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Nakanishi: Victory!
CONGRATULATIONS, Mr. Kanaeda!

Thank you for eliminating toxic TCE at the Athen, GA , Nakanishi Manufacturing Corporation plant! We welcome your commitment to making a healthy environment for the workers, neighbors, Coile Middle School students and everyone else who breathes air in Athens-Clarke County.

Read Nakanishi's December 21, 2007, letter to the community here.

Read Nakanishi's March 30, 2007, statement here.

CONGRATULATIONS, Athens!

Thanks to all the community members who wrote letters, came to hearings, marched, spoke at churches, spoke to Commissioners and School Board members, and much more! You made a difference. This is a victory for our children, ourselves and our ability to make our community prosperous without sacrificing our quality of life.

It took three years, a lot of hard work, and the combined efforts of local grassroots organizations -- Clean Air Athens, Micah's Mission, the Northeast Gergia Childrens Environmental Health Coalition. Thanks to many people who stood up and took risks -- but special thanks to Jill McElheney of Micah's Mission, whose love for children, concern for the powerless, and persistence in speaking truth to power is an inspiration for all of us.

                 -- Clean Air Athens

 

ARCHIVES:

Nakanishi Manufacturing dumps massive quantities of trichloroethylene, or TCE, a "dinosaur" chemical that it is being phased out around the country. It's the chemical that poisoned the community in the movie "A Civil Action."  Safer alternatives exist, and Nakanishi claims they have been studying alternatives for several years.  Demand that Nakanishi to switch to non-cancer-causing solvents immediately.

  • Health board may ask plant to stop using toxic chemical 11/03/05 [News – offsite],
    • By Lee Shearer, Athens Banner-Herald. The Clarke County Board of Health will schedule a called meeting to decide whether to ask an Athens factory to stop emitting trichloroethylene, or TCE, a hazardous chemical that may cause cancer
  • Open Letter to Nakanishi [offsite] President, Kunio Kanaeda, Athens Banner-Herald, 09/18/2005
    • Stop using TCE and endangering community
  • Response from Nakanishi [pdf] President Kanaeda, 9/20/2005
    • We're legal, so get lost (no timetable for phase-out for TCE; no meeting)
  • Dear Mr. Kanaeda [pdf]
    • You've been working on this since 1992?  EPA data shows increasing TCE.
  • Response to ABH editorial [pdf] in Athens Banner Herald, by Dr. Jeff Fisher, Head, Department of Environmental Health Science, University of Georgia, 09/27/2005
    • TCE causes cancer, measure community exposure
  • Response to Nakanishi President [pdf], from Jill McElheney, 9/23/2005
    • Stop putting God's children in harm's way

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Overview

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Nakanishi Press: Articles, Letters & Editorials

  • Health board may ask plant to stop using toxic chemical 11/03/05 [News – offsite]
    • By Lee Shearer, Athens Banner-Herald. The Clarke County Board of Health will schedule a called meeting to decide whether to ask an Athens factory to stop emitting trichloroethylene, or TCE, a hazardous chemical that may cause cancer.
  • Now, Not Later - Nakanishi March 11/02/05 [News – offsite]
    • By Ben Emanuel, Flagpole. On Monday, Oct. 24, about 50 people gathered outside the New Grove Baptist Church in northeastern Clarke County for a "march to stop poisoning our community" organized by the group Clean Air Athens.
  • Protesters march outside Nakanishi 10/25/05 [News – offsite]
    • By Lee Shearer, Athens Banner-Herald. About 50 people marched Monday evening to protest pollution coming from Nakanishi Manufacturing Corp.
  • TCE really is a human carcinogen 09/27/05 [Forum]
    • By Dr. Jeff Fisher. After the Athens Banner-Herald's Sept. 22 editorial on the use of trichloroethylene at Nakanishi Manufacturing in Athens-Clarke County, I'm compelled to provide a better-informed view.
  • Allegations of local TCE harm not yet proven 09/22/05 [Editorial - offsite]
    • These days, CleanAirAthens.org finds itself mired in the tyranny of uncertainty. …
  • Group still wants plant pressured about output 09/21/05 [News - offsite]
    • By Alisa Marie DeMao. About 40 people attending a Tuesday night forum began brainstorming ways to pressure Nakanishi Motor Corp. to speed up its transition from a cancer-causing …
  • Request to Nakanishi on TCE use graceful 09/20/05 [Letter - offsite]
    • For the past few months, I've been publicly criticizing attempts by CleanAirAthens.org to drive out the proposed expansion of Athens' CertainTeed fiberglass insulation plant because I didn't like the way they were a …
  • Nakanishi asked to abandon chemical 09/18/05 [Letter - offsite]
    • An open letter to Mr. Kunio Kanaeda, CEO of Nakanishi Manufacturing Corp., which operates a bearing retainers and parts facility on Voyles Road in Athens-Clarke County …
  • Asking the Right Questions About Toxic Air Pollution 08/17/05 [Commentary - Flagpole - offsite]
    • Peter Gess, Ray MacNair, Jill McElheney, Bill Sheehan and Kristen Smith (CleanAirAthens.org). Sometimes state and federal environmental standards seem not to protect us and we must ask why. In the case of two local companies …
  • Coile Middle is no place for environmental battle 08/17/05 [Letter - offsite]
    • As a citizen of Winterville, parent of a former Coile Middle School student and past president of Coile's PTSO, I maintain contact with, and support the school. I, too, am concerned about the quality of the
  • Nakanishi should stop using TCE 08/12/05 [Forum - offsite]
    • By Bill Sheehan We have been hearing a lot lately about CertainTeed's application for a permit to almost triple its air pollution at its local fiberglass insulation plant. But there is another air pollution permit up for
  • Plant emissions are safe, state officials say 06/28/05 [News - offsite]
    • By Lee Shearer. Pollution coming from the Nakanishi Motor Corporation's plant near Winterville does not pose a health threat to its neighbors, and there is no reason to deny the
  • Plant's emissions determined no risk 05/14/03 [News - offsite]
    • By Lee Shearer. An Athens factory's emissions of a cancer-causing chemical pose no health risk to students in a nearby school or residents in a nearby residential area,
  • Toxins' effects on kids new area of study, group told 05/05/04 [News - offsite]
    • By Lee Shearer. … only within the last few years have researchers focused on children, a University of Georgia toxicologist told a children's health group in Athens Tuesday.

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