Polluted with PFOA

Mayor Yamamoto Claims Damages from Man-ei Industry Without Informing Residents / Why Is It So Cheap? [Kibichuo, Okayama Part 19]

2025.01.30 15:37 Nanami Nakagawa

On September 29, 2024, the Kibichuo Town Mayoral Election was held. Incumbent Masanori Yamamoto was elected with 4,174 votes, while his rival Takahiro Moriyasu lost with 1,646 votes.

Yamamoto is reluctant to identify and hold accountable the “original owner” of the activated carbon containing PFOA that caused the contamination. When asked about identifying the original owner during the election, he evaded the question, saying, “That’s not possible, not yet. It’s not something we are supposed to do.”

Meanwhile, Yamamoto, without informing the resident, sought damages only from Man-ei Industry, targeting only the local company that had supplied the activated carbon, while leaving the original owner of the PFOA containing activated carbon accounted for.

Kayo City Hall, Kibichuo Town (Photo by Nanami Nakagawa on May 30, 2024)

Claims for damages made without consulting the council

On July 13, 2024, the Yomiuri Shimbun published an article.

The headline read, “Town Seeks Damages From Company Suspected of Causing High Levels of PFAS at Water Purification Plant… Over 100 Million Yen.”

The town has concealed the name of the company, and the Yomiuri Shimbun has followed suit in reporting it, but the “company suspected of causing” is Man-ei Industry.

The article reported:

“We confirmed that the town had filed a claim for damages against a local company that had stored used activated carbon, which is likely the source of the contamination, in a storage space upstream of the water source dam.”

“The town has not disclosed the amount of the claim, but it is expected to exceed 100 million yen, due to expenses such as dealing with water supply due to the water treatment plant being unable to be used.”

Regarding the date of the invoice, “the invoice was sent to the local company through an agent on the 2nd of July.”

I wondered. If damages are claimed, it will be a major issue that will affect the town’s budget. Article 96 of the Local Autonomy Law stipulates that certain matters require a resolution from the town council. Damages claims are one of those matters.

Section 13. To determine the amount of compensation for damages that fall under the legal obligation.

The information must be made available to the residents. If the request was made on July 2, shouldn’t it have been made public and a press conference held on that day?

Why is the town concealing information about such a serious issue as tap water contamination?

Five months ago, the mayor said “billions”

I was also put off by the amount of the bill.

The Yomiuri Shimbun wrote, “The town has not disclosed the amount of the claim, but it is expected to exceed 100 million yen,” and NHK, Sanyo Shimbun, and Okayama Broadcasting (OHK) also reported later, “it is expected to exceed 100 million yen.”

In subsequent investigation, I learned that the amount of compensation was 260 million yen.

But isn’t that still not enough?

In addition to the personnel costs of the committee set up in response to the contamination, investigation costs, and compensation for damage to reputation, the most costly expense is the damage caused by being unable to use Kawahiira Dam.

Mayor Yamamoto said this during an interview with Tansa on February 21, 2024.

“I think it’ll be several billion to completely switch over to a new water source.”

After the PFOA contamination was discovered, the town switched its water source from Kawahira Dam to Hiyama Dam. However, Hiyama Dam is a small dam used for agricultural water, so it will need to switch to a more stable dam in the future.

In the case of the Kawahira Dam, although the dam could be used by paying about 600,000 yen per year to the prefecture that manages the dam, due to the recent contamination, an additional budget of about 1 billion yen will be required.

Blackbox

Yamamoto has kept secret from the residents the fact that he has filed a claim for compensation against Man-ei Industry. The amount he has claimed is extremely low, without even going through deliberation in the town council. He has still not disclosed that Man-ei Industry is the company that left the PFOA-containing activated carbon that was the source of the contamination in the first place. Yamamoto’s decisions are so unclear that they are puzzling.

On September 5, I sent a questionnaire to Mayor Yamamoto. On September 10th, I received a reply signed by the mayor.

–Even though the town is filing a claim for damages against Man-ei Industry, it has not publicly announced that Man-ei Industry is the cause of the pollution. Please tell us the reason why.

We plan to make it public at some point, but we have decided that it is not the right time now, so we have not announced it yet.

–Will the town file a claim for compensation against Man-ei Industry for the damage that caused the Kawahira Dam to become unusable? Or will it not? Please tell us the reason why.

As Kawahira Dam is under the management of Okayama Prefecture, further discussions are likely to take place in the future.

–Please tell us specifically the basis for calculating the 260 million yen in damages that the town is claiming against Man-ei Industry.

We believe that we need to be considerate of the other party, so we are refraining from disclosing the amount or details at this time. We are also unable to answer questions about whether the amount is correct at this stage.

–Do you think there is a problem with deciding the amount of damages claimed against Man-ei Industry without going through the town council? Or do you think there is no problem? Please tell us the reason why.

We have conveyed our intention to make a claim to the town council and have also indicated the amount.

These answers raise some questions. The answer to the first three questions means “postponing,” but he avoids saying when it will happen.

The mayor claims that the amount was communicated to the council along with the intention to file a claim, but no council was held to discuss the matter, and not all council members were informed. Some council members learned of the amount of the claim through a report in the Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper.

What is Yamamoto’s aim in turning the response to pollution into a black box?

To be continued.

(Originally published in Japanese on October 1, 2024. Translation by Mana Shibata.)

Polluted with PFOA: All articles