The ‘Clean’ Technology That’s Poisoning People

From The New York Times, I'm Rachel. Abrams and this [music] is The Daily. >> [music]. >> In the contentious fight over how to. address climate change in the United. States, >> [music]. >> recycled lead is a feel-good story. It. can be processed with techniques that. keep workers safe and [music] reused in. batteries that power millions of. vehicles around the world. But a New Times investigation [music]. reveals how this environmental. initiative comes at a major human cost.

Today, [music]. Peter Goodman explains the dirty. business of a supposedly clean [music]. technology. >> [music]. >> It's Tuesday, December 2nd. Peter, welcome to the show. Thanks for. having me. You are one of our foremost experts on. the global economy and you just came out. with this really eye-opening.

investigation on recycled batteries and. lead poisoning, which I will bet is not. something that most people know a lot. about. So, I'm very curious to know two. things. One, how did you even get on. this investigation? And number two, how. much did you, Peter, know about recycled. batteries when you first started? >> I knew zero about recycled batteries and. that's that's that's rounding up. >> Okay. [laughter]. >> Um [clears throat] so, I got a call from. my guy at The Examination, which is this.

relatively new independent investigative. newsroom that specializes in global. public health. And they had this really. terrific reporter, a guy I'd never met, though I'd heard about him, Will. Fitzgibbon. He had done a fair bit of. work already in Africa. He he was a lead. expert. He dug into the lead recycling. industry. And and this is the industry. that supplies a lot of the car batteries. that we find under the hoods of cars in. the US. We're talking new cars, used. cars at places like AutoZone, Home.

Depot, Walmart. And a lot of the lead. that we're using to make car batteries. in the US is coming from outside of the. US because we've run out of supply. domestically. So, the industry's gone. out looking around the world for new. sources of lead and one of the places. it's now looking quite aggressively is. Nigeria. >> [snorts]. >> Will had already spent a fair bit of. time looking into what this business. actually looks like on the ground. He'd.

already figured out that the process of. recycling lead was being done in a way. that was really quite horrific to see up. close. It was really harmful to people. And he'd had this terrific idea, which. was that, you know, we would actually go. and test people. We would find people. willing to volunteer for blood tests and. quantify just exactly how much lead was. reaching people's bloodstreams and we'd. also test soil to look into the tainting. of the food supply. And so, I got.

enlisted to try to take a run at. figuring out who was buying it, how the. terms of trade were going down, all the. logistics along the way. They wanted me. because I've been writing versions of. complex supply chain stories now for 25. plus years around the world and I didn't. know anything about this particular. industry, but I did have some inkling. about shipping, logistics, and I was. certainly intrigued to try to make the. connection between this public health.

catastrophe in West Africa and the auto. industry in the United States. That connection sounds incredibly. challenging to make. Yeah, it's it's. enormously challenging, especially. because we're talking about a trade. that's secret. I mean, the participants. have no interest in talking to anybody. about this stuff. There's limited. publicly available data. And so, I found. myself taking on what quite honestly was. the most difficult reporting assignment. of my career. Where did you actually.

start the reporting journey? So, Will had already done a lot of this. legwork. He already had sources in. Nigeria. He understood where these. factories were. And then I went there. with Will to nail down the real-life. consequences for the people living in. villages right next to these plants and. also to go talk to people in Lagos who. could tell us about the Nigeria supply. chain part of it before this lead gets. put into shipping containers and sent.

across the water for ports around the. world. So, where exactly did you go and. what did you see there? So, I went to a. place called Ogiejo, which is just north. of Lagos, which is a sprawling, you. know, enormous uh metropolitan area. And. Ogiejo is sort of a combination of an. industrial and rural where there are a. bunch of smelters, including the one. that we wound up focusing on called True. Metals. And we picked it not only. because it's really bad in terms of the. pollution that it puts out, but also.

because it only deals in lead. And these. are. large factories where people are feeding. this lead into these giant furnaces that. send smoke wafting throughout the area, including these villages that are right. next to the factories. So, I spent a lot. of time just sitting with families, talking to them about the struggle of. living next door to these plants. People. were coughing, people were complaining.

of all sorts of ailments that are linked. in the literature to lead poisoning, you. know, indigestion and various. gastrointestinal distress, unrelenting. headaches. And I saw children in schools. that were literally next to these. factories. So, I I was just blown away. and really horrified by what I was. seeing up close and it gave me a real. sense of the story's really important. So, what you're seeing in this town is. all these signs of pollution that is.

coming from this lead battery recycling. process. Before we get any further in. the story, I just want to have you. explain how and why a battery gets. recycled. the correct way and then what you saw in. Nigeria and how that was different. >> Sure. So, you know, it's important to. note that virtually every car on the. road has a lead battery under there. somewhere, even electric vehicles. And. if we didn't have lead batteries, we'd. notice real fast. And it happens to be.

one of the most recyclable elements on. Earth and the auto industry has really. leaned into that in promoting itself as. the exemplar of the circular economy. They do recycle most of these old. batteries and have very sophisticated. plants that recycle. [clears throat]. They have, you know, automated processes. that break apart the old batteries and. extract the lead safely. They dispose of. the acid that's in there. They have. emissions controls that prevent lead.

dust and smoke from spewing out into. communities. All that stuff costs. millions of dollars. And so, as. regulations have gotten stricter in. places like the United States, we've had. smelters move. And so, that's eliminated. local supply. At the same time, demand. has increased because population's. growing. We got more people driving. around in cars. And so, battery. manufacturers have had to go around the. world to go find more lead. And what I.

saw in Nigeria was something very. different than what you would see if you. managed to get invited into a lead. recycling plant in North America. I saw, first of all, people in so-called. breaking yards. These are the places. where they get the spent batteries. They're brought by these people known as. pickers who come in by. rickshaw, bicycle, motorbike, truck and they bring these old batteries. into these yards. And then men, often.

shirtless with no protective gear. whatsoever, use machetes to break apart the plastic. cases. >> Just hammering at them. >> Yeah. >> And this is what would have been done by. machines in the United States in a. tightly controlled environment. >> Correct. >> This sounds incredibly dangerous. Incredibly dangerous. You can just sense. it. Like you don't need some sort of PhD. in environmental science to understand. that it's not a good idea to have no. safety goggles, have no gloves, to not have a shirt on, be taking a machete, slamming it into an.

old battery with acid spewing out in. every direction. Uh the smaller. operations, they take the acid and they. actually dump it into waterways. It's. just horrifying. Right? So, that's just. the battery breaking operations. Then there's the furnaces. This is where most of the pollution. comes from. And the furnaces are these. giant facilities that take the old lead.

taken out of spent batteries and they. melt it down. They cook it at incredibly. high temperatures [music] into this. molten liquid that's poured into molds. that then form these ingots that can. then be, you know, moved around, trucked. to battery manufacturers that make new. batteries. And if you saw a plant, a. furnace in the US, you'd see equipment. [music] used to vacuum up dust. You'd. see machinery that prevents smoke from.

getting out into the communities. You'd. see all sorts of automated systems to. prevent workers from poisoning. themselves by touching things with their. bare hands. >> [music]. >> What I saw in Nigeria was just open air. I mean, you could see the smoke with. your bare eyes just getting out between. the sheets of corrugated metal that are. the roofs of these factories. You could. smell it. I was invited into people's. homes. I talked to a a man who said, "Yeah, my walls are black." And you.

could see it. Just the smoke is so. intense. And the impacts of this are. just so obvious and so palpable that it. was impossible to not be moved by this. So, it sounds like these places are. operating with very little regulation. How did you end up tracing what happens. to the lead that they produce? Well, we had trade data. You know, Will. at the examination built a terrific.

database that had all the publicly. available information. So, typically a. trading company will identify sources of. recycled lead around the world. They'll. buy it. They'll ship it to an endpoint. in the United States, typically the Port. of Baltimore. And then the story ended. So, my job was. to figure out, well, then what happens? So, how did you do that? So, I quickly. figured out there's no expert to call. There's nobody who did a dissertation on.

this. There's no book. There's no. YouTube documentaries to watch for tips. There isn't even, you know, Reddit to go. get dubious, you know, tips. I I was. >> Reddit for everything. Yeah, it was just. a black box. And I started to reach out. to people who worked for these trading. companies. The one I was most focused on. was this company called Trafigura. >> And to be clear, Trafigura is basically. a middleman here. Correct. Yeah, Trafigura's job is to buy and sell.

commodities. They're the ones where most. expert in what's available, what's the. price. And so, I we had transactions we. could see in the database where. Trafigura is buying lead from these. smelters we're focusing on in Nigeria. and shipping it to the Port of. Baltimore. But I had no idea who was. buying it at that point. And so, I did a. bunch of different things. I signed up. to go to trade shows hoping I would run. into people who would help tell me the. story. I spent a lot of time on LinkedIn.

just mass messaging anybody who had. worked at Trafigura. And that was pretty. lonely and felt fairly futile. Most. people ignored me. Some sent me to the. communications people who then ignored. me. Um and then eventually a handful of. people started helping me in a really. critical way. And they started to name. the same likely purchaser over and over. again. They named East Penn. Which is.

the second largest battery manufacturer. in the United States. It's this. family-owned business. They're not. publicly traded. They're very quiet and. and they don't like to deal with the. press and they certainly didn't want to. deal with me. So, at this point I know, and I put that in quotation marks. Like. I know on deep background, right? With. no names attached and no documents that. East Penn is buying lead from trading. companies that are bringing it into the.

Port of Baltimore. But I can't prove it. >> report it yet. You You have You have. good reporting, but it's not reportable. yet. It's not It's certainly not going. to be a satisfying significant part of. the story based on that sourcing. I. needed something stronger. So, I went to. the Port of Baltimore. Actually spent a. whole day there with a really excellent. photographer who had probably the most. unexciting day of her life. It was kind. of a fairly futile day. We actually. chartered a little fishing boat and we. just like tooled around the harbor in.

Baltimore. And we were able to see the. dock where some of these shipments come. in. We saw a trucking yard where they. unloaded from the water. And we got a. sense of the geography, but there was no. vessel bringing in lead on this. particular day. But I did learn. something. And because of that. reporting, because of what I learned at. the truck yard, I reached out to this. logistics company where a guy who ran. the yard did very reluctantly and.

somewhat elliptically confirm that they. handled lead incoming from West Africa. purchased by Trafigura and they sent. some of it out to Pennsylvania to East. Penn. But we still really needed to talk to. East Penn about all this. Because, you. know, let's remember, this is the second. largest battery manufacturer in the. United States. It's not a household. name. It's not a company most of us ever. think about. But it's there and we're. participants. They're making batteries. under the hoods of millions of cars that.

are out there on the road. They're the. ones actually profiting off of this and. depending upon the supply in Nigeria. So, I wanted to understand what sorts of. due diligence they were undertaking to. ensure that this lead they were buying. from Nigeria was in compliance with. their social and environmental. standards. >> [music]. >> So, I'd had calls out to East Penn and. they were just blowing me off. They. weren't responding to my calls. I wasn't. getting responses to my emails. [music].

Just no response. And it became clear to. me that I was going to have to figure. out how to confront East Penn. >> [music]. >> We'll be right back. >> [music].

>> Peter, I spent many years as a reporter, so I can absolutely relate to this idea. that you have questions, you have to get. in front of the people you're writing. about, give them an opportunity to. respond. And you are getting nowhere. trying to go in through the front door, which is what sounds like it was. happening to you with East Penn. So, I imagine you had to get creative about. how to actually give them an opportunity. to comment. >> to make a spectacle of myself. >> [laughter]. >> Excellent. >> how it happened. So, the big break was. in San Antonio where the Battery Council. International has this gathering. It's.

this big, you know, golf resort and. there are people from battery companies. and lead recycling and, you know, companies that make equipment used and. and they're all golfing and drinking and. dining and having a good time. And the. second I identify what story I'm working. on, they either don't know anything. about it because most most people when I. would tell them the story that Nigeria, no way. We're not buying lead from. Nigeria. That's just not even possible. How could they even have lead? Wow. Okay, they didn't even know.

>> And and then the handful of people who. did know are like, "The last thing I. want to do is talk about the subject. with someone from the New York Times.". And I figured out that the head of East. Penn, the then CEO of East Penn, this. guy Chris Perritt, is getting this. distinguished service award from the. Battery Council International and I'm. planning to go. >> Mhm. Cuz it's going to be my only shot. At this point I've got calls out to. their various marketing people. I've. just got nowhere. So, I know Chris. Perritt's there. I really want to talk. to him. The communications guy says,

"This is supposed to be honoring him. And if you're there asking these. uncomfortable questions, that'll really. be awkward." Now, the reporter in me is. like, "Well, I I I don't really care. >> Mhm. >> I work for the reader. I have to go ask. these questions." But I thought, well, if I'm not going to get anywhere anyway. and I'm just going to make a spectacle. of myself, there's no upside to that. >> You won't ambush him. I won't ambush. him. But out of that I'll get some basis. for a more productive engagement and. maybe go visit him in Pennsylvania. I do.

finally hear from an outside PR firm for. East Penn. And I start to engage with. them. Eventually, I was able to persuade. Chris Perritt and other executives at. East Penn to talk to us. And what did he actually say to you? Well, he said that our reporting had. caused him to do a lot more thinking. than he'd previously done about the. origins of the lead and that previously. he he had talked to trading companies. like Trafigura and had said, you know, I.

need this particular purity. And oh, by. the way, of course you're guaranteeing. that this is not causing social or. environmental problems. "Oh, no, of. course not." The trading company would. say, "You know, we have audit processes. You know, all this is good." "Okay, then. Just as long as you can deliver. the quantity and the purity that we need. at the guaranteed price, all good." And. since our reporting, he'd actually dug. into his own supply chain. Had become. concerned about the process of due. diligence the trading companies were. doing. And as he put it, you know, out.

of the utmost of caution, decided that. he didn't want to buy any more lead from. Nigeria. So, I did ask him at one point. about moral culpability. And I said, "Well, you know, given that we now know. that Trafigura's due diligence leaves a. lot to be desired and we could see with. our own eyes and what was playing out. villages [clears throat] next to these. smelters. Where do you fit in in in. terms of the moral culpability for. this?" And he said.

he said, "Look, you know, was I too. trusting? I'll take that shot." What did. you make of that? I thought that summed up the reality of. complicated supply chains. There's so. much sort of. plausible deniability built in that any. given participant can say plausibly, "Oh, I thought somebody else was looking. out." Well, to that point though, this. is East Penn acknowledging that what's. happening on the ground is not okay,

right? Like it's not up to their. standards as an American company. Right. But what about Trafigura? Like have they. made any kind of pledge to change or. modify their behavior? So, Trafigura. gave us this kind of general statement. >> Mhm. But they say that they have an. audit process that ensures that they're. complying with their official social and. environmental standards. And we actually. talked to a consultant who does the. audits for Trafigura in Lagos, who.

pushed back on the idea that it's just. like performative, superficial. He He. said, "I I really go and I look." First. question I had is, "Okay, do you go to. the battery breaking. yards?" "No. No, I just go to the. smelter." Okay, so right right off the. bat, you don't know anything about the. raw materials that are coming in or the. impacts for the people who are working. in these places or where the acid's. going, is it going in the stream, you. know, none of that, right? So then even.

at the smelter, I said, "Well, what do. you What do you do?" He said, "Well, I I. look very, you know, carefully." But. the consultant said, "I give them a real list of problems. that I identify, but the way this goes, and I and I confirmed this with people. who've worked at Trafigura, is the. auditor will say, 'Okay, you know, it. really would be good if you handed out. safety goggles on a regular basis. It. really would be good if you put in a. system to control the lead dust. It.

would be great if you put in battery. breaking equipment.' And the smelter. will say, 'Okay, thank you very much for. your suggestion. We will certainly hand. out safety goggles.'" And then Trafigura. says, "Great, your audit's done. Now. let's talk about the volume of the next. deal." I mean, this is not a process. that can end up in derailing a deal. This is a process that is informed by a. desire to reach a conclusion at which. the deal carries on. And that's. [clears throat] the problem. So there is.

due diligence, there are inspections. >> There are recommendations. >> There are recommendations, there's an. action plan, but there's no compulsion. to do the right thing or the business. doesn't happen. And meanwhile, the. person who's buying it on the other side. of the ocean, in this case Chris Pruitt. and East Penn, doesn't know any of that. and is certainly not getting on a plane. to go to Nigeria to make sure Trafigura. is really engaging in a rigorous audit. process. So at this point, it sounds like you. know the answer to the part of the.

investigation that you were responsible. for from that initial phone call you got. about this partnership. >> Right. What about the other question? The question about what kind of medical. harm was being caused to the people in. these towns in Nigeria by this lead. poisoning? So this is where the. examination did an extraordinary amount. of legwork. So Will had commissioned. this team of independent scientists in. Nigeria who found 70 volunteers. And. we're talking about 14 children, 16.

people who worked at these lead. smelters. And these are people who live. very close to these smelters. You know, imagine a village and in the very center. of the village, you know, churches right. up against the walls of these factories, schools right up against the walls of. these factories. So life is playing out. all around. And we tested 70 people, volunteers, right in the vicinity, and. roughly seven out of 10 of them had.

levels of lead in their blood deemed. dangerous by various medical. authorities. Wow. So one of the things. that we were focused on was this. comparison with the worst lead disaster. at a battery manufacturer in Southern. California more than a decade ago, which. was a federal emergency. I mean, the. feds went in, they shut the place down, they tested people, they took over, they're still managing this. And there. was a soil test conducted at a preschool. there that found 95 parts per million.

lead. Let me give you that number again. 95 parts per million. We tested a school. in Ogijo where we found 1,900. parts per million. >> My god. Yeah. At that level of. contamination, what kind of health. effects would you expect immediately? Well, first of all, you're talking about. irreversible brain damage, especially. for children. You're talking about. respiratory problems, relentless.

headaches, exhaustion, just a lack of. functioning. And that's the lead, right? And then there's just the reality if. you're living in a place where there's. smoke and terrible fumes all the time, and there people are coughing. It's just a living nightmare. So what. happened after you did all this testing? After we did the testing, our research. partner shared some of this data with. the Nigerian government, the. environmental authorities. And within, you know, just a few days, the five.

worst smelters in Ogijo were shut down. The heads of these companies were. summoned up to Abuja, the capital of. Nigeria, to have a conversation around. how they could supposedly make some. improvements, and then they were given. permission to restart. So it sounds like. the Nigerian government took pretty. swift action. >> Well, [clears throat]. you know, it's complicated. So the. Nigerian government has been receiving. reports of these health problems going. back at least to 2018. And they got what.

they described to me as promises to make. all of these improvements at these. plants, but when somebody showed me a. copy of the actual protocol that these. factories had to sign, this supposedly. enforceable document, it didn't have any. of the details of these promises that. they claim they got. And it specifically. had a two to three-year timeline for a. very vague promise to improve technology. at the plants. Mhm. So it seems pretty.

clear that whatever. was said in the room with the heads of. these smelters, there is no enforceable. document that compels these companies to. do anything differently anytime soon. And when I was back on the ground. talking to workers at these smelters, what they said is, "Oh, yeah, now. they're giving us. uh safety goggles. They didn't used to. do that. Oh, they used to give us gloves. once a week, now they're giving them to. us twice a week." And presumably, it's. fair to say that the Nigerian government.

knows that it probably should be doing a. lot more than just handing out gloves. and goggles if it wants to protect. people, given the high levels of lead. that is showing up in these test. results, right? I mean, what has to. happen at these plants. is they have to put in serious emission. controls, and it's going to cost. millions of dollars. If they put in. battery breaking equipment, that's going. to cost millions of dollars. This is not. something that's going to be fixed with. a bunch of gloves and goggles. I do just wonder though, given your. experience covering global supply. chains, knowing what the incentives are.

for the various actors here, knowing how. hard it is to reform an entire industry, how confident are you that in five years. or 10 years or however long, somebody. will be able to purchase a car in the. United States and feel confident that. the battery in that car was made in a. safe and humane way? I think there are serious reasons to. doubt that that positive outcome will. happen for the simple reason that the. incentives that created this situation.

that we've been reporting on have not. changed. And those incentives are you. have large brands like East Penn that. actually make lots of batteries under. other brands. So it's not as if, you. know, a consumer can go off to the to. the battery store and say, "Don't give. me one of those East Penn batteries.". >> Right. >> There are lots of others that they make. for other brands. We also know that. Nigeria is hardly alone as being a. country where there are large numbers of. people who are desperate enough just to.

figure out how to get dinner on the. table tonight that they will accept. horrific pollution. I mean not that the. people in the communities want the. pollution, they're horrified by the. pollution, but in terms of the situation. for the policy makers, for the. environmental regulators, they would. like the plants cleaned up, but they're. also cognizant that if they push too. hard, this industry will shift.

That's That's how this business tends to. go. I mean, my history of looking at. supply chain cases now going back. decades is that, you know, when you get. a public revelation, when you find out. that, say, fashion brand learns that. they've been relying on a supplier. that's been playing so dangerously that. people have died in a fire or in the. collapse of a building or rivers or or. drinking water is being poisoned, I. mean, what tends to happen is the supply. chain gets even more complex. Pieces.

shift somewhere else, companies change. their names. Under the guise of safety, perhaps, right? Like there's consumer. pressure, and then they say, "We're. going to make these reforms." And then. it the end result is what you're talking. about. Correct. Let's just say for the. sake of argument though that in this. case, in terms of battery recycling, that every player involved wants to do. this the right way. They want to make a. safe battery and make it in an. environmentally friendly way. What would the increase in cost of that. battery to the end buyer actually look.

like? Well, it's a hypothetical. It's. one that we wrestled with in reporting. this story, and we concluded that. there's no satisfying answer because no. battery is going to be made exclusively. with lead from one country or another. It all basically ends up getting blended. together. But the best we could figure. out is you're talking about, you know, pennies on the dollar, assuming that. every participant in the chain passes on. their extra costs to the to the next.

player, you're talking about a. single-digit dollar number to the. consumer at the end of the day in the. US. That's our best guess. There's a lot. of assumptions into that, but certainly. not a large amount of money. And I think. that it's fair to say that the verdict. [music]. of the global marketplace on the. question of what's it worth to poison. entire villages in Nigeria. >> [music]. >> is not that much. Peter, thank you so [music] much. Thanks.

so much for having me, Rachel. >> [music]. >> In the days following publication of the. joint Times investigation, Nigerian. officials once again closed down several. smelters in the Ogijo region. Officials also promised new. investigations from the federal. government and said they would conduct. additional blood testing of local. residents. >> [music]. >> We'll be right back. >> [music].

>> Here's what else you need to know today. On Monday, >> [music]. >> Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. met for hours with French President. Emmanuel Macron in Paris. The meeting was part of a blitz to shore. up support from [music] European allies. in the midst of negotiations over a. US-led plan to end the war with Russia. >> [music]. >> While Macron reiterated Europe's. commitment to Ukraine, the United States. has put increasing pressure on Zelenskyy. to agree to a deal.

even as Russia has signaled its. opposition [music] to some of the plan's. proposals. And the Transportation Security. Administration announced [music] that. beginning February 1st, travelers. without a Real ID compliant form of. identification will have to pay a $45. fee to fly. >> [music]. >> Passengers can pre-pay the fee up to 10. days before they come to the airport. Many travelers have already begun flying. with passports [music] and other. documents considered compliant with the. program. The TSA did not immediately. reveal how to [music] pay the new fee.

and other details about the program. Today's episode was produced by Diana. Winn, [music] Anna Foley, and Rochelle. Banja. It was edited by Chris Hackel and. Michael Benoît. Contains music by Dan Powell and was. engineered by Alyssa [music] Moxley. Special thanks to Will Fitzgibbon and. Finbarr O'Reilly.

That's it for the daily. [music] I'm. Rachel Abrams. See you tomorrow.