GM shirks its environmental responsibilities after Cash for Clunkers
In 2002, legislation was passed to force GM and other automakers to pay for the removal and proper disposal of mercury light switches that GM had continued using long after environmentally safer methods were developed. In 2006, the End of Life Vehicle Solutions (ELVS) program was given the responsibility by the EPA to coordinate the automaker’s efforts to collect and dispose of removed mercury switches. GM is now backing out of ELVS and refusing to pay.
Back in the early 1990s, GM was told that continued use of mercury light switches in cars would cause environmental problems. Alternatives to mercury light switches were readily available, but GM chose to continue using the toxic switches in its vehicles until 2002 when legislation was passed forcing the automaker to change light switches.
As mentioned above, in 2006 ELVS was given the job of coordinating automakers efforts to responsibly remove and dispose of mercury switches from vehicles. With the huge success of Cash for Clunkers, which ended today, GM is refusing to continue to pay into the program. Since GM was the largest user of mercury switches it is no wonder that more GM “clunkers” pose mercury disposal problems.
For every switch that is removed and properly recycled or disposed of by auto dismantlers and scrappers, the salvagers received $4.00. That $4.00 was necessary to offset the cost to the auto scrappers. The fund was paid for by automakers. The President of the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries(ISRI), Robin Wiener made the following observation in a letter to President Obama:
GM contributes over half of the funds to operate ELVS (based upon GM’s share, which is 53 percent of the mercury switches in vehicles that remain in commerce today). It is critical that GM continue to fund ELVS if the thousands of small- to medium-sized businesses that comprise the auto dismantling and scrap recycling industries are to have a safe, responsible, and cost-effective option to which the mercury switches removed from end-of-life vehicles can be sent.
It’s ironic that we as taxpayers have poured about $25 billion into GM in bailout funds and the company is refusing to pay the $1 million into the fund to keep our environment mercury free so that we don’t get seriously ill.
Not really a great way to endear your company to the public that bailed it out now is it?
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August 25th, 2009
Who pays for the proper recycling of all the mercury in the thousands of fluorescent light bulbs (you know, the big long tube bulbs common in almost all commercial space)? What’s that, nobody? They are just daily chucked in dumpsters? Yup…people just REALLY don’t CARE about the environment…
So people aren’t going to care about this…