A Community Rejected the Build of a US$100 Billion Data Center

[harryopal1]

I went to the remote asbestos mining town of Wittenoom in Western Australia about 55 years ago. The town is now drelict and there is a ban on anyone living there. At the time I went there they were using the soft dust tailings from the mine in the local school playground so that it would be soft if children fell over. I recall TV advertisements from those days when it was being spruiked as a great material for the DIY handyman and it had a clip of a fellow sawing an asbestos board and you could see the dust floating as the saw cut through the material. Melbourne trains used to have asbestos for insulation. As panels rusted, the carriages went to workshops where workmen pulled off the panels in clouds of asbestos dust. James Hardie, the biggest company dealing with the product fought tooth and nail against compensation for workers with mesotheliomona. When courts ruled that compensation had to be paid, the company set up an inadequate fund and moved the company off shore to try and avoid further penalties.