Carbide Nears Startup of Disputed Arizona Chemical Plants: Community protests over two plants in Kingman near end, could presage tone for environmentalists-industrial relations in 1990s

After the Bhopal disaster knocked Union Carbide off its corporate moorings in December 1984, the company knew it would face massive public relations challenges for years to come. Carbide feared it would bear the stigma of that calamity for a long time and would be forced to serve as scapegoat for an entire industry. As the events involving the siting of two Carbide plants around Kingman, Ariz., show, those fears were justified. Carbide's post-Bhopal programs in plant safety, environmental protection, and community relations have been put to their sternest test at Kingman. And although Carbide—by enduring and fighting back—has won, the results so far seem mixed. The events at Kingman up to recently have proved to be an expensive headache to Carbide. Carbide for its own part has been a symbol of distrust to considerable numbers of Kingman residents. Wounds remain, and the healing is just beginning. Despite the scars ...