright and Wilson some 50 years later, but this primary source is more interesting and complete. It contains anecdotes and some of the writings of “AA” himself, punctuated with “thees” and “thous” throughout, as the weirdos spoke in this way.

Albright was born in Oxfordshire, one of ten children to William and Rachael Albright.

After an apprenticeship in his uncles shop, Albright pottered about before joining his brother in law Edmund Sturge in Birmingham as a manufacturing chemist. In 1844 he decided to produce the ghastly phosphorus, then used for matches. This was started in Selly Oak in the City using imported bone ash from South America. At this time he was already “friendly” with other dark side Quakers like the Lloyds and the Cadbury’s.

One of the relations of the Lloyds was his future wife Rachael Stacey whom he married in 1848. They banged out 8 kids between 1849 and 1861, including the revolting blood sport enthusiast George (girls name) Albright. Indeed, both the families appear to have revelled in this elite savagery, as I have outlined HERE.

Quaker star crossed lovers

MEET THE FUCKERS….

They lived at addresses in the posh part of Birmingham, including the pretentiously named “Mariemont” in Edgbaston. This would have been a very different set of digs to the shithole smog abodes of Oldbury where their workforce toiled.

Production switched here largely based on the canal shipment lines, and it is claimed that Albright himself perused the BCN. Railway lines were also to prove advantageous, and this family and that of his partner in grime would be strongly associated with the GWR lines.

Arthur’s big USP was red phosphorus, which he learned of after meeting an Austrian professor. This amorphous phosphorus was not as poisonous as yellow(white phosphorus) and did not spontaneously combust in air at room temperature. Says the book;

“This branch of the business was pursued not only with the hope of profit, but because , in our father’s opinion, it would benefit mankind by securing a match both better and safer than the ordinary one. “ Yeah sure.  😡

The exhibition of this material coincided with the move to Oldbury in 1851. Though the partnership with his uncle ended in 1855, his new one with John Wilson did not in fact begin in 1851 as claimed. Wilson also married Rachael Albright’s sister, and so we can see here as to how these people operated in family circles, as well as inter cousin marrying.

Albright travelled extensively around the world on business; supposedly so his family claim, they packed him off when he became depressed in that he could not change and mould the world into his thinking.

Claims are made about his man of peace and his heroics as well as his involvement with ending slavery and campaigning for those who were supposedly “freed men” after The American Civil War. I have looked at this however in context, as the Liberal in him would have seen economic opportunity.

The real mask about his altruism and that of his family fanbase is however laid bare towards the end of his life when the cult gathered to celebrate his and Rachael’s Golden Wedding Anniversary. A bizarre ritual pantomime is described complete with verse and theatrics. The sickness sees his grandchild Colin Scott-Moncrieff Jnr dress up, and I have no doubt blacked up as “an African negro.”

Furthermore other seed of his children dress up as “gardening” and “hospitality”. So in this regard, the whole continent of Africa and its people are accessories and plaything pastimes comparable in value to his and his wife’s interests.

To allow a child to act out such a fantasy shows the type of “moral” calibre of this Liberal cult. It is further evidence of how this political sickness champions its own “white saviour complex” , where Arthur Albright is seen as saving a whole continent based on letters he had written to other white men, and played out as a role play part by his own white grandchild.

It is not in letters that Arthur Albright and his endeavours should be defined, but in actions like this. In creating a vile polluting factory in Oldbury and elsewhere that was used in war purposes, he gave nothing to the areas in life and in death.

As to his legacy, what is extraordinary is the fate of two of these grandchildren of his in later life. The son of revolting George , Martin (Toby), was killed in fighting in Palestine in 1917. I very much doubt that his Grandfather would have approved, and yet such martyrdom would see him declared a “hero” by the Liberal class, even though he was little more than a 20th Century Crusader in such lands under the guise of The British Empire’s Egyptian Expeditionary Force.

The fate of young Colin, the Caucasian “African Negro”, is even more poetic. Initially his death in Egypt in 1908, just 10 years after his blacking up performance in Edgbaston, was wrongly attributed to be his father, who was involved for many years under British Empire guise to be a civil engineer.

Colin the younger appears to have got a cushy job, all through his father’s connections and “friends” of course, but appears to have fallen foul of African indigenous peoples at the hands of the dervishes.  😆 The Kinross-shire Advertiser of 9th May 1908 details what was then known.

This Oxford man it appears had travelled to  “Afric’s sunny fountains” in order to keep the locals in line- particularly the Islamic Mahdi. So much for campaigning against slavery and oppression like his Grandfather eh,  😆  😆  😆 How dare the natives of a country occupied by British invasion have a belief system that was frowned upon by such Liberal thinking men.  😆 (GET MY POINT ABOUT “LIBERALS”?)

Of course , the “savages” under the command of Sheikh Abdel Kader (yes that appears to have really been his name) are portrayed as such whilst the white knight from England was engaging in “peace”. The romancing of his death is told by his own father in another article from the  16th June 1908 Civil & Military Gazette (Lahore). Obviously this also served as a propaganda exercise, as all war stories do about “gallant” and noble deaths.

I think it is quite extraordinary that one cult should say of another “crush them instantly before they attain any size”. It perhaps once again underlines my point about how these people really think of others in terms of interventionist foreign policy and the hypocrisy that went with it. 

“crush them instantly before they attain any size”

The contrast of the man of peace compared to the elected “prophet” is bullshit. Scott-Moncrieff took a pen to a sword fight and got it up him, and he probably didn’t like it up him.  😆  😆  😆

This is what you get Arthur Albright et al for believing in your interventionist Liberal shite and trying to coerce people into your way of thinking. Leave them alone to get on with their lives FFS!

The problem with characters like this is that they become defined by other liberal writers and historians who erase their darker side from history. “Whiter than white” is perhaps the best epitaph for them. They were never “gallant” and they were never “heroes”. Theirs is a his-story eulogy and they are always Liberal with the truth. 

“Get Thee to a Nunnery”

His partnership with John Wilson spawned the chemical vile polluter of his name, and like most of his peers in business, he also had political aims for furthering his business links via the philanthropist Liberal fakery.

In 1874, the pompous do-gooder manufacturer of white phosphorus Arthur Albright stood for Parliament at the age of  63.  Two seats were up for grabs that year, and AA stood as a Liberal candidate, though it seems he was not even wanted by this bunch of self righteous tossers.  😆 and styled himself as an “Independent Liberal”.

It appears from the result that dozy Arthur split the Lib vote, and if he had stood down, the other Liberal candidate would have took the seat. As it was, Two Conservative MP’s were elected, with the phosphorus maker gaining only 18.9% of the vote in second to last place.    .

Vote details via wikipedia

The Worcestershire Chronicle of  21st February 1874 laid into Mr Albright in big style.

“The election in East Worcestershire was a disaster, in which we take it  Mr Arthur Albright , with his one idea are responsible.” 

So what was Arthur’s big bright  “one idea” for the people of his constituency? Some clues come from an election advertisement from 5th February 1874 Birmingham Daily Post.

It appears that Mr Albright was keen on prostitutes.  😛 Specifically he championed the repeal of The Contagious Diseases Acts, which were designed to put those suspected of prostitution in “Lock Hospitals”. Venereal disease was widespread in Victorian society, and the Act attempted to stop the spread to sailors and soldiers around military establishments. Perhaps he didn’t want the soldiers to be able to fight?

How strange that a Liberal would oppose lockdowns of those infected to “stop the spread” and requiring some form of pass test to get out- it’s not something you see the likes of The Independent championing today.  😆

Obviously the love of whores in East Worcestershire was not that great, well at least of a  platonic nature.  😆

I’m not sure if this English Valjean gave any such women a job in his factory to get them out of a life of Vice? I’d suggest he would not have wanted them anywhere near his own male workforce or their retorts.

To top it all, “poor” Arthur even got successfully sued by a hotel owner for not paying his bill for use of rooms etc.  😆

Thursday 5th February 1874 Newspaper: Birmingham Daily Post

All is not what it seemed……

Samuel Barnett was quite clearly a local rogue in the Tipton area, and with the involvement of his sons into the brickmaking empire things don’t appear to have got any better, even after his accidental bizarre death.

The canal breach of 1899 was just one incident where his activities at Rattlechain were called into question. I have also previously outlined how workers at Samuel Barnett‘s dangerous Rattlechain brickworks site had died but had received little in the way of public attention. Another had seriously broken his leg leaving him unable to work. 

In these cases, they attempted to put blame on their own employees rather than their dangerous practices, in a time when health and safety at work did not exist.

I have found another story however which puts into context the exploitation of this local wealthy man and his sons of his workforce, who as local councillors ,Barnett Senior and then his son William would have been well placed in civic circles. Did this raise any eyebrows however amongst the other band of elite industrialists who bought their way into pompous local legislature? I somewhat doubt it as they were no doubt all onto the same crack. Nepotism, cronyism and crookedness have never left the town of Oldbury to this day.

The story from the  4th April 1903 Worcestershire Chronicle details how Barnett and sons were fined £6 2 shillings for employing a boy under the age of 18. The age is not given but the term “boy” implies to me that he would have been barely a teenager, if that.

Even worse Harry Ball had once worked a shift of 30 hours! Can you even imagine working beyond a whole day into the next without stopping and the consequences that could have occurred through physical exhaustion!

It is even stated that the company based in Dudley Port had been previously fined, no doubt for the exact same offence.

suffer the little children

The piece from which the picture at the top of this post is taken dates 9 years later, and I believe that the son in the picture is William- there was never any “Julius”.

Like his father before him, he also became a councillor, and this absolute sycophantic letter to the Dudley Chronicle from 22nd March 1919 from a Labour rimmer from Dudley Road singing his praises should be put in context with the facts of the case above.

stomach churning puke

“The working man’s children” of the area had a playing field to play in – after their 30 hour shift at the chain no doubt, FFS! More than ever, this article is evidence for me of why these industrialist wannabe “socialist” politicians should never be feted as being community stalwarts or remembered as somehow giving something to the community. Perhaps Willy Barnett was a communist “in spirit” as they do seem to like child slavery in such countries where it unfortunately exists. The Barnett family were child exploitation criminals, and their brickmaking empire moulded in dodgy practices.

No doubt some other pompous political arsehole who followed them was responsible for getting a street in Tipton named after these crooked shiesters; so shame on them too.

The brickmaking industry in this area, as shown by their pollution in 1938 was notable then as it is now. A coal strike in 1912 appears to show how the Barnett’s two brickworks at Rattlechain and Stour Valley were shut down as a result of a lack of fuel, and thus how dependent they were on environment soiling coal and the pollution that went with it.

Saturday 9th March 1912 Newspaper: Bromsgrove & Droitwich Messenger

At least this would have temporarily stopped the Barnett’s from exploiting and abusing children at their wretched brick works. 

As evidenced in the last post, matches containing white phosphorus were deadly for consumers, but even more so for the poor unfortunates who made them, particularly for scumbag Quaker companies like Bryant and May.

The toxicity of these matches had been known by their makers, politicians and everyone else to be deadly poisonous for decades, yet still their manufacture with The Devil’s element  continued into the new Century.

In 1906, the political class, does what it always has done in making some pompous declaration, as it does today about “climate change” issues, and came up with the title “The International Convention respecting the Prohibition of the Use of White (Yellow) Phosphorus in the Manufacture of Matches.”

The treaty forbade the use of P4 in matches, and also banned the sale and import of said matches, yet it did not come into force for several years, and Britain was not an immediate signatory either.

The scale of import of matches into Britain is shown in the article below from the time, which suggests that instead of poisoning British workers as they had been for decades, the scum match makers were now using cheap foreign expendable labour instead. Around 4 million estimated boxes of white phosphorus matches were thought to be being imported in 1907. 

9th December 1908 Newspaper: Daily Telegraph & Courier (London)

I came across a copy of the treaty, and set it out below; it is written in both French and English, given the place where it was negotiated.

The treaty as signed on 26/9/06 was only brought forward by Britain two years later on 28/12/08.

The small print of this is that Britain only banned the use in the United Kingdom, and not its “empire”, sorry (countries invaded in the name of royalty). I would therefore wager that companies making these matches sprung up in India and other such countries, where labour rights would have been non existent.

There is a long list of pompousness about those involved as heads of state, and one can see from this that these wankers would be very prevalent in just 8 years after the signing of the 8 article point treaty for engaging in the deadliest war the world had ever seen – INCLUDING THE USE OF WHITE PHOSPHORUS IN WEAPONS OF WAR TO KILL PEOPLE. 

Albright and Wilson of course would benefit by producing said chemical for this purpose for Britain in the run up to and during The Second World War, as well as for France. 

The procrastination of Britain’s new law would then be kicked out in hoarded stocks for even longer after the date of “ban”, as evidenced by the article below from the time.

4th January 1909 Newspaper: London Daily News

The shallowness of such conventions continues to this day, in the use of this chemical weapons being classified as “smoke screening” by Governments and militaries across the globe.

This white phosphorus misadventure concerns a monsieur who got more than he bargained for when striking a light in Paris. The newspaper reporting the matter on 24th August 1878 was the Kenilworth Advertiser.

He had struck a match using his thumb nail, with some of the white phosphorus getting under his finger nail. Dramatic events appear to have occurred when the poison spread to his whole arm. Within 27 hours the systemic poisoning had killed him.  This is just one of many examples of why these matches and the trade that made them were so dangerous and why they had to be banned. The chemical of course would continue to be made and both people and the environment.  😥

Are you lucky enough to live in the 1km HSE consultation zone?

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO YOU, except if you worked for Albright and Wilson or Rhodia, in which case UP YER BUM!!

Yes it’s that time of year when Solvay push a calendar through local doors blowing their own trumpets, and trying to keep a lid on their own apparatus in the vile production units containing enough dangerous chemicals to wipe out an entire city.

This year, tomorrow to be exact, marks 13 years to the day since they released a toxic assault onto the local area.

It took years for the truth to come out about that one.

                 >>>>>>DOWNLOAD YOUR FREE CALENDAR BELOW<<<<<< 

TOXIC CALENDAR 2022

Don’t forget,

The information contained in this calendar is important- please keep it in a *safe place *(preferably not in Oldbury).  😆

The list of deaths at Trinity Street caused by incompetent systems and management failures and the dangerous chemicals being made and stored there have been well documented on this blog- they are part of the Albright and Wilson story, but conveniently edited out of local history books instead of what Oldbury “made” .  🙄

There is however another story concerning the fake Quaker “caring” scumbag families of Albright and Wilson and their workforce, and that is one of poor mental health. Two suicides from newspaper archives reveal that pastoral care at this site appears to have been extremely limited.

The first from the Birmingham Daily Gazette of 17th January 1948 reveals that Thomas Ashton of Harborne  slashed his wrist but also appears to have drunk “disinfectant” whilst in his car at the works. Ashton appears to have been in a prominent position as “chief accountant” at Oldbury. The explanation of “temporary insanity” following post war reorganisation is quite bizarre and frankly unbelievable. What the hell does that even mean anyway?

Ashton is mentioned in the Centenary book “100 years of Phosphorus Making”, (Written just three years later) ,where he is linked to the AW offshoot and ironically named “Holmes Marine Life Protection Association Limited.”

“Mead was replaced in 1929 by Thomas V. Ashton (1929-1948), later assistant Secretary at Oldbury to J.C Wilson.”

Quite incredibly here, they mention that the man was director up to 1948, but not that he had fucking died by his own hand and not resigned the position!  Did they just want to edit out facts like this because it did not suit the narrative of the AW family, or his close links to John Wilson and his activities? Was there something to hide here, as it appears so to me.

I do wonder what he knew or had discovered and why he apparently killed himself, or even if he really did in a David Kelly kind of way!

Just 7 years later, the same paper on 8th June reported on another dead scientist, this time of Phillip Carter, also incredibly living in Harborne. The idea that he had killed himself because of not being able to complete calculations is another unbelievable story, this time coming from another AW individual “Dr Coates”.

The Birmingham Daily Post of the same date also reported the “suicide”.

This reveals that he had gassed himself in his own house, how ironic given the fact that the company he worked for had been gassing the local population for many years with chemical fallout.

Was there really more to this, as it seems incalculable if you’ll excuse the pun. Coates, first name Harold I believe, should have blamed himself as his manager, but oddly he is not even mentioned in the company centenary book either.

We will never know of course what was really going on inside the minds of these men, but working for a toxic employer like Albright and Wilson obviously did not help them at all. Perhaps the balance of their minds was impaired through the toxic chemicals that they came into direct contact with?

#MASKINGMORETHANCHEMISTRY

There is one thing that is certain with major chemical industrial polluters, they not only pollute the environment and despoil people’s lives when in business, but when their plants and associated waste dumps are left behind, the toxic legacy is left with the communities who continue to suffer the blight.

In the case of Albright and Wilson, their former sites have all gone the same way after having been mothballed- about as much use and relevance as the organisation “Scientists for EU” you might say  😆 😆 😆 😆  . Some of these were taken on by the French company Rhodia, (without much change) and subsequently Solvay. Whitehaven, Portishead and Avonmouth have all gone, but other sites used in the production of White phosphorus abroad give some interesting clues as to what such plants emitted, as well as more interestingly to me, what lies beneath rattlechain lagoon!

The disastrous Long Harbour venture where Albright and Wilson blighted that community with pollution killing thousands of fish has been documented HERE. Another lesser known P4 production site which Rhodia and then Solvay took on and acquired into decommissioning is located in the state of Montana. It is known as the Silver Bow complex. This was no Christmas present gift wrapped type of affair however.

This site occupying approximately 1.25 square miles was originally a French owned “Rhöne-Poulènc” company site, of which the chemicals division was spun off into “Rhodia” in 1997 , who of course would take over Albright and Wilson just a couple of years later, only to be swallowed up by Solvay in 2011.

According to a formal EPA document,

“The Facility was constructed in the early 1950s to produce elemental phosphorus. The
crude phosphorus stored in the clarifier was a by-product of elemental phosphorus
production. During the operating life of the Facility, much of the crude phosphorus by-product collected in the clarifier was further processed on-site to recover any remaining
elemental phosphorus. In 1997, processing was terminated at the Facility and the crude
phosphorus sludge remaining in the clarifier, and other locations around the Facility, could no longer be processed on-site.”

Another large document

TOXICOLOGICAL PROFILE FOR WHITE PHOSPHORUS

Prepared by: Sciences International, Inc. Under Subcontract to: Research Triangle Institute Under Contract No. 205-93-0606 Prepared for: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES Public Health Service Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry September 1997

gives some interesting perspective about WP production sites in the US at the close of the millennium.

“4.1 PRODUCTION

The domestic production capacity of elemental phosphorus in 1992 was 294,000 tons (SRI 1992). The demand for elemental phosphorus is expected to decrease (l-2%) during this decade (CMR 1991). The three companies that presently manufacture elemental phosphorus in the United States for sale or distribution are FMC Corp., Pocatello, Idaho; Monsanto Co., Soda Springs, Idaho; and Rhone-Poulenc Inc., Silver Bow, Montana (SRI 1995).”

The operation of this site appears to have been a major blot on the landscape, aren’t they all, with over a million pounds of P4 stated to be on site.

Even worse, a reported 4,035 pounds of this chemical were apparently being emitted to air from this plant, source  Toxics Release Inventory (TR193 1995).

Another EPA report dated 2003 concerning the FMC Pocatello plant mentions the Silver Bow site several times in looking at other White phosphorus producing sites and historic ponds contaminated with this chemical in relation to potential treatments.

epa542r03013

• “(Rhodia, Silver Bow, Montana) indicated that the ponds are not under corrective action.” executive summary
• The ponds used were unlined. page 15
• The method of manufacture at this site was the electric arc method, and a useful summary of this site was presented in a table.

“Phossy water was disposed of in unlined ponds at this site. In addition, sludge was disposed of in a concrete clarifier. The clarifier is approximately 100 ft in diameter, and is an open-topped, in-ground unit that is constructed of reinforced concrete, and contains 400,000 – 500,000 gallons of sludge, with an estimated 20 to 40 percent WP.
The clarifier may have a bottom, but it is believed to have leaked, and the exact integrity of the clarifier is not known. Rhodia does not want to remove and treat the wastes from the clarifier because they believe it would be too risky for workers and too
expensive. Corrective action alternatives for the clarifier are being reviewed under a RCRA § 7003 order, and corrective action is expected to be conducted under the order.”

I have looked at this order further on in this post, but the volumes of p4 here once again show that this industry was inept at doing anything with the vast amount of toxic waste generated by this vile process.

The radioactive nuclides measured as a result of this process are noted. Several methods of remediation were being considered, but very little detail at that time.

What is apparent is that Rhodia were fined heavily for their poor handling of this plant as the article below from 2004 demonstrates. No wonder they did not want to move it.

Rhodia fined $18 million for polluting Montana | The Engineer The Engineer

“Rhodia had previously admitted that from January 1999 until August 2000, after the Silver Bow Plant was closed, it illegally stored elemental phosphorus sludge, a hazardous waste, at the site in a large concrete tank known as a 100-foot clarifier. Rhodia has also admitted that it illegally stored carbon brick and precipitator dust contaminated with elemental phosphorus waste, a hazardous waste. The carbon brick and precipitator dust had been discarded from a furnace at the site. The illegal activity was discovered in May 2000, when EPA and Montana Department of Environmental Quality (“DE”) executed a search warrant at the Silver Bow Plant.”

This sounds very much like the type of illegal activity that Albright and Wilson were carrying out at Portishead, and appears to be typical of the phosphorus industry at large. It is notable that these chemical companies attempt to hide their activities and liabilities from the regulators, who I would argue were poor at their jobs in failing to detect the issues for the many years of allowing the issue to build.

The article states that Rhodia were being made to remediate all of the hazardous waste including the clarifier waste on the site. “The criminal fine is the largest ever paid for criminal environmental violations in the District of Montana, and one of the largest ever paid for prosecution of hazardous waste crimes in the US.”

But just as Rhodia attempted to blame Albright and Wilson for their liabilities, it appears that they attempted to counter sue the previous owner, who had now become known as “Sanofi- Aventis”.

SANOFI-AVENTIS TO CONTEST RHODIA LAWSUITS IN US, BRAZIL (fdanews.com)

“Rhodia claims to have resolved a US$18mn US lawsuit, which obliged the company to carry out remedial work to contamination at the Silver Bow site. However, costs on the settlement appear to have risen to more than US$24mn, with no precise estimate of the expenses to be incurred on the clean up. Any legal action is thus likely to relate to whether previous agreements allow for further liabilities on sanofi-aventis’ part, while the extent of remedial work required at the Cubatao site remains unclear.”

The judgement is a long bore fest of a read, and a chemical industry squabble of which I do not intend to get into because they are all guilty of negligence as far as I am concerned with their activities, but there are some discernible pieces of information about the plant which are of note.

Rhodia

“Since acquiring the Silver Bow Site in 1998, Rhodia has incurred substantial costs related to its ongoing investigation and remediation of the Silver Bow Site. Compl. ¶¶ 27. In June 2000, the Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) issued an administrative order against Rhodia under Section 7003 of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (“RCRA”), requiring the stoppage of environmentally damaging elemental phosphorus leaks at the Silver Bow Site. Compl. ¶¶ 15-17. On December 22, 2003, the EPA issued a Corrective Action Order on Consent to Rhodia, requiring additional environmental clean-up at the Silver Bow Site. Compl. ¶¶ 18-20. On January 12, 2004, Rhodia agreed to a Montana Department of Environmental Quality demand to remove elemental phosphorus contamination at the Silver Bow Site. Compl. ¶¶ 21-22. In May 2004, the EPA issued another administrative order requiring the excavation and removal of sections of a wastewater discharge pipe and the remediation of identified soil pollution at the Silver Bow Site. Compl. ¶¶ 23-25. All of these actions are related to the release of waste when the Silver Bow Site was owned by RPI. Compl. ¶¶ 15-26.
Additionally, in 2004, Rhodia pled guilty to criminal charges and paid over $16 million in criminal fines related to environmental violations on the Silver Bow Site. Compl. ¶¶ 26.”

What is clear from this is that all Rhodia staff in principle positions around the world must have been aware of this matter, including the lying bastards at Oldbury who were spinning us yarns about dying birds at this site, and hiding the fact that it was their white phosphorus in the sediment that was causing it in this very year. Certainly Clamadieu and the other high up Monsieurs in this frog company were fully aware of this matter and of similar issues at other sites around the world that they had acquired through takeover.

When the same site staff at Rhodia had merely transferred from Albright and Wilson, it is no good trying to blame the previous entity for “negligence” when it was those same staff who were negligent to start with. A similar thing occurred with Solvay when they were finally fined for the issues with the uncontrolled release of phosphine gas, many years after the incident had happened when the case had finally come to court. 

Marianne Walsh of the US Army chemical Core of engineers independently reviewed potential treatment technologies for the FMC site in 2009, and mention of the Silverbow site is again noted.

“At the Rhodia Silver Bow Plant near Butte, Montana, at least some excavation of P4-
contaminated soils was conducted. The following quote is from USEPA Region 8 Docket
No. RCRA-08-2004-0003: “Elemental phosphorus and phosphoric acid (collectively
“Phosphorous Material”) observed during excavation, will be drummed at the excavated site, or Pipe with such phosphorus material (and other materials requiring cleaning) will be transferred to the Plant for cleaning, followed by drumming of the removed phosphorus material. Each drum containing elemental phosphorus will be sent offsite for incineration.” Remediation of P4 contaminated matrices at FMC Pocatello , Idaho January 2009. 

It is stated in this report that Rhodia proposed to cap the rest of the P4 contaminated areas; however, the state of Montana wanted the wastes removed.  😐  We certainly are well aware of the Rhodia cheapskate way.

The following document appears to be a community update PR type piece about this site, and other matters relating to the Montana superfund area. “Interim clean up activities have been conducted to address many of the most immediate potential environmental hazards. A facility-wide investigation is in progress to determine appropriate long term remedies. “

This would appear to cover the paper from Marianne Walsh.

SBCButte_16-2011WinterUpdates

A further document from the EPA shows the issued document concerning the clarifier waste and some observations are highlighted below.

Proposed Clarifier Remedy Decision Solvay USA Inc., Silver Bow Plant, Butte, Montana Pursuant to Administrative Order EPA ID No. MTD 057 558 546

1817945

• “Solvay has proposed this remedy as part of its obligation to address certain wastes at the Facility identified in an administrative order issued by the EPA, pursuant to section 7003 of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), 42 U.S.C. § 6973, as amended in December 2000 (7003 Order). The EPA is proposing this remedy after consultation with the Montana Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ).”
• “The 7003 Order required Rhodia Inc., and subsequently its corporate successor Solvay, to evaluate alternatives for closure of an existing waste management unit known as the clarifier. The clarifier is a 100-foot diameter open-topped concrete tank-like structure that holds approximately 500,000 gallons of phosphorus-bearing sludge. According to available information, the clarifier primarily contains sludge generated during production of elemental phosphorus. The materials in the clarifier are referred to as “clarifier sludge.” “
• “Solvay evaluated closure alternatives for permanent disposition of the clarifier sludge. The alternatives presented in the Supplemental Waste Plan dated October 2015 (Waste Plan) are:
  (1) Enhanced RCRA Cap;
  (2) On-site Phosphorus Recovery using the Mud Still Process; and
  (3) Off-site Incineration.
  Solvay has proposed on-site phosphorus recovery using the Mud Still Process as the
  preferred remedy for the clarifier sludge. The EPA concludes that this on-site phosphorus recovery (hereafter called the Clarifier Remedy) should be proposed. “
• “The 7003 Order required installation of fencing and signs around the clarifier and other measures, including:
  • installing an automatic water system that ensures a layer of water covers the
  surface of the clarifier sludge within the clarifier at all times;
  • eliminating wildlife contact with the clarifier sludge by placing
  approximately 80,000 Bird Balls™ on the water to camouflage its surface; and
  • installation of a continuous phosphine gas monitoring system around the
  clarifier.”

I think that these three orders are important when looking at the situation at Rattlechain lagoon, as of course the sludge was ignitable, was known to poison wildlife, particularly birds, and viable for giving off toxic phosphine gas. Perhaps Rhodia should have been compelled by The Environment Agency to install bird balls. 

• “Solvay has submitted a Human Health Risk Assessment and an Ecological Risk
  Assessment currently under review by the EPA. Groundwater is currently being monitored site-wide for the presence of hazardous constituents, on a semi-annual basis.”

We have of course seen the same labelled crap at Rattlechain, which was nothing of the sort.

• “The clarifier is a 100-foot diameter, open topped, in-ground tank-like structure with
  reinforced concrete walls. The clarifier is approximately 12-feet deep and contains
  approximately 500,000 gallons of clarifier sludge. The clarifier sludge consists of elemental phosphorus, water and solids, such as phosphate dust, coke dust, and silica dust. Several feet of water cover the surface of the clarifier sludge to prevent the elemental phosphorus from igniting when exposed to air.”

This sounds very much like the effluent plants at Albright and Wilson, and also the historic waste content at Rattlechain, which was merely watered down to transport it there.

• The recovery of phosphorus using the mudstill process, which the EPA approved of should ring instant alarm bells given the fact that this method was used by Albright and Wilson in the Portishead decommissioning operation and resulted in the P4 being enriched and creating radioactive dangerous conditions for workers and the wider public. 
• There is no mention of this possibility in this consultation, so let’s hope Solvay found a better method for p4 recovery than the failed and dangerous Albright and Wilson one!
• “The Mud Still Process will also produce solid residues containing phosphate ore, coke, silica and other inert materials. After completion of each batch, the mud still residues will be removed from the skip and transferred to containers for storage. Due to potentially leachable metals, this residue may be considered hazardous, or qualify as a hazardous waste. As part of our decision, the EPA will require characterization of the mud still residue during full-scale operation of the mud still to evaluate the potential need for treatment of the residue prior to final disposal”  🙄 

I have to state, that I find this EPA agreed proposal both ludicrous and ill conceived. If the idea was to punish this polluter, then why were they allowed to profit from their criminality by recovering the wastes that they had left behind? Solvay get their “silver lining” by recovering more white phosphorus to just start this environmental nightmare away from this place and time, and create another waste mountain somewhere else that will also have to be dealt with for a future time.  It appears that the containers of waste left behind would also be just more hazardous waste, that would not be free of white phosphorus in any case, whatever they claim.

Unfortunately, it appears that the EPA, like the EA in Britain, can be hoodwinked by chemical industry bull shitters at Solvay and a PR spin piece like this does little to instil any confidence in their regulatory role.

Solvay’s solution appears tailored to their profit margins, with constraints used as excuses, but hey, just stick a silver bow on it and wrap it up.

I’d be very interested to know if mud stilling was ever considered at Rattlechain lagoon for p4 recovery, and if not, if this is the claimed best available technique ,why  it was not employed there by this same global company?  Was it because it was deemed to be too near to the residential dwellings on the former sewage works, and therefore a risk to these occupiers ,where the foolish planning inspector who gave the nod for that development was unable and unquestioning to ask if the development would limit the scope of future remediation site options? 

Further summary of the above material can be read on the EPA website below. I am not sure what actions have been taken at this site since 2017, as there is no further information I have been able to find as to the current status of this so called “clean up”.

Hazardous Waste Cleanup: Solvay Silver Bow Plant in Butte, Montana | Corrective Action Sites around the Nation | US EPA

DODGY REGULATION

In this post I wanted to look and delve more closely into Sandwell council’s “regulation” of this site whilst it was still being used to deposit waste and subsequently after waste had ceased to be delivered to the site.

A reminder of the key dates concerning this site, as held and publicly published by The Environment Agency is shown below.

The original licence SL32 was passed by The West Midlands County Council on 4/6/1978.

There is a curious and so far unexplained “modification” of this licence which is referred to which occurred on 7th August 1979. I have not been able to find out what this is, or how it impacted on the licence, and Sandwell council did not supply it with the FOI request which is rather strange.

West Midlands County Council were dissolved in 1986, with responsibility then being taken on by local authorities.

The first modification made under Sandwell council control is undated, and also unsigned, which is also highly unusual, unless that is, it was supplied with a deliberately redacted document.

No name or date.

This changed the boundaries of the site as follows, which also means that waste outside of this boundary, tipped before licensing, and after licensing could contain toxic waste outside of this current boundary- i.e the site that Solvay claim to be remediating. This means that there has been no assessment, at least by them of surrounding land since this licence was supposedly surrendered.

The council claimed that the original plan was not held, but here it is for comparison.

As appearing on planning application DC/5064

The original boundary to the sports field is shown, and also reference to the new A&W concrete boundary fence.

The second modification does not even refer to this amendment, which is also bizarre, as though the council had forgotten or deliberately avoided even mentioning the realigned boundary with their own land!

This was passed on 25th January 1990, and added three licence conditions to the licence 37-39. In context, the last supposed deposit of waste according to the EA, (and under SMBC regulatory control) occurred after this on 31/3/1990, (see above table).

Condition 36 imposed landfill gas monitoring within three months of the issue date.

Of course, tipping apparently ceased on the site within this timeframe. 

Condition 37 appears to be entirely dependent on the results of condition 36, and it is highly questionable therefore if these were even supplied to SMBC, who claim they don’t hold any, which is either bullshit, or the idiot who amended this licence did not bank on Albright and Wilson ceasing to tip at the site.

Condition 38 appears to cover such a scenario, calling on ceasing of waste tipping if no design for monitoring had been given within six months. Albright and Wilson however appear to have bypassed this by stopping tipping anyway, so was any monitoring scheme for landfill gas ever conducted by them at the site? If so , why do SMBC claim to not have any info on the scheme which they imposed?

Landfill gas and types of gases were not identified very well in this modification, and should have mentioned hydrogen sulphide, as well as phosphine. Were these ever monitored for, as it seems unlikely?

A further condition 40 was added on 29/11/91 for the 1st December 1991, and was the standard hazardous waste board, which appears to have been rolled out across all the current hazardous waste area sites and required the licence number.

Some three years later on 19/4/94, the licence was apparently surrendered, but no  surrender notice appears to exist according to SMBC, which is also bullshit. 

Sandwell council clearly have some questions to answer about the circumstances of monitoring for landfill gas from this site, and why they do not claim to hold any records, when it was their legal duty to do so?

DODGY NEW PONDS

I don’t believe the creation of these pools has anything to do with collecting surface water.

The waste dumping history of Albright and Wilson reveals that they used this site allegedly from 1938 , and as we know Rattlechain “since 1942”.

The other known canal side site at The Netherton Branch  appears to have been used around the start of the 1920’s, which means that there is another site somewhere between the wars that this company were using for phosphorus contaminated waste.

Though no phosphorus wastes were allowed after licensing, we simply do not know if any went into the Gower Tip at any point, and the fact that the site appears to have been in the footprint of a flooded former marl hole, strengthens the prospect that it was used for this purpose.

The pool is within the Gower Tip area in 1946.

There is an account in the book “Making and Moving in Langley” recalling waste being dredged from collection of the Albright and Wilson Canal arm, and into The G0wer Tip using “tubs” and then a pump.

This obviously raises questions as to what was buried when the water at this site disappeared, and when exactly this took place? “Attenuation ponds” would come in very handy converting phosphorus waste into breakdown products if exposed to air, particularly if the site was to be capped afterwards, thus highly likely to generate phosphine gas. There is reference to testing for phosphine gas at the site, but no explanation as to why this was being carried out given the supposed claimed wastes tipped there under the licence. They do not mention elemental phosphorus.

Maybe the effort to raise the site levels is what this “remediation” is really about. Just don’t try to hoodwink the public with nonsensical pointless schemes when the method implies something more insidious.