张昭富访谈(4)
anonymous-114 05/01 4964
4.5/48
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4. Environment and Regulations
LY: How about your thoughts of environment and regulations?
Barry: We need to look at existing laws and ensure that the right ones are being enforced.
You may have heard about the smog in China. I have been very concerned about the dangerous level of pollution, the air, water and soil. We have a similar story here with Lehigh Cement.
We had the Lehigh Cement Plant in Cupertino. It was emitting about 500 pounds of mercury (Hg), over 5,000 tons of nitrogen oxides (NOx) and over 2000 tons of sulfur dioxide (SO2) a year when I was running for Cupertino councilman. It has also been illegally dumping millions of gallons of selenium-polluted water into Permanente Creek for decades. The selenium in ground water was 12 to 16 times higher than the Federal Clean Water limit. On mercury alone, it is almost 6 times the EPA standard for a plant. Various regulatory agencies issued numerous Notice of Violations to it. The company hired a former Cupertino Mayor as its public relationship manager and used top rated law firm and media firm against the community’s efforts to rein in its pollution. No other candidate wanted to publically campaign against the company. I took on it with the Sierra Club and others head on, even used every opportunity and get Steve Jobs (former Apple CEO) to look at it. In the end, the company was forced to cut back emissions. For example, they reduced mercury emissions by 90%. Previously they claimed impossible.
