Document rpML8Yknez15gnkekEDK83JNq

Edward Howard 6Co. Public Relation] Counsel Founded 1925 One Cascade Plaza, 19th Floor Akron, Ohio 44308-1121 (216)376-6500 Fax:376-9379 TO: Vinyl Institute Executive Board FROM: Dave Meek SUBJECT: Greenpeace Attack on Vinyl DATE: December 9,1992 COPIES: The past weekend I attended the Greenpeace anti-chlorine conference held in Monroe, Michigan. This brought together environmental activists from throughout the Great Lakes Region in support of the International Joint Commission recommendations to sunset chlorine, as well as anti-chlorine/PVC activists from the U.S., Europe, Australia and New Zealand. Following are the key points which were made during the conference. Key Points 1. Dr. Barry Commoner: "We need to shrink the petrochemical industry...Chlorine hits industry at its most vulnerable place...We need an industrial policy with society having something to say about what is produced...This is not only the right environmental campaign, it is the right economic campaign and the right social and political campaign...I see it as the beginning of a campaign for economic and social justice." Discussed "economic chemical imperialism." Action: Enlist support of the entire chemical industry in support of chlorine. Entire industry under attack. 2. The importance of the IJC recommendation: Jack Weinberg, Greenpeace Chlorine Campaign, said the IJC sunset recommendation "far exceeded what we were lobbying for. We must make great efforts to sustain it and to prevent its reversal." Action: Intensify efforts to show IJC recommendation not sound. 3. Battle for the health community: There will be a major effort to enlist health community, especially physicians, against chlorine. Action: Urgently need a program to reach the health community. Office] in Cleveland. Akron. Coliiinbu] and D.iwon CTL008134 2- - 4. Reproductive issues major focus: The major thrust of the attack will be the effect of organochlorines on reproduction. Animals and humans. Dr. Theo Colbom, World Wildlife Fund, referred to one product as the "...Thalidomide of the reproductive tract." Action: Enlist medical research on our side, if possible. 5. Knowledge is power: Greenpeace knows the chlorine industry and its positions. These are the point/counterpoints: A. Chlorine is essential/Chlorine can be replaced. B. Use science to determine safety of each product/Ban all organochlorines, put the burden on industry to prove products are safe. Action: Prepare effective arguments to their counterpoints. 6. The Greenpeace chess strategy: This battle, they said, is like a chess game. The strategy is this: Don't attack the king (chlor-alkali industry) but go after the pawns (like dry cleaning) and the rooks (like pulp and paper). Then, go after the queen (PVC). Finally, you can checkmate the king. Action: Incorporate that strategy into our thinking. Protect our lesser pieces or rethink whether they should be in our game. 7. The phosphate model: It was suggested that Greenpeace can use the phosphate ban as a model for the Great Lakes. Action: Study phosphate ban, what lessons apply, if any. 8. Clean Production, a central Greenpeace premise: We can't protect the environment through regulations and emission controls on the back end of production process. We must prevent pollution by controlling what goes into front end. Action: Document what industry is doing in pollution prevention. CTL008135 -3- 9. Greenpeace makes claims without evidence. Obviously, Greenpeace doesn't feel that it's necessary to provide evidence for all their claims. Here are a few examples of statements at the conference: "PVC may be the largest source of dioxin globally" 'To get rid of one organochlorine, you need to get rid of all of them" "PVC is one of the most toxic industries on the face of the earth" "Waste is so full of dioxin that it has surprised even their chemists" "Fogging on inside of car windows is PVC emissions, migrating out of dash boards" Action: Document our case and look for opportunities to demonstrate Greenpeace errors, especially from credible third parties. 10. European situation being incorrectly represented: Greenpeace badly misrepresents the situation by suggesting that there are widespread bans and deselection activities in Europe. Action: Maximize publicity on positive European examples. 11. Greenpeace is trying to enlist recyclers in an anti-PVC coalition. Efforts are underway to build a coalition with recyclers who feel that PVC in the wastestream is a problem for them. Action: Intensify communication efforts with recyclers. The Partners Program can help with this. 12. Greenpeace working to form alliances with labor: Greenpeace is proposing the creation of a Superfund for Workers which will ensure that workers in the chemical industry who lose jobs because of bans will be protected from loss of income. "No pollution prevention without income protection," said Richard Miller of the Oil, Chemical & Atomic Workers Union. However, Miller applauded the Greenpeace effort to ban chlorine. Action: Formulate strategy to build working coalition with labor. CTL008136 -4- 13. Chlorine seen as call to battle: Jack Weinberg said that Greenpeace sees chlorine as a framework to tie all the pieces together and unify many different groups with environmental agendas (i.e., incinerators, landfills, recycling, etc.) Closing workshops reflected the Greenpeace priorities: A. Organize for IJC B. Human health networking C. Science issues D. Labor "Nobody should think we (Greenpeace) are going to do this by ourselves," said Weinberg. Action: Develop strategy to build coalitions with environmental groups with different agendas and other organizations likely to appreciate chlorine's contribution to public health, etc. 14. No faith in industry. The people involved with Greenpeace have absolutely no faith that industry will do the right thing without being pressured. This could be summed up in a sign which said: "Polite People Get Poisoned." Action: Understand that no appeal to the hardcore will convince them of the rightness of industry positions. Look for ways to communicate important environmental steps to the general public and more openminded environmental groups. There is no doubt in my mind that we must greatly intensify our efforts to protect vinyl from these attacks and that a higher level of anti-PVC activity is on the way in the U.S. To meet this challenge, additional resources will be required. s / CTL008137