Order of Events?

1
Order of Events?

1. Cuyahoga river catches fire due to blowtorch
   spark and does 1.5 million in damage.
2. Following the Time Magazine article, the river
   fire began to draw more attention.  Especially
   among environmentalists, the river fire stood as
   a clear example of the need to improve the water
   quality in lakes and rivers. 
3. Cleveland industry is booming.
4. federal officials passed a bill that would grant
   states more insurance that projects aimed at
   improving water quality would receive federal
   support.  The Cuyahoga River served as a prime
   example of the need for the bill.
5. Cuyahoga river catches fire again due to a spark
   from a train track. Lasting 30 minutes it does
   50,000 worth of damage.
6. federal water pollution officials pressured four
   steel companies to "expedite installation of
   facilities to clean their large waste discharges
   into the filthy Cuyahoga and Maumee Rivers.
7. Moes Cleaveland explores mouth of Cayahoga River
   and establishes settlement of Cleveland
8. The first Earth Day increased awareness for an
   environmental agenda.
9. The Clean Water Act was passed, "restricting
   industrial dumping into the nation's waterways". 
10. The river catching fire "proved to be the
    instrumental rallying point in the passage of the
    Clean Water Act".  The Cuyahoga had become a
    symbol of the need to improve water quality.
11. City Officials lower flammability by breaking up
    oil patches with high power water hoses.

2
The Cuyahoga River Fires

• June 22nd, 1969

3
A legacy is established

• This was not the first time that the river had
  caught on fire.
• Fires occurred on the Cuyahoga River in
• 1868,1883,1887,1912,1922,1936,1941,1948, and in
  1952.

4
1900s
5

• Depicts a fire in December of 1952 on the
  Cuyahoga River
• 1,500,000 worth of damage

6

• Shows a fireboat breaking up an oil slick on
  December 19, 1961 (9 years later).

7

• It depicts the aftermath of the June 22, 1969
  fire, as the fire boat continues to break up oil
  slicks.  Part of this picture was run on the
  front page of The Plane Dealer the next day. The
  caption read, Flames leaped up from floating oil
  wastes dumped in the Cuyahoga River by waterfront
  industries yesterday and burned this trestle and
  another before a fireboat and units from three
  fire battalions brought it under control. Lasted
  30 min. damage was 50,000.

8
(No Transcript)
9
TIME reports (August 1st, 1969)

• Some River! Chocolate-brown, oily, bubbling with
  subsurface gases, it oozes rather than flows.
  "Anyone who falls into the Cuyahoga does not
  drown," Cleveland's citizens joke grimly. "He
  decays". . . The Federal Water Pollution Control
  Administration dryly notes "The lower Cuyahoga
  has no visible signs of life, not even low forms
  such as leeches and sludge worms that usually
  thrive on wastes." It is also -- literally -- a
  fire hazard.

10
Repercussions of the Fire

• August 1st 1969, Time Magazine article, the river
  fire began to draw more attention.  Especially
  among environmentalists, the river fire stood as
  a clear example of the need to improve the water
  quality in lakes and rivers. 
• In October of 1969, federal officials passed a
  bill that would grant states more insurance that
  projects aimed at improving water quality would
  receive federal support.  The Cuyahoga River
  served as a prime example of the need for the
  bill.
• Also in October, federal water pollution
  officials pressured four steel companies to
  "expedite installation of facilities to clean
  their large waste discharges into the filthy
  Cuyahoga and Maumee Rivers.
• The first Earth Day in 1970 increased awareness
  for an environmental agenda.
• In 1972 the Clean Water Act was passed,
  "restricting industrial dumping into the nation's
  waterways". 
• The river catching fire "proved to be the
  instrumental rallying point in the passage of the
  Clean Water Act".  The Cuyahoga had become a
  symbol of the need to improve water quality.

11
The Pigeon River Debate
12
The Pigeon River and Champion Paper

• In 1908, the CIC Canton paper mill was built on
  the Pigeon River in western North Carolina,40
  miles from the North Carolina/Tennessee border.
• River flowing into Canton was crystal clear and
  well reserved as a prize fishing destination.
• Down river from the plant, river was muddy brown
  with 12 inch high foam masses floating along it.
  
• Rocks located just down river were coated with
  heavy tar laced with Dioxins, chlorines, and
  dyes.
• Tennessee residents noticed abnormal amounts of
  birth defects and a complete lack of natural life
  at there end of the river.

13
Actions Taken!

• In 1985, Tennessee state residents (Cocke County)
  solicited help from the EPA, politicians, state
  agencies, and the media.
• CIC has made significant improvements to air and
  water quality, by 1989,the company had invested
  over 73 million in environmental projects.
• In September of 1993, CIC completed the 330
  million Canton Modernization Project (CMP)
  involving a new technology called oxygen
  delignification, trademarked ODTM 100, or 100
  substitution of chlorine.
• The CMP significantly reduced chemical discharges
  into the wastewater and airstream, and decreased
  water usage and the color, odor, and foam in the
  effluent.