GM quits partnership targeting toxic parts as clunkers pile up
WASHINGTON -- General Motors has quit working with a partnership that collects toxic parts from scrapped automobiles, jeopardizing an effort to prevent mercury pollution just as hundreds of thousands of clunkers are headed to recyclers.
Participants in the environmental program told The Associated Press the timing of GM's departure could hurt their work. The government's "cash-for-clunkers" program will lead to trade-in and recycling of an estimated 750,000 vehicles, some of which contain mercury switches.
GM says it's a new company, formed with substantial government aid in the wake of bankruptcy protection, and is not a member of the partnership because it doesn't make vehicles with mercury switches and is not responsible for the older vehicles. The old company, which is still under bankruptcy court supervision, says it is reviewing agreements involving the former company and declined to comment.
Roughly 36 million mercury switches were used in trunk convenience lights and antilock brakes in vehicles built in the 1980s and 1990s. More than half of them are in GM vehicles built before 2000.
Mercury released into the air can accumulate in plants, fish and humans. Children and fetuses are vulnerable to the effects of the toxic metal, which can damage the development of the nervous system.
The auto industry partnership, called the End of Life Vehicle Solutions, or ELVS, was created in 2005 to prevent mercury emissions from being released into the environment when vehicles are crushed and shredded. It works closely with the National Vehicle Mercury Switch Recovery Program, which the Environmental Protection Agency helped form with automakers, the steel industry and environmentalists in 2006.
The program, which is scheduled to run until 2017, has recovered 2.5 million switches and disposed of nearly 5,600 pounds (2,540 kilograms) of mercury. General Motors, prior to its bankruptcy, was the group's largest participant and informed the partnership of the change last week.
