>European company in US - No clean up
Hi
IMO Indian Government should launch new lawsuits with support from UN and US EPA.
The plant in Bhopal was build by Union Carbide India based on technology & safety standard from Union Carbide International.
UC Int'l also train UC India technicians and engineers about various safety measure in plant operation.
If the Safety procedure & safety training cannot provide enough backup to prevent the explosion, the it's the Union Carbide Int'l fault.
On the Indian court, the "sabotage" theory was rejected, based on various testimony. The accident is caused by negligence, lack of training and experience. Apparently UC Int'l did not provide enough training and instruction about the safety and emergency procedure on the plant.
Not as dramatic as Bhopal, but ABB run into problems because their Asbestos related product in US:
http://www.forbes.com/global/2003/0106/019_print.html=================================================
When ABB acquired Combustion Engineering, a U.S. maker of power plant equipment, in 1990, the European industrial company knew that there were outstanding asbestos lawsuits. But after it ran the numbers, the risk seemed manageable. After all, Combustion Engineering wasn't mining or manufacturing asbestos; it was only selling boilers with asbestos insulation. It was hardly on the front lines of asbestos litigation.
It is now. ABB faces U.S. asbestos liabilities estimated to be from $2 billion to $3 billion. The company is trying to put that unit into bankruptcy to protect itself from claims that are already far in excess of Combustion Engineering's assets of $812 million. ABB has paid out $1 billion in claims and is trying to cap the unit's future liability at $1.1 billion.
