By MIKE DICKINSON
(November 11, 2004) —
A statewide environmental group issued a report Thursday claiming Kodak
Park violated state guidelines for emissions of the solvent methylene
chloride for 13 years.
Citizen’s Environmental Coalition, along with the Kandid Coalition, a
Rochester group, said environmental consultant Wilma Subra analyzed
Eastman Kodak Co.’s air-monitoring data in Rochester and found it
violated guidelines.
The organizations are calling on Kodak to continue funding monitors from
the state Department of Environmental Conservation and to install a
comprehensive, continuous air-monitoring system around Kodak.
Subra, a Louisiana-based environmental consultant and chemical-pollution
watchdog, presented a report on the Kodak Park pollution figures at a
press conference Thursday.
“My analysis reveals that significant levels of toxic chemicals have
been found in the air by Kodak well above state air guidelines,” Subra
said. “Kodak and state and federal environmental agencies should launch
an official investigation.”
Subra, who received a MacArthur Foundation Genius Award in 1999, worked
on the Love Canal case.
Kodak spokesperson James Blamphin said there is nothing new in the
report, and Kodak has been reporting the same information for 10 years.
All of it appears on Kodak’s Web site, he added.
“This is nothing more than an effort to inflame the public,” he said.
“The levels are guidelines and we are above them. But you can't be in
violation of a guideline. These aren’t regulations.”
The DEC monitors are unrelated to the emissions, he added.
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