And Thank you Jill for Helping in making a difference in this world for our
Kids,
Bill Heavens, Hope4Kids2
Thanks to Clean Air Athens for permission to post this letter:


The way to get Nakanishi's attention may be through their pocketbook.  Below
is a letter we are sending to Nakanishi's major customer, The Timken
Company, asking them to act on their environmental and health & safety
policies.
If you feel inclined, you can email Timken at
http://www.timken.com/timken_ols/mail/contact.asp

October 6, 2005

Mr. Ward J. Timken, Jr.
Chairman - Board of Directors
The Timken Company
1835 Dueber Ave. SW
P.O. Box 6932
Canton, OH 44706-0932

cc:  Mr. James W. Griffith
President and Chief Executive Officer

Dear Mr. Timken,

We would like to bring to your attention a situation of great concern to our
community.  The situation involves one of your suppliers of bearing
retainers, the Nakanishi Manufacturing Corporation near Athens, Georgia.
Nakanishi releases great amounts of the cancer-causing chemical,
trichloroethylene (TCE).  We have discovered that Nakanishi is the 14th
largest releaser of TCE in the United States and is responsible for half of
all TCE released by industries in the state of Georgia (111,000 pounds
released into our air in 2003).  We also understand that safer alternatives
are available for degreasing.  Although Nakanishi says they have been
experimenting with safer alternatives since 1992, they are nonetheless
reapplying for a Title V permit to continue releasing up to 100 tons of TCE
per year.

We are concerned because the plant is 2,000 yards from a middle school (WR
Coile) and even closer to an African-American church.  Our community is
experiencing unusual levels of health problems, including cancers of the
type associated with volatile organic compounds like TCE.  We wrote
Nakanishi president Kunio Kanaeda several times; he finally replied that his
company is operating within the law, that he would not set a date for
phasing our TCE, and he would not meet with us.  Meanwhile concern in the
community mounts and a national expert on TCE at the University of Georgia
confirms that TCE causes cancer and tells us that the releases are
significant enough to require health monitoring.

We understand that The Timken Company is the Nakanishi's major customer and
we have heard that your company takes environmental stewardship seriously.
We are impressed with your environmental and health & safety policies posted
on the web.  We note with great interest your statement that "we . work with
external partners such as our major suppliers ." " to prevent pollution at
its source ." "by reducing, and where feasible, eliminating negative
environmental impacts associated with our operations and products."

As a community, we want the releases of TCE to stop endangering our children
and ourselves.  Our goal is to get Nakanishi to commit to phasing out TCE by
a specified date, and switch to safer alternatives.  We know that as a
family business with a long history, The Timken Company, is concerned about
the health and welfare of families in communities you do business in.  We
would greatly appreciate it if you would work with your supplier, Nakanishi
Mfg. Corporation, to commit to eliminating TCE by a definite date.

We look forward to your reply.

Sincerely,
CleanAirAthens.org




Bill Sheehan
Clean Air Athens
613-0710