Mayor, tribes call for faster remediation of New Plymouth chemical plant

• New Plymouth mayor convinced of high pollution levels at former Dow Chemical plant
• Tribes and councils want faster redress
• Dow releases preliminary report on Paritutu contamination
• Report acknowledges pollution could affect human health and the environment

The mayor of New Plymouth is convinced the site of a former chemical plant in the city is contaminated with high levels of the most toxic substances.

Dow Chemical Company releases preliminary site investigation (PDI) for its Paritutu plant On Friday Acknowledge that contamination still exists that could affect human health and/or the environment.

Ivon Watkins – later Ivon Watkins-Dow – produced the herbicides 2,4,5-T and 2,4-D in Paritūtū from 1962 to 1987.

These herbicides contain toxic dioxins, the main ingredient in Agent Orange, a defoliant used by the U.S. military in the Vietnam War that has been linked to cancer and birth defects.

The Paritutu site was demolished in 2022, with Dow and its New Zealand remediation partner Tonkin & Taylor involved in a clean-up process that is expected to take several years.

Tonkin & Taylor are responsible for the PSI which has just been completed.

“The study concluded that contamination may be present in surface soil, subsoil and groundwater (shallow and deep) which could affect human health and/or the environment,” Dow said in a statement.

New Plymouth Mayor Neil Holdom said while the PSI was just a tabletop exercise, it reaffirmed his concerns about the 16-hectare site.

“I am absolutely convinced that the site is filled with New Zealand’s most toxic substances in concentrations so high that it poses a real threat to human health and the environment, particularly to the adjacent marine park.”

Dow said the PSI will inform a detailed site investigation (DSI), which will involve new testing.

Holden hopes that Dao can continue to do it.

“My focus is that we get real clarity on where they are going to get testing and encourage that testing as quickly as possible.

“We want to make sure that comprehensive testing is done so we can understand how much toxic material is left behind from Dow’s production process on site, and then we can understand how to manage the risks to the people of New Plymouth and to the marine reserve and environment.”

Holdom hopes to start new testing this year.

“I think Dow has made it clear that they will take responsibility and will follow a very good, rigorous process that allows for independent review and then agrees to make corrections. So it’s good that they’re acknowledging these issues.”

Two hapū and two Māori are associated with the Paritutu site. This is an area of ​​common interest to Te Atiawa and Taranaki Iwi; Ngāti Te Whiti hapū, Ngā Mahanga and Ngāti Tairi hapū Taranaki at Te Atiawa.

Te Kahui o Taranaki Trust chair Jacqui King said people were not shocked to learn there was still a possibility of contamination at Paritūtū.

“We were not surprised, to be honest. You know, we had been concerned about the measures that were taken in that village and the harm that it could cause, not only to the village, but to the families.

“You know, the preliminary results don’t tell us anything other than highlight the real risks that we, I believe we as a community, already recognize.”

King said she was pleased to see the PSI had been issued and the remediation process had reached a milestone.

“Dow has someone out here to conduct further investigation. So this is a step toward our desired goal, which is to fully remediate the site.”

She hopes the process can be accelerated.

As a teenager, Jimmy Stoppard worked as an apprentice fitter and welder at Ivon Watkins Dow.

He found it somewhat amusing that Dow had no regard for the health of the people living around its factories and the environment.

Stoppard, who is in remission from mantle cell lymphoma, remembers cleaning the reactor wearing only a mask and rubber gloves for protection.

“One thing I did notice in the report is that they seemed very concerned about soil and groundwater contamination and the potential for harm to human health.

“I find it interesting that they are now more worried about the impact on human health and the surrounding area than the health of people like me who work there.”

Stoppard, who now lives in Melbourne, said he was not surprised that groundwater or soil could still be contaminated.

“Whenever they needed to do anything in the 2,4,5-T and 2,4-D reactors where this stuff was made, they would flush the area with steam water hoses or wash it out.

“And all that wash water basically goes down the drain. It’s the same rainwater that comes off forklift tires inside and outside buildings, and all that rainwater that has chemicals in it — no matter how diluted it is — goes down the drain in the same way and in the same place.”

Stoppard worries whether the site can ever be fully restored.

Dioxin campaigner Andrew Gibbs believes there is little point in acknowledging the possibility of contamination at the site.

“People reported falling into contaminated waste 50, 60 years ago. This is not news. What they are trying to do is shift the conversation away from people who were directly exposed to waste from parks near this site to the current risk of exposure, which will be significantly reduced.”

Dow has submitted its full PSI report to the Taranaki Regional Council and said the next step would be to design and complete a detailed site investigation, including new testing, before embarking on a remediation plan.