Environmental groups in India are protesting a plan by a U.S. company to ship about 120 tons of used mercury to India. The chemical company HoltraChem produced the waste mercury in Maine and then sold it to an Illinois trader. The Indian importer and the ultimate destination of the mercury within India have been kept a secret. Maine Gov. Angus King (I) has criticized the plan to export the toxic substance, suggesting that the U.S. Defense Department stockpile it. Greenpeace USA’s Lisa Finaldi accused the U.S. government of being “an accomplice in poisoning the poor for profit” in other countries.
