What Lies Beneath Rattlechain Lagoon?

I have recently had a response to a long running saga concerning Rhodia’s 2009 Trinity street fire where a mixture of phosphine and white phosphorus vapour released into the air formed associated breakdown products. Toxic gas WAS released from the site into the Langley/Oldbury area.

The seven year HSE investigation finally ended with a conviction for the company now known as “Solvay Solutions Limited”. I had throughout the wait tried to get hold of the report into the incident, which had been refused due to the investigation being ongoing.

Once complete, the HSE then refused another request on the basis that it was too costly to reproduce all the report– which basically they were just trying to stall me on.

I then further narrowed down the request, given that the Investigator Kay Brookes who replied to the request had previously stated on the HSE website press release  

“HSE inspector Kay Brookes, said: “This was a long and complex case, but at the heart of it lay the fact that this company’s actions caused an incident that affected the public and workers.

“The loss of containment and failure in Solvay’s systems caused huge disruption and the outcomes could have been far worse. “

Picture Express and Star

The 125 page report has been so redacted that it makes for nearly impossible reading. The most bizarre redactions however are at the very heart of Brookes’ case- the amounts of dangerous chemicals released!

These have been redacted under section 12 (5) (a) of the Environmental Information Regulations which in short

EIR Guidance set out by the ICO

12. – (5) For the purposes of paragraph (1)(a) a public authority may refuse to disclose information to the extent that its disclosure would adversely affect –   

    (a) international relations, defence, national security or public safety.

THIS IS UTTERLY LUDICROUS AND IS NOT IN THE PUBLIC INTEREST.

I have of course challenged the redactions decision in an internal review. It is further bizarre that some of the figures are already available and were reported in the press at the time- for example the blank of phosphoric acid released we know to be 564 kilos.

From The Express and Star article

In the pages it is possible to see that

*Rhodia tried to con the HSE with calculations about the amount of phosphine released but the HSE did not accept their figure. This too has been redacted, and it would be interesting to see how far they were out. A similar scenario unfolded with this dishonest company concerning the “small amounts” of white phosphorus that had been found in dead birds at Rattlechain, which was not the amount that they had swallowed. You can see the games that the chemical industry play unravelling here.

*Their systems were basically crap

* They failed to trigger the emergency toxic gas alarm on the basis that they treated the incident as a fire.

*They stalled for time prolonging the investigation with excuses and tried to shield their staff from any blame.

*Some of their statements were contradictory in nature, questioning the integrity of those making them.

*Some of the statements are ingenious spinning of the worst deceitful order.

*They lied to the HSE  about never having had similar incidents at the site.

Their toxic gas emergency plan was none existant

There are large sections of the report which make it impossible to read.

Well that’s helpful

We will have to wait and see what comes out of the internal review, but I can see it having to go to the Information Commissioner to extract any more “secrets” out of the supposed regulator.

This is the same regulator who offered next to no comment on Rhodia’s hazardous substance consent increases in years gone by– including for the storage of phosphine!

We will have to see what transpires here, but in years gone by previous assessments were made by independent people concerning the potential release of chemicals at this site, and more specifically the folly of building more houses ever nearer to a major hazard factory.

Mr Gordon Nonhebel considered the following risks associated with such an application. His Key observations

“Undesirability of building hazardous factories near large centres of population”

“When phosphorus manufacture was started over 100 years ago, Oldbury was sparsely populated. It is today accepted that new factories involving risks such as fires and escape of dangerous gases, should be built away from large centres of population- this has been mentioned in reports by The Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution and in the annual reports by the alkali inspector”

smoke clouds

“Any phosphorus fire would emit large quantities of phosphoric oxide P205, fume of which could blanket large areas of the town, leading to confusion and panic among the inhabitants, especially in low wind conditions and at night. The smoke from a large fire would be equivalent to the release of smoke from thousands of bombs.”

“phosphorus fires

Although phosphorus fires should be readily quenched by water, an uncontrolled fire would emit large volumes of P. vapour into a cloud of air in which most of the oxygen had been consumed. Incoming gusts of fresh air into this vapour cloud might then cause a mild explosion. This is a potential risk which should be considered by HSC  hazard branch.”

His words would be quite prophetic some 31 years later when almost exactly the scenario he suggests occurred at the Trinity Street site!

Some times you have to fill in the blanks yourself, when someone else fires them. So much for section 12 (5) (a) HSE 🙂    😆 😈

They certainly do challenge boundaries and cross them with toxic gas!

Public Health England, formerly known as “The Health Protection Agency” appear to have updated version one of a document entitled “white phosphorus incident management”, written in 2007.

DOWNLOAD THIS HERE.

The January 2016 update is perhaps long overdue, given that the previous incarnation stated that it would be updated not longer than 3 years “if substantive evidence becomes available.” What that means is unclear. But perhaps the incidents at Rattlechain and Rhodia/Solvay’s 2009 fire perhaps focussed the minds of this pious supercilious bunch of chemical industry sympathisers. More about that in a future blog post.

Both versions give basic information on the highly toxic flammable substance, and are still quite similar but the health effects section appears to have been tweaked.

“Health Effects
Major route of exposure

• effects may occur following exposure by all routes (ingestion, inhalation, dermal or ocular exposure) “

“small amounts”

There remain however substantive gaps when it comes to the actual “management” of a chemical, especially in terms of remediating former waste dumps where the chemical was buried and even the question of PHE’s maxim “protecting and improving the nation’s health” being explored.

Well that’s really helpful isn’t it!

Below is version one of the 2007 Health Protection Agency white phosphorus incident management for posterity.

The most interesting omission from the new version are the “frequently asked questions” about white phosphorus (pages 11 and 12 of the 2007 original). Perhaps Public Health England would rather we didn’t ask questions about this chemical anymore, its past and current military use and misuse abroad in fake terror wars.

There was also of course their abysmal “human health risk assessment” at Rattlechain, where they relied on Rhodia to give transparent information concerning their and Albright and Wilsons toxic legacy, yet the majority of the chemicals identified on paper theoretically were not in fact tested for or analysed.

If only birds could have read the advice offered here when landing on a white phosphorus waste dump lagoon, or if Rhodia had made people trying to rescue the poisoned birds aware of incident management for this chemical before inviting them onto the site when still operational to rescue the ailing creatures.

“ASKING MORE FROM CHEMISTRY” 😆

The chances are if you do not live within the West Midlands County you would never have heard of the Metropolitan borough of “Sandwell”. The neologism was coined in 1974 by joining smaller borough towns with more famous names together into one central area, located somewhere to the North of Birmingham.

I recently chanced on a copy of what can best be described as the PR spin piece put out at this time by the newly formed council as a would be prospectus for trying to attract outside interest in what was a fairly run down industrial wasteland, even back then. Unfortunately industrial “heritage” is often somehow mixed with the political classes pomp for civic pride, and so a forward in typical pompous prose describes the coat of arms. Somehow the new borough with its made up name strived to have “Unity and Progress”.

Can ya tell where it is yet?

This 162 page dinosaur of a read mainly consists of adverts of some of the “local” business enterprises at the time. Who knows how much they had paid to be included in the piece, which appears devoid of any human character whatsoever. It isn’t until page 21 that you get to “the official guide”.

“With an estimated population of 324,000 and a total area of 21,150 acres, the borough is urban in character and highly industrialised and includes the districts of Oldbury, Rowley Regis, Smethwick, Tipton, Wednesbury and West Bromwich.”

The argument put forward is of Sandwell being at  “the centre” of things or even preposterously “at the heart of Britain”, and somehow being the cog that drives all of the other wheels. If the new borough was so significant in this claimed chain, then why the need to invent a new name that no-one would recognise? Industrial cogs and gears may well turn wheels, but who the hell would want to live in such a greasy grimy place? It’s not clear if they are talking to potential residents when stating “you could make your future here”.

Indeed, with the proven industrial polluters contributing to this propaganda manual who appear to get “centre” stage, who on earth would want to live in such a place? On page 18 we have another cog image of the dirtiest players in the game, based in what would become Sandwell’s capital- Oldbury.

Just down the road, another cowboy operation who liked to dump large quantities of waste into used pits.

And so to the biggest grime hole in Tipton with the Triplex foundry. For years this metal bashing mongrel covered peoples’ homes with all types of air borne shite right under the noses of Sandwell’s environmental health until they finally packed up and went in the last decade. Unfortunately like most of these companies who were central to Sandwell back then, their place has been taken by row upon row of new houses, to the point now where there is almost no green left and no industry left there either.

It is quite bizarre to read about new schemes of creation boast in 1974 which in very recent times in 2016 have themselves been replaced with other new schemes of which the local politicians like to brag.

West Bromwich town centre 1974 for example

“In high Street West Bromwich, the Sandwell centre provides approximately 120,000 sq. ft. of shopping, all services from the rear, (wtf?) a central bus station, a multi-storey car park for 840 cars, public conveniences and a new public house……”

 Today we have seen the demolition of almost everything boasted about in this guide, as the local council in its 40 year rule played lego land , adding buildings designed by cloudy colourful characters without any grounded black and white business acumen that cost the taxpayer millions, only then later to be sold off conspicuously under the guise of “learning.” Gone are the Kings cinema, the Gala baths, the old bus station, and even the multi-storey car park now destined to be turned into some on/off bizarre ice skating rink. How long will the belated replacements last before undergoing yet more regeneration schemes?

It’s also best not to mention the sale of public conveniences in the borough- there’s something very smelly about that indeed!

In the changing face of this borough with the silent “n”, the scepticism was there from the start. Take for example what residents in Oldbury made of the new borough at its Alpha.

Unfortunately the rubbish is something that has not gone away. Industrial estate scrap yard fires blaze in the night sky replacing the blowing of glass and the forging of chains. The area is disappearing under new housing, as the schools they were built on and the ones remaining are unable to cope with overpopulated numbers. But this is the very curious thing. Sandwell’s population is now estimated at 316, 700 in 2014 according to a recent FOI request. It seems hard to believe that the number of people estimated living in the borough in 1974 has actually fallen over 40 years later, yet we are supposed to believe that the demand for new housing is what is promoting them being built. Clearly there is something very wrong about this claim from these statistics. But what exactly is going on here? Who is benefitting from new houses being built?

One can only suppose that those who can do move away from the rotten borough, not because it has anything to offer (except to housing developers), but because it increasingly has little to keep them there.

The political classes failure to inspire stems from its failed leadership. One only has to join the dots to see that one political party has been in control for so long, since the conception, and has utterly failed to make Sandwell a better place to live for its existing residents and fails to attract anyone to better it because of its soiled preceding reputation. There is only one word that describes the 40 years of durge that has followed. Perhaps the sheep truly graze on the crud they deserve when putting a cross in the same place.

This website has put together evidence and information from a variety of primary sources.  Eye witnesses who remember the historic dumping of waste at Rattlechain may be starting to get a little grey, if not there already, but the vividness of their recollections is important because there are those with purely financial intent who would wish to rewrite the toxic legacy into one of present day wide eyed “risk management” . Any fool looking from the outside can pretend that a waste management licence somehow keeps people “safe”.

Canal enthusiast and narrow boat owner Malcom Edge is one person who remembers the real site as it stood, and it is with great pleasure that I reprint a part of his memoir below. I’ve added a few useful links and pictures to illustrate. It was after having seen his original blog concerning canal stories from the 50’s,60’s and 70’s that pieces of the Rattlechain jigsaw started to fit together, and that the bird deaths were not just something that could be put down to “natural causes”. I will always be grateful to him that he played a big part in solving the mystery of what lies beneath rattlechain lagoon.

If you have any recollections of the lagoon, or surrounding area when waste was being dumped there please get in touch.

The Smell of the cut–

BY MALCOLM EDGE © (Originally published as  “A lads eye view of the canals in the 1950′s-1970’s.  Chapter 8 Companies and cargoes -The smell of the cut.” 

“One haulage company who were prominent through the sixties and into the seventies was Alfred Matty & Sons Ltd , based in Deepfields Coseley. They operated a wide array of boats on a a variety of contracts which included dredging, civil engineering projects such as the laying of the Natural Gas pipeline in the early seventies, and also a long standing contract to which the whole of the BCN owed a lot——–It’s smell!- for Matty’s had a contract for the disposal of phosphorous waste in liquid suspension from Albright and Wilson’s chemical plant in Oldbury to an open marlhole at Dudley Port.

As far as I can recall the company used three motor boats on this contract. ‘Maurine’ a wooden Ricky , whose bows were so rotten you could have put your fist through the holes in them, an ex-Fellows Moreton and Clayton steamer said to be the ‘Monarch’ and the large Northwich motorboat ‘Stratford’. All three motorboats operated in pairs with a range of steel ‘railway’ type boats although the company preferred wooden craft for this work as the phosphorous had a nasty habit of eating the metal craft away!

They used to run 3 to 4 trips a day, pumping the white liquid cargo in at the company’s private arm. Once loaded, the boats would make the short trip down the chemical arm and onto the Gower branch . The top two locks are a  staircase and the ‘butty’ would be flushed through the pound to the bottom lock to be snatched round to the discharge point on The New Mainline.

Brades locks

Here there was located a brick building which housed a huge pump which was right next to the towpath. It was from here that the cargo would be discharged into the open and unfenced marlhole, which I vividly remember as a haven for young lads who used it as an adventure playground.

plan of site in 1974, pumphouse shown on left hand side of towpath

Where the discharge pipe stuck out into the water filled marlhole, whose water was crystal clear and as blue as the sky. The white ‘sludge’ was only a matter of inches below the surface and it was this fact that made it such an attraction to young lads. For if you think back to the experiments that you probably carried out  in the school science laboratory using phosphorous for if you keep it under water it is quite stable, but if held in air it would self ignite and flare.

Oh such fun it was to heave large bricks and rocks from the neighbouring Rattlechain Brickworks, into this sludge and watch in delight as the resulting splash would erupt into flames. The other favourite pastime was ‘firesticks’ . A length of wood, such as a wooden fencing panel of the type favoured by local councils, would be dipped into this sludge after climbing down the very steep sides of the pit. When once well coated, if removed, would burn vigorously in open air. This operation called for great skill for if you held the stick upright the sludge would run down towards your hand.

The Rattlechain brickworks overlooking the water filled disposal steep edged site in 1950

When I look back now at the consequences of somebody falling into it, it is frightening especially when you think of the boatmen working with it every day and walking from stern to bow along planks!

As children we were told that this company made the smell for cheese and onion crisps and although I don’t think it was true, it does give you some idea of the stink that the canal did suffer from. All around the area it could be detected in the air and water. I should think that more must have ‘accidentally’ gone into the canal  than went down to the tip for disposal at this time. After passing through this area and churning up the bottom with a motor boat the canal water would turn grey and the smell was horrendous. In fact if you journeyed through Oldbury after dark the canal to the rear of the boat would become illuminated with a violet/pink phosphorescent glow. It was not far from here that as a child that I learned to swim, and go fishing, or as I should say ‘not catching’, (as it should have been called.)

I often wonder now if the people who will buy houses that they will probably build on the site after it’s filled in, will be told about its former use and exactly what lies at the bottom of the garden! And it’s not fairies.

Another activity that Matty’s were involved in was civil engineering projects, such as piling, pipe lines and dredging. The latter being mainly sub-contracted work for British Waterways and involved the use of both mechanical dredgers, one being made, I recall , from a big Woolwich motor boat with the bows cut off and replaced with a square ‘punt’ type bow , (what a sin!) A second method of dredging called for the use of an ancient, hand operated ‘spoon dredger’ which consisted of a large spoon shaped scoop suspended by a wooden crane which would be wound down to the bottom of the canal and mud boat alongside. I can clearly remember Matty’s dredging the Bradley arm using this craft some time in the sixties.”

Throughout this website, you will probably quickly note a high level of sarcasm and tongue in cheek concerning the unravelling of events and circumstances in relation to my experiences with Rattlechain lagoon. My dealings with many of the “professionals” involved in regulating this site and those who have been involved in some capacity with the revelations to date would make an interesting memoir in their own right.

The Environment Agency are by far the biggest player in events surrounding this site, the operator site, the chemicals, processes and incidents that arise and are released and contained. Their role is both passive and reactive as regulators, but their methods of regulation and monitoring are less well known to the general public.

A recent FOI request sheds some light on the framework within which their officers currently operate. I think it offers a fascinating insight, previously not available, and I am glad that I asked the question, following a repeated complaint that I have made; something which their officers have termed “a minor incident”.

The question I asked related to how they classify incidents, and also why they had passed my report to their 0800 incident hotline to the private water company Severn Trent Water plc.

The supplied response from the EA confirmed that the agency use the ” Common incident Classification Scheme as guidance ” for incident reports. For some reason this has been removed from the main .GOV website which is odd given it explains in detail about how the agency operate. I see it as a retrograde step in that the public are unaware of how their calls are being responded to by people paid by their tax pounds.

The supplied PDF is 75 pages long, but gives many detailed explanations about terminology which would be lost on the general public. Two tiered systems are used and within this different category level responses are noted.

The number of unlawful water/land pollution and illegal waste deposit incidents that the EA recorded in West area 7 (Staffordshire, Warwickshire and West Midlands) for 2010-13 is provided in this FOI request. But how many of these presumably unrecorded incidents did it pass on to other agencies like Seven Trent?

There is explanation as to repeat complaints of discharges, such as the ones that I have reported about spillages into the River Tame.

The majority of incidents involving pollution end up with Environment management. Unfortunately all this theory involving impacts on human health, protected habitats and species is not really assessed when dialling 0800 80 70 60- the EA hotline number that people ring to report anything. The only question usually asked aside from name and contact details are “Are there any animals or fish in distress?”

It is of course in the callers hands to make their own “Assessment”.

When reporting incidents that were directly under the control of “environment management” when birds were being poisoned by a toxic chemical at the lagoon that the EA stupidly had allowed to be dumped under licence, what exactly could be “assessed” by reporting incidents? The deaths were of course repeat occurrences, with the agency apparently unable to make a direct connection to white phosphorus poisoning.

Classifying incidents therefore appears to be purely in the hands of those on the ground attending, yet in the situation I have outlined concerning The River, it was a private water company that attended, (SEVERN TRENT) whom the EA had chosen to delegate responsibility without making their own assessment and NOT attending! It is difficult to see therefore how they can make assessments, or if Severn Trent follow the EA’s common incident classification scheme.

Personally I find the water company being called poor. The close relationship between the two organisations is worrying. It is also extremely poor and a data protection breach as admitted, that my personal details were passed onto Severn Trent. This company have a pretty poor record of maintaining water themselves. They were also directly responsible for selling off their former sewage works adjacent to Rattlechain to a private developer for housing.

Severn Trent appear to have their own reporting system at their own sites, which is confusing because should it not be the case that people should report the incident to the Environment Agency?

It should be reported to the Environment Agency so that a private company cannot cover it up!

THE EA DATA POLICY  was supplied.

One wonders whose hands our data, our water and environment are really in? It should certainly not be in the hands of corporate water pirates.

Whilst doing some research for a couple of future blog posts, I came upon the latest in the long line of Bullshit concerning names associated with Rattlechain lagoon.

We have had various names over the years, all with the deliberate intention of trying to divert attention away from the hazardous waste site containing toxic chemicals. “Rattlechain tip”morphed into “Rattlechain mere” and then into “Rattlechain lagoon.” It would all sound Scooby Doo but for the fact that Albright and Wilson the chemical manufacturers dumped white phosphorus contaminated material into one single pit starting in the early 1940’s when they were manufacturing Second World War weapons. Associations away from the company are what these name amendments were all about, as is the fact that Rhodia’s name appears on the front gate and not the Solvay brand.

In the days of dumping we had “the clean side lagoon” and ” the dirty side lagoon”, even though the Hazardous waste unit/Environment Agency recorders appeared ignorant of the fact that there was only ever one real pit and lagoon , that by sleight of hand of a manmade causeway path in 1961 became divided into two. Of course they also were fool enough to allow discharge from the said “clean side” which we know contained unregulated white phosphorus dumping before licensing, into The Birmingham Mainline Canal.

So imagine my surprise when finding the map above which some asshole has decided to rechristen “Upper Rattlechain Lagoon” and “Lower Rattlechain lagoon”. Even more bizarrely the ignoramuses behind this term label the subsidiary smaller area of water and not the whole of the site as “toxic”.

Of course Rhodia/Solvay claimed that this side of the site had had its toxic crap pumped into the larger lagoon and was all “safely” tucked up in bed under a blanket and then sand during their 2013 cover up works. What we have in the narrow manmade causeway path and the manmade material separating these two areas appears to have gone unregistered. It isn’t marl and it isn’t non porous.

So is this all part of the ludicrous attempt at trying to rewrite history and sweeping “the toxic” part of the site to the West to try and facilitate housing on the East? Well it ain’t going to happen, because the history of this site is not going to be swept under the carpet and be top soiled with toxic tips masquerading as “Garden Cities”.

ΔΔ

River Tame Pollution.

For many years now I have borne witness to a never ending surge of grime coming out of a brook that flows underneath The Mainline Birmingham Canal and railway line that feeds into the River Tame. Sheepwash Nature Local Nature Reserve and its pools are also part of this system.

The pollution has come in different forms over this time; formerly there was the regular diesel oil iridescence. The article below is From The Express and Star dated 3/4/2001 and shows then Assistant Divisional Officer John Rees inspecting the oil.

More latterly the pollution has taken the form of  a sweet smelling wash type substance, sometimes with accompanying bubbles. It is clear that it originates with vehicles being washed. Dozens of calls have been put into the Environment Agency over this time, and still they along with Severn Trent, who own this surface water sewer from whence this brown/grey shite arises appear incapable of stopping it at source.

The grime forms a paste and then a dirty fungus like material which smells a sweet smelling mixture of diesel, screen wash and cleaning fluids. Sometimes it forms suds, but the river itself and the culvert bank surrounding it turns a glazed brown.

The agency have now confirmed to me that they have detected ethylene glycol, a toxic poisonous chemical present in anti freeze at 33.2mg/litre. They claim that this is “a small amount”, (now where have I heard that phrase before 👿 !) but this depends on a dose that something would ingest, which if regularly consumed would result in chronic poisoning. The ethylene glycol is notorious for poisoning cats and dogs as they are attracted to the sweet smell and taste. Many dog walkers use the site and also cross the brook through the pollution. The solids present in the brook are unclearly characterised. A safety data sheet for ethylene glycol notes

“The substance may be toxic to kidneys, liver, central nervous system (CNS). Repeated or prolonged exposure to the substance can produce target organs damage. Repeated exposure to a highly toxic material may produce general deterioration of health by an accumulation in one or many human organs.”

This should set the alarm bells ringing and there is the possibility of pets catching something a bit nasty and getting a one way ticket to the vets.

So where is this shite coming from, and why do the authorities inspectors appear incapable of stopping this abysmal recurring pollution that is quite patently an unquantified risk to public health and wildlife?

The latter question I cannot answer, but the former is without doubt THE DIAMOND BUS DEPOT AT TIPTON ROAD.

Below is a map of the surface water sewer that flows from The Tipton Road, along John’s Lane past Rattlechain, which then turns sharp left and under the tunnel and out into the River Tame.

I have traced the smell, the same smell from the depot’s bus wash. It is the source and the same smell that hangs in the air. It is the same smell which you can smell from the manholes along the route down John’s Lane.

SCRUBBERS

There are sometimes around 50 buses parked within this yard

Stinks from manhole heading towards the tunnel.

Allegedly, the clueless authorities claim to have lifted the covers, gone into the works and have pointed out some “issues”. The time before last that I contacted the agency via the 0800 incident line, it was a week before they sent out Severn Trent, who concluded that the pollution was “from the railway line.” I was not under the impression that pollution could run uphill, but so much for these bizarre investigations!

It is also the case that the Autobase site at some stage of ownership saw a cowboy landscaping job carried out on the embankment which actually buried a Seven Trent manhole, the last one shown on the above map before disappearing underneath the railway line and canal. Why the water company have not taken decisive legal action against the site owners for this illegal blockage remains unanswered. In the past both they and Diamond buses have claimed to have had inspections and work carried out, yet the pollution issues continue to blight The River Tame from this surface water sewer. The pollution is unlikely to be malicious, but the threat posed by the identified chemical MUST STOP without further delay.

Seven Trent have been out on numerous occasions to the same unresolved pollution issue

It appears that Diamond buses have put in a planning application to house a new depot and bush wash at the site of the old SGS works along John’s Lane (who moved co-incidently into the Solvay works at Trinity Street)- well that has been objected to, because it’s about time they were stopped having a free pass to discharge material into the River.

POLLUTION NOW

CLICK VIDEO HERE

It’s been some time since I reported on the heroic fall guys for Rhodia/Solvay’s toxic dump, but this week “The Hermans” returned to carry out some “monitoring” of the site. Allegedly this will be a 25 year affair, putting pay to land banking going on in the area.

A full team of seven or eight from Heyrman De Roeck, The ERM guy and A.N others were present, with four vehicles (at least one bearing a Netherlands number plate), and two boats. There was also a special boat service stealth/probe type device that would do any Mars landing proud. Perhaps that should be Klaars?

Gladiator ready?

Probes were set up, the lake toured and bushes inspected. It was like the summer of 2013 again.

SBS

Rocket launcher?

It wasn’t long before Jeff Lynne Herman and the rest were on the water measuring depths and probably surveying the sand and geotextile membrane.

making waves

On closer inspection, the latest contraption looked more like something from The A team, with a piece of drainpipe trailing behind held together by gaffa tape and cable ties.

All the excitement even brought out “a local resident” residing at the lagoon, who complained most bitterly about the disturbance.

So it goes on with “monitoring” of the site, even though you can see with the naked eye the phosphine release from the site, and the ever fading name of the “site operator” under the phoenix name brand.

Solvay?

A truck on the adjacent Autobase site caught my eye; itself once a part of the former Albright and Wilson Rattlechain site . So long as white phosphorus is buried at this toxic lake, there will always be a problem.

Asking for more… information please

Recently it was revealed that the January 2009 fire at the Trinity Street factory had resulted in a guilty admittance from the company that inherited the discredited French Rhodia outfit. Further to this the current site manager even felt obliged to apologise in the local press as part of a hasty PR exercise damage limitation, even though he did not even work at the site till three years after the toxic barrage inflicted on the Oldbury area!

What wasn’t reported was that his predecessor and long term Albright and Wilsonite John Hamnett departed to run the companies smaller operation in Halifax. PERHAPS HE SHOULD HAVE MADE THE APOLOGY? Then there is long term Health and Safety and Environment director Tom Dutton, who is still there at Oldbury.

A press release by the agency reveals some new information of relevance.

“The dangerous gas was phosphorus and phosphine which, upon contact with air, spontaneously ignited to produce phosphorous pentoxide. This reacted with the moisture in the air to produce a mist of phosphoric acid which drifted to a densely populated area.”

This is what I stated happened in a previous blog. It was of course WHITE PHOSPHORUS.

“An investigation carried out by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) into the incident, which occurred  at Trinity Street, Oldbury on 2 January 2009, found that a welded steel bar (‘rodder’) failed at the weld and broke in two. One piece fell back and the other piece pulled clear, leaving an opening through which the dangerous substance escaped.”

The HSE investigation was ridiculously protracted for over seven years, but throughout this time I have been requesting the outcome of their investigation. For many years they have spun out answering this request stating that a prosecution was still possible or active and therefore this could not be prejudiced. This week I got a reply which stated that they would not be releasing the report, but for different reasons.

According to Kay Brookes of the Executive, whom I have encountered previously in complaints about rattlechain, and involving exactly the same substance that they could not contain at their factory, the report is too large to process.

There are reportedly over 1500 records, 25 witness statements….etc etc. I will of course be challenging this to extract what I think is most relevant. There are other cited absolute exemptions under the FOI/EIR Act which are frankly ludicrous such as safeguarding “National security”.

Brookes is quoted in the HSE press release as stating

“This case should serve as a warning to other companies dealing with harmful substances that they need to get their processes absolutely right, in order to ensure the safety of the public, if they don’t they will face the consequences.”

Erm… the consequences in this case of a fine of less than £500,000 for a company which according to their website made net sales of 12.4 billion Euro in 2015 is absolutely nothing. Oh, and they have been reported to The European Commission- they must be quaking in their Brussels boots.

In the same week as The Government revealed that FOI would be “protected” , this is a clear reminder that protecting the “secrets” of corporate industrial terrorises rather than allowing the public the right to know exactly what is on their doorstep is still unfortunately the way of the civil service. As my experiences with the Trinity Street behemoth in its changing two face state has shown- they answer very little when asked, and never a straight answer.

This decision however comes as little surprise to me, especially considering Rattlechain lagoon where industrial military waste dumped there from the past was poisoning birds. The numerous agencies involved with this fiasco including the HSE tried to cover that up as well, but failed.

I would also hope that the information revealed on this website to date has damaged “national security” / corporate protections and the cover ups of the parasite Albright and Wilson empire, whose families operated in a privileged tandem with UK Government agencies for many years. They enjoyed special protection whilst poisoning Oldbury.

People should know that it is not the unknown “terror” that should be feared but the chemical terror that operates on their doorstep. An industrial release could occur again tomorrow, and all you will know about it is when a siren goes off and out come the police and fire brigade. Oh yes  and don’t forget, human error and chemical release dodgy dealing practices can always be blamed on “Rodders.”

C’est Magnifique- Trinity Street.

Crow Goes Hunting by Ted Hughes

Crow
Decided to try words.

He imagined some words for the job, a lovely pack-
Clear-eyed, resounding, well-trained,
With strong teeth.
You could not find a better bred lot.

He pointed out the hare and away went the words
Resounding.
Crow was Crow without fail, but what is a hare?

It converted itself to a concrete bunker.
The words circled protesting, resounding.

Crow turned the words into bombs-they blasted the bunker.
The bits of bunker flew up-a flock of starlings.

Crow turned the words into shotguns, they shot down the starlings.
The falling starlings turned to a cloudburst.

Crow turned the words into a reservoir, collecting the water.
The water turned into an earthquake, swallowing the reservoir.

The earthquake turned into a hare and leaped for the hill
Having eaten Crow’s words.

Crow gazed after the bounding hare
Speechless with admiration.