Jerry Summers
Relax readers of my articles (all 101 of you) I am not going to throw any hand grenades in an attempt to place a negative slant on any of the ongoing progressive steps being taken to benefit the entire 375,129 (estimated 2023) citizens of Hamilton County, rather than just a few profit motivated and community caring citizens.
The following is one reminder of some past mistakes in areas of booming economies arising out of Choo Choo City’s development as the ninth most heavily industrialized manufacturing community and the “most polluted city in America” (1962 - Walter Cronkite).
Combustion Engineering, U.S.
Pipe, DuPont, Dixie Mercerizing, Ross-Meehan, Wheland Foundry, all offered good paying jobs in the pre-OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) era. Those also developed areas laden with toxic chemicals and life-threatening substances. These were often not revealed to workers and also were often never informed to what they were exposed in their work and ingested that may have caused (or contributed to substantially) to their death or disabilities by their employers or some physicians who may have discouraged them from filing Workers Compensation claims.
The projects under consideration by local governments are moving forward under private and taxpayer funds in the continuing efforts to not only “reimagine Broad Street” (now Chestnut Street also) but to create a new metropolis and move Chattanooga into the perceived image of the “New South” (when did it get old?) and to welcome new citizens from high taxes and costs jurisdictions under the overall theme of “Bigger is Better”. A quasi-retired politician and city planner has also jumped on the bandwagon.
That train is “already moving down the track” (a little outdated until Amtrak arrives) and this article and any subsequent writings will attempt to discuss any errors of the past on the subject of SAFETY and protection of any visitors, employees, new residents, and workers etc. from being misled about any exposure to remaining toxic substances. Hopefully, they have been or will be sufficiently “capped” under the “brownfield” regulations of OSHA, periodically reviewed, by local, state, and federal agencies, and to insure that health considerations are adequately addressed along with the profit motivation and expansion of Choo Choo City.
More stringent controls are now part of the law but many times are not regularly monitored by inadequate resources, cost cutting measures, politics, and any other factor that might not adequately protect the public.
No allegation is made as to any misconduct of any entity in the present except to express the often quotation of Spanish philosopher George Santayana that “those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”
British Prime Minister Winston Churchill in a 1948 speech to the British House of Commons expressed similar sentiments: “Those that fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.”
In a series of following articles safety concerns about the acknowledged “toxic dump” sites of the past in the “Dynamo of Dixie” manufacturing era (acknowledged by politicians for other reasons) will be presented not for the purpose of impeding or making a futile attempt to stop the perceived ongoing progress of our community but to hopefully add a single voice of caution for the future:
The E.I. Dupont Nemours nylon plant on Access Road at Hixson Pike at one point was the largest employer in Chattanooga and proudly claimed to be the “World’s Safest Plant” and earned that description by establishing the world record for going the longest period of time without any employee missing a day of work from any industrial accident.
On the surface it was a wonderful place to be employed:
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High wages with great retirement benefits;
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Medical staff at the plant with a resident physician;
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Cafeteria with excellent, reasonably priced food;
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Sports programs including big time fast pitch softball as well as a strong intramural agenda;
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A maintenance shop on call to fix your draw twist machine to correct any mechanical problem that might slow down production;
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Air conditioned plant that heated and cooled the workers at a comfortable temperature in all seasons.
Unfortunately, there was another side to the story at both the Chattanooga and Old Hickory nylon (outside Nashville) plants in Tennessee and throughout America due to the use of asbestos (“the magic mineral”) for both heating and cooling purposes.
In the Insulation Shop large blocks of Kaylo and other forms of asbestos were cut into smaller pieces and, unfortunately, the breathable fibers were circulated throughout the plant via the heating/cooling systems.
The Chattanooga Plant started operation in 1946 and many longtime employees were exposed to the toxic substance of asbestos until they retired or the plant closed in the 1980s.
Over 160 locations in our community have been identified as being a place of potential asbestos exposure and the problem has not been unique to just the North Access Road location in Chattanooga.
For years employees with lung disorders and types of cancer such as mesothelioma and other health problems were informed that their health conditions were caused by smoking or some other non-work related condition. If an actual physical injury occurred it would be covered under the self insured health care plan rather than workers compensation in order to avoid having to report an incident that would destroy the company’s public relations quest of “The World’s Safest Plant”.
Asbestos-related diseases are often slow developing and may take anywhere from 10-40 years to cause problems for the unsuspecting worker or his family after he may have died without ever knowing that the cause of their death may have other than natural cause. With time limits to bring legal action, that may have also been too late.
The site has now been sold and the new foreign owner is headquartered in Turkey and has acquired a Payment-in-Lieu of Tax (PILOT) approval in 2022-2023 for its new construction.