MidStates Steel and Wire: Success and Failure

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MidStates Steel and Wire Success and Failure

• By Chris, Mark, Alex and Brittany

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MidStates The Beginning

• Industry has played a vital role in the growth of
  Montgomery County since the late 1800s.
• Organized in 1900, the Crawfordsville Wire and
  Nail company grew from a small beginning to one
  of Crawfordsville's greatest assets
• The plant drew its wire from rods shipped from
  the Keystone plant at Peoria, Illinois.

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History

• MidStates was formed in March 1928, when the Wire
  and Nail Company was purchased from its owners.
• By 1929,the plant had a wire drawing capacity of
  175 tons every 24 hours.
• It was eventually merged with the Dwiggins Wire
  Fence Company of Anderson to become MidStates
  Steel and Wire Company.

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Progress

• MidStates introduced many new technology machines
  and ideas.
• They supplied many jobs for people in and around
  the Crawfordsville area.
• It was one of the most successful businesses of
  its kind in the Midwest.
• It helped business in Montgomery county boom.

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Brand New Technology

• The Hooded Automatic Pickler (HAP).
• It was the first company in the nation to put
  this process into working condition.

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New Technology Contd.

• It cleans rods using a sulfuric acid and water
  solution.
• There are only five of these such processes in
  the world, and it was started by Gus Generis.

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Inside the HAP

• Cost 2 million
• Contains its own closed circuit.
• Allows the operator to select a cleaning process
  and transports the rods through the machine
  within seconds.
• The wire isnt manually handled until it is
  transported to the next station.

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Acid Pollution

• Nails and equipment were rusting
• The sulfuric acid was used to get rid of rust
• Leftover acid was dumped underground
• Trees started growing over waste
• People started to doubt Midstates procedures

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Closing open Doors

• Midstates closed in 1997 due to loss of business
  partners.
• The owners never came back to clean up
• Many chemical barrels were left
• Became a huge fire threat.

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The End of MidStates

• Two tragic fires eventually engulfed the building
  
• Arson was thought to be the cause
• Homeless people and/or teenagers were blamed.

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Explanation of The First Fire

• The first fire, happened on March 31, 2003.
• The fire turned out to be a three-block
  residential area evacuation.
• A local plant had to shut down and people were to
  leave their homes for the rest of the day.

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Explanation of The Second Fire

• The second fire, happened on April 29, 2003.
• It was said that an adolescent who started the
  fire.
• Another possibility is that juveniles or even
  mid-aged people may had methamphetamine
  laboratories.
• The second fire caused an evacuation and local
  companies to be shut down

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Problems Caused By Fires..

• Breathing Problems for local residents.
• Burnt down building in a residential area.
• The company site still hasnt been cleaned up and
  it has been well over a year.
• Anyone who visits this area could become ill from
  these poisonous pollutants in the air.

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Costs of Damages and Repairs

• The total cost of damages needed to be repaired
  will be approximately 279,000.

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MidStates Today

• 2 Lafayette attorneys have bought the factory
• Improvements have been made since.
• Doubts still remain

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The Pollution Conflict

• Effects of zinc, lead, and oil/lubricant
  combustion, and many other pollution-related
  problems

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Oil/Lubricant Combustion

• The act of burning oil, lubricants, and other
  fuel-related chemicals in a non-proper form
• Also called PICs (Products of Incomplete
  Combustion)
• Midstates claims oil/lubricants were used to help
  manufacture products

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What caused the pollution

• Abandoned oils/lubricants were left in the
  factory when Midstates shut down
• Fires have reached the chemicals, polluting air
  with smoke and combustion pollutants

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Combustion pollutants

• Harmful chemicals caused by burning other
  dangerous pollutants

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Carbon monoxide (CO)

• Odorless and colorless gas
• Hundreds die each year from CO in their homes
• Reduces the ability of hemoglobin in blood
• Causes
• Paralysis
• Coma
• Death

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Nitrogen dioxide(NO2)

• Damages the respiratory tract
• Highly toxic
• Red-brown gas
• Or
• Yellow liquid

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Sulfur dioxide(SO2)

• Irritates
• Eyes
• Nose
• Respiratory tract

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Particulates

• Tiny particles that make up smoke
• Damages
• Eyes
• Throat
• Nose

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Health effects

• Combustion pollutants can cause such problems as
• Headaches
• Dizziness
• Sleepiness
• Nausea
• Irritated Eyes
• Breathing difficulties
• Cancer

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Lead and Zinc Poisoning
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Lead (Pb) Poisoning

• No obvious symptoms
• Causes loss of auditory memory
• Destroys red blood cells
• Brain damage

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Zinc (Zn) Poisoning

• Causes
• Vomiting
• Nausea
• Liver/Kidney failure
• Anemia

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Similar Cases
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What is the Exxon Valdez

• The Exxon Valdez is an oil tanker that ran
  aground in Alaska on March 23 1989.
• It was one of the most know oil accidents in the
  World.
• The captain was Joe Hazelwood.

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How Did the Accident Occur

• The tanker was headed toward icebergs, but was
  unable to be steered away by both Gregory Cousins
  and Robert Kagan
• Gregory Cousins was his third mate and was
  presumed to be fatigued during the accident.

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How Did the Accident Occur

• Exxon hit the iceberg and then curved off toward
  the land

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How Does This Compare to Other Accidents

• The Exxon Valdez is one of the largest oil spills
  in the United States.
• It is considered the 1 spill in terms of damage
  to the environment.

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Compared to Other Accidents

• 1,300 miles were impacted by oil.
• 200 miles were heavily impacted.
• It cause one of the hardest clean ups in the
  history of spills

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The Big Clean-Up

• It took more than four summers of clean up
  efforts before the clean up was called off.
• Not all beaches were cleaned.
• The clean up effort included 10,000 workers,
  1,000 boats, and 100 airplanes.

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Clean-Up Continued

• The clean up cost about 2.1 billion
• They used hot water treatment, mechanical
  cleanup, and chemical agents.

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Environment Effects

• It is unknown how many deaths of animals there
  were from the spill.
• The carcasses of more than 35,000 birds and 1,000
  sea otters were found after the spill.
• The results of tests taken near the spill are
  still unknown

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Another Case

• The MidStates building also had lead and zinc
  poisoning.
• A mine located in Marmorilik in West Greenland
  also had problems with lead and zinc.

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Another Case

• The mine resulted in serious lead and zinc
  pollution of a large nearby fjord system.
• High levels of lead and zinc were found in
  seawater, sediments, seaweed, and fish around the
  area.

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Solutions

• Ways to solve Midstates problem

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Solution I

• Haul all harmful chemicals out of Midstates
• Pros-
• No more pollution by Midstates to affect
  Crawfordsville
• No more harmful fires
• Cons
• Chemicals would affect other areas
• Disaster could occur from car crash, acid rain,
  etc.

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Solution II

• Demolish the Midstates building and have a
  massive cleanup
• Pros-
• The Midstates area will be clean
• Make way for new economic opportunities
• Cons
• Chemicals could escape and cause major pollution
  problems
• Demolishing the building could affect other
  buildings

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Solution III

• Pollution-eating bacteria
• Pros-
• Would break down all chemicals into atoms,
  causing no more harm
• Less labor work
• Cons-
• Dont know if product is 100 effective
• Bacteria may eat something else after done eating
  chemicals

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Bibliography

• EVOS-Oil Spill Facts-Q A, April 21st, 2004
  www.oilspill.state.ak.us/facts/qanda.html
• EVOS-Oil Spill Facts-Photos, April 21st, 2004
  www.oilspill.state.ak.us/facts/photos.html
• Valdez Link.com, April 21st, 2004
  www.valdezlink.com/inpol/pages/album.htm
• Batelle.org, April 21st
• www.battelle.org/envirement/exxon-valdez.stm

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Bibliography (continued)

• Chemical Elements.com, April 30th, 2004
• http//www.chemicalelements.com
• Chemistry Webelements Periodic Table, April
  30th, 2004
• http//www.webelements.com
• Corwin, Dan. Interviewed May 7th, 2004.
• Zinc Poisoning, April 30th, 2004
  http//www.birdieboutique.com/zincpoisoning.html

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Bibliography (continued)

• Environmental Protection Agency Sulfur Dioxide,
  April 30th, 2004,
• http//epa.gov/air/aqtrnd95/so2.html
• Sources of Indoor Pollution, April 29th,2004
  http//www.epa.gov/iaq/no2.html

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Bibliography(continued)

• The Journal Review, May 6th, 2004,
  http//www.journalreview.com/main.asp?Search1Art
  icleID8697SectionID1SubSectionID1S1
• Cline, Pat. Mid-States pioneers new process in
  U.S.. Montgomery. April 1978
• Curtin, Charles and Gineris, Gus.Inland Wire
  Products Company. Mid-Statements. 1957

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Bibliography(continued)

• Posthauer, Ron. Interviewed May 7th, 2004.
• Cline, Pat. Crawfordsville A Pictorial History.
  St. Louis G. Bradley Publishing, 1991.
• Pollution Eating Bacteria. May 3rd, 2004.
  http//newsdesk.inel.gov/press_releases/1998/prpol
  lutioneatingbacteria2.html
• CBC News Pollution-eating bacteria may help with
  cleanups. May 3rd, 2004. http//www.cbc.ca/storie
  s/2002/10/31/tca021031