[Dioxin-l] Shinkampo dioxin news

[Neil Tangri]

KANAGAWA (FRONT PAGE), TOKYO (POLITICS PAGE), AND ASAHI/SANKEI (LOCAL
PAGES)              000106
 GOVERNOR PLEDGES EFFORTS FOR DIOXIN IN NEW YEAR
 YOKOHAMA =96 Governor Hiroshi Okazaki gave a press conference, the first
one of the year, on January 5.  With regard to the dioxin control, the
governor said, =93Regardless of general waste or industrial waste, I want
to tackle with the problem, soliciting cooperation of municipal
governments.  My goal is to dispose of all waste inside the
prefecture.=94  The governor is to establish a new post during the spring
personnel reshuffle to handle the waste disposal.
  A Kanagawa official in charge of waste disposal said, =93If we let the
situations of mass generation of waste take their course, our waste
disposing system would bust sooner or later.  It is very difficult to
find waste dump sites in the prefecture.  It is vital for us to control
waste generation.=94
 There are three areas the governor is looking into at present.  One is
to divide the prefecture by zones; each zone is to be responsible for
waste control.  The second one is to draft an operation manual for
citizens, companies, and municipal governments to follow to reduce the
amount of waste generation.  The manual comes with guidelines to
properly process waste.  The third one is to study a wide range of
measures to recycle waste.





SANKEI AND TOKYO (WORLD PAGES)                 000106E

 COHEN MULLS SUING ENVIRO-TECH
 WASHINGTON =96 During the security summit of January 5, Secretary Cohen
mentioned to his Japanese counterpart Kawara the poisonous smoke coming
from a private waste incinerating company next to the Naval Air
Facility,
Atsugi.  Mr. Cohen said, =93It=92s been three years since I became defense
secretary.  But this pollution issue has not been solved and I feel
frustrated and my patience running out.=94  He informed Mr. Kawara that
the
Navy was contemplating a civil suit against the company.  Mr. Kawara
replied, =93Our government has been trying to improve the situation.  We
have
given a deadline to the company to take action.  If it does not respond,

we
will consider a tough measure.=94


TOKYO (LOCAL PAGE)            000107



 LOCALS QUIETLY WATCHING BILATERAL TALKS OVER DIOXIN
 AYASE, Kanagawa =96 Regarding the strong comment of Secretary Cohen that
his
patience was wearing thin over incinerators of Enviro-Tech, local
officials
are quietly watching the progress of bilateral negotiations.
 At present, the company is constructing a facility of bag filters.  The

Environmental Agency, the Kanagawa prefectural government, and the Ayase

city hall are surveying dioxin concentrations in the air until February
21.

 Fumio Otani, deputy director of the Ayase industrial complex
cooperative,
said, =93Our cooperative welcomes Cohen=92s comment.  However, erecting a
high
smokestack merely spreads the smoke and, as a result, troubles other
people
in the vicinity.=94
 Tetsuo Murata, chairman of Enviro-Tech, said, =93It=92s a tough demand to
build a tall smokestack by March next year although we know we have to
seek
solution to this problem.=94