The waning days of the school year brought an unexpected season of unpleasantness to Mt. Vernon (Ind.) High School.

Much to the chagrin of many graduating students, teacher Jo Hamm, decided to suspend the publication of the school newspaper after a public flap was generated by an article written by Brian Spaulding, Lauren Reynolds and Jeff Walker. They wrote about the enormous toxic emissions from two of Posey County's largest employers, Countrymark Refinery and General Electric Plastics.

The students made the terrible mistake of publicly suggesting that there is a possible relationship between the enormous carcinogenic, toxic emissions put out by the refinery and GE's Lexan plastic production facility and the elevated levels of cancer and cancer-related deaths throughout this region.

They based most of their arguments on statistics taken from the Internet site Scorecard (www.scorecard.org) a service closely associated with the Sierra Club’s Great Lakes Endowment, the Environmental Defense Fund and the Environmental Public Education Project.

The self-reported "Toxic Release Inventory" data is annually reported to state and federal governmental agencies (E.P.A. and Indiana Department of Environmental Management (IDEM)).

Back in 1998, the Sierra Club widely distributed copies of the "cancer map" which is shown on the site identifying GE Plastics in 1998 as being the 13th largest carcinogenic point source in the U.S. putting out over 1.3 million lbs. of "recognized cancer-causing pollution released to the air and water."

Acknowledging that GE had reduced emissions significantly in the past several years, the students made some factual errors in their initial report published February 23, 2001, and the following month two scathing responses from employees of the facilities in question were published along with a front page statement of corrections written by the students.

The students were criticized for using only one data source upon which to base their assertions. Consequently, their writings read more like an opinion piece rather than showing both sides of a huge and extremely controversial subject.

However, in reviewing the responses -- particularly the one written by Kimberly Derk, site communications manager for GE -- it is more than apparent that these two facilities are quite sensitive about seeing their toxic emissions discussed in the press -- even if it is only a school newspaper.

Well then, just what are these toxic emissions to our air and water, and just how serious are they?

According to the 1999 Toxic Release Report for GE published on the IDEM web site (the preferred data referred to by Ms. Derk in her letter), the following statistics can be found:

* Methanol (methyl alcohol, used as a volatile fuel in Indianapolis race cars), 230,000 lbs. (115 tons) released to the air and 11,000 lbs. (5.5 tons) to water.

* Dicholor-Methane (Methylene Chloride), 519,000 lbs. (259.5 tons) to the air and 110 lbs. to the water.

* Chlorodiflouromethane (HCFC-22) 15,000 lbs. (7.5 tons) to the air,

* 1-2 DiCholorbenzene, 184,300 lbs. (92 tons) to the air, 55 lbs. to the water.

* Cumene, 171,000 lbs. (85.5 tons) to air and 1 lb. to water,

* Ethylene Glycol (the active ingredient in automobile radiator coolant) 3,500 lbs. (1.75 tons) to air, and 16,000 lbs. (8 tons) to water,

* Toluene (the strongly aromatic, active ingredient in model airplane cement) 234,000 lbs. (117 tons) to air, 54 lbs. to water,

* Phenol ( an incredibly strong aromatic solvent used in paints and other industrial applications) 93,000 lbs. (46.5 tons) to the air, 54 lbs. to water.

* Hydrochloric Acid (an extremely lethal, caustic substance) 490,052 lbs. (245 tons) to the air.

* Sulfuric Acid (ditto above) 140,000 lbs. (70 tons) to the air

* Hydrogen Flouride (an extremely toxic and volatile gas) 59,000 lbs. (29.5 tons)

* Ammonia, (yet another toxic and potentially explosive gas) 19,000 lbs. (9.5 tons) to air, and 890 lbs. to the water.

While these are but a few of the toxic releases reported to the state environmental agency and do not account for the entire 2,495,361 lbs. (1247.68 tons) of toxic releases to air and water for which GE was responsible, they perhaps give the reader some idea as to how serious this problem truly is. It also should be mentioned that not all of these chemicals are known carcinogens, but they are known to be extremely caustic or dangerous to human health in high concentration.

And while GE has reduced their toxic emissions significantly in recent years, this does not account for the enormous tonnages which have bombarded area residents for the past 40 years since the plant first opened in 1960.

Another thing which should be kept in mind is that on a statewide basis, during the year 1999, GE Plastics with these enormous levels of pollution did not even rank among the top ten industrial pollution facilities within the entire state of Indiana. GE’s toxic emissions were eclipsed by such nearby facilities as AK Steel in Spencer County, Alcoa in Warrick County, PSI Cinergy’s Gibson County power plant and the Indianapolis Power and Light facility in Pike County.

For years it has seemed as if there has been a reluctance by the power establishment to acknowledge that there could be a direct relationship between the enormous toxic emissions put out by the industrial facilities of this region and elevated rates of cancer, respiratory diseases and deaths resulting from both types of afflictions. These data should put this issue in the forefront of any discussion of future economic development .

Although the reporting by the students at Mount Vernon High School may have been flawed and plagued by a few factual inaccuracies, their courageous publication of the truth in the eyes of many concerned citizens is worthy of recognition. We should be honoring them for focusing the light of day upon a very serious situation which continues to afflict the public health of this region.

David Coker is an Evansville free-lance writer.