I hate the stupid greedy ones

Hi my friend,

I cannot sleep for a couple of nights knowingly that stupid decisions had been made and that there are some greedy companies doing harm to the Vietnamese people and others around the world.

It hurts me and for the first time I think lunatic, or crazy people having lost their memories are perhaps the lucky ones, not us the one having sympathy with them.

A business partner, who asks for my assistance looking into this matter, said that he feels like Vietnamese people are being rapped twice by the greedy foreign companies.

Even though I am aUSCitizen but in my soul and my blood I am also Vietnamese.

I feel so sorry for the people living next to many of the mines in the world, where countless of toxic chemicals and heavy even radioactive substances are being used or discharged into the rivers, soils, and you know they will be hurt for generations to come.

After I found out that SDK has been permitted to build a factory in Dong Van 2 Industrial Park in Ha Nam Province, just 30 km from where my family are staying, to separate and enrich Dysprosyum and Didymium

http://www.sdk.co.jp/english/news/2008/aanw_08_0958.html

and after reading a great report two days ago (see the attached file) to confirm my suspicion I cannot sleep.

“There is currently no rare earth mine production in the United States. U.S.-based Molycorp operates a separation plant at Mountain Pass,CA, and sells the rare earth concentrates and refined products from previously mined above-ground stocks. Neodymium, praseodymium, and lanthanum oxides are produced for further processing, but these materials are not turned into rare earth metal in the United States. While the United States exports much of its REE stocks toJapan, that material is not counted in the trade equation for import reliance because the material is not produced from a primary source.”

It turns out there is one byproduct, Thorium, which is radioactive and prohibits the American and other Western companies like Molycorp and Lynas or Siemens to build such factories intheir own backyards.

“Lynas and Siemens have entered into a joint venture for the manufacturing of magnets used in wind turbine generators. Lynas (45% stake) will provide raw material to Siemens (55% stake) from their Mt. Weld mine in Australia, which is expected to begin production sometime in 2011.

Lynas expects to process the raw material at its Malaysian processing facility after receiving approval from the Malaysian government. There are concerns in Malaysia over the proper disposal of thorium, which is contained in the mineral deposit and produced alongside the rare earth elements.”

My place of birth is Vu Van Village, Vu Thu District in Thai Binh next to theRed River.

I feel sad for many years whenever I visit it because things are more or less the same for almost forty years since I left forHanoiin 1971. There is no industry, just simple rice planting. People in the village are very poor comparing to many other places I have been to.

But now they are going to be one of those affected by the discharge of the SDK Plant in Dong Van 2 for many years to come.

I have been back to Hanoi for ten years now, and for the first time I am thinking about going back to America because I feel upset.

I met one reporter working for a newspaper the other night. His wish is not to know anything which causes trouble with his inner peace.

I felt bad because there are many like him who would rather turn away or close their eyes instead of talking about such an important subject.

I understand he loves this country and its people too, but he has a good reason for not wanting to know.

I respect his choice and I would not force him to hear anything further and I apology for making you feel unease to say the least with this email.

If you choose to forget it nobody would hold anything against you.

I shared my feeling with a few friends working at the Government and hope that they report it to the senior officials, but I doubt anyone is willing to take on the challenge even the two Deputy PM Hoang Trung Hai and Vu Van Ninh whose place of birth are from Thai Binh and Nam Dinh and stop SDK from damaging the rice basin in the North and causing harm to many innocent people.

I love the Japanese people and have sympathy with them especially with the latest tsunami and Fukushima nuclear plant incident, but I hate SDK and Mitsubishi and Hitachi now, and you know why, they are going to destroy the Red River Delta and other places in the world with their rare earth separation facilities. 

They are taking advantage of the situation and put other nations and their people at such a risk because of money.

Why they are allowed and why they build such a factory in Ha nam is beyond my imagination?

If you look back in ten or twenty years from now, you will see the extend of the damage. Search for the Mitsubishi disaster inMalaysia, where they had to stop their plant in 1994 and spent US100 mil to clean up their mess and you can understand my concern better.

You are in NYC and have seen the Hudson River and the East River I guess. In the past they were polluted with a lot of heavy metals discharged to them too. Things are better now with many old factories stopped operating. I lived at Bay Ridge for 7 years and two more in Queens and having worked at CCNY Department of Chemistry on a project with DEP of NYC so I know a bit about NYC.

I miss snow and Long Island lobsters from China Town.

Hope that you enjoy eating them.

I cannot say anything more about the foods inVietnam. I am using salt and vinegar to clean the meet and fish in the hope that I can get rid of those toxic urea and other chemical like formaldehyde our fellow Vietnamese use to keep them from deteriorating in the market.

All the best to you and your project.

Richard

 

 

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