[net-gold] DISASTERS: CHEMICAL SPILLS : RIVERS : WATER : UNITED STATES: STATES: WEST VIRGINIA : WATER POLUTION : ENVIRONMENT: POLLUTION : ENERGY : HEALTH: ISSUES : BUSINESS: COMPANINES: NAMED COMPANIES: FREEDOM INDUSTRIES: Impunity in West Virginia as Criminal Law-Breaking Polluters Still Walk Free
- From: "David P. Dillard" <jwne@xxxxxxxxxx>
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- Date: Sun, 23 Feb 2014 09:12:18 -0500 (EST)
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DISASTERS: CHEMICAL SPILLS :
RIVERS :
WATER :
UNITED STATES: STATES: WEST VIRGINIA :
WATER POLUTION :
ENVIRONMENT: POLLUTION :
ENERGY :
HEALTH: ISSUES :
BUSINESS: COMPANINES: NAMED COMPANIES: FREEDOM INDUSTRIES:
Impunity in West Virginia as
Criminal Law-Breaking Polluters Still Walk Free
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Impunity in West Virginia as
Criminal Law-Breaking Polluters Still Walk Free
Monday, 17 February 2014 11:11
By Carl Gibson,
Occupy.com
Report
TruthOut
http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/21909-impunity-in-
west-virginia-as-criminal-law-breaking-polluters-still-walk-free
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A shorter URL for the above link:
.
http://tinyurl.com/l88krxo
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On January 29, Scott Simonton, vice chair of the West Virginia
Environmental Quality Board and a scientist at Marshall University, told a
Joint Commission on Water Resources that when heated in showers, MCHM
breaks down into formaldehyde, a cancer-causing agent.
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"Formaldehyde is a known human carcinogen. That's important and so we
thought, 'Wow, we should be looking for formaldehyde.' Sure enough we have
found formaldehyde in the water system," Simonton told the panel.
Officials for West Virginia American Water and the bureau for Public
Health called Simonton's remarks "unfounded", "misleading", and
"irresponsible."
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Stockman believes that spills like the February 11 incident are
symptomatic of a larger issue of lax regulation of the coal industry,
insufficient enforcement by state regulators, and a political system
completely owned by big money from the coal industry.
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"Coal prep plant waste has been injected underground by the hundreds of
thousands of gallons, and we have these blackwater spills, as they call
them, at a regular basis," Stockman said. "They get our politicians to
agree to all the demands of the fossil fuel industry. Penalties are given
and fines are levied, but this is a very loose regulating environment. The
politicians seem to be aware of that."
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Piecemeal Reforms
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In the wake of Elk River spill, West Virginia's state senate unanimously
passed a chemical storage regulatory bill. On the evening of February 12,
a newer house version passed unanimously through the health committee. The
house strengthened the senate version of the new regulatory bill by
including an amendment that would require the state's 300-plus water
treatment plants to have either a secondary water intake point or to store
a three- to five-day supply of untreated water.
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If the provisions in the bill just passed by the House Health committee
had been active on January 9, the West Virginia American Water Company
could have potentially shut down the primary water intake system and kept
MCHM from contaminating drinking water for 300,000 West Virginians.
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While Governor Earl Ray Tomblin, a democrat, supports the legislation,
full accountability for the coal industry isn't likely.
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snip
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A History of Dishonesty
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The recent spills have shown that Patriot Coal and Freedom Industries have
both shown a pattern of acting with impunity. Freedom Industries' recent
actions have in particular allowed others to shine a light on its
less-than-reputable history. The company skipped a recent congressional
hearing, despite representatives from the West Virginia Department of
Environmental Protection and West Virginia American Water being present.
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According to the Associated Press, Freedom Industries also knew about the
leak of PPH along with the leak of MCHM on January 9, but purposely did
not report the second chemical's presence until weeks later.
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Reports have also surfaced of Freedom Industries having been aware three
months before the spill that the storage facility didn't meet industry
standards after a review by federal inspectors.
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Freedom Industries filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy not long after the
spill, giving the corporation immunity from at least 25 pending citizen
lawsuits and one federal lawsuit.
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snip
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Koch Connections
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Right-wing political bundlers David and Charles Koch, of Koch Industries,
may have also reaped financial wealth both from Freedom Industries'
operations and from the aftermath of the spill, through various corporate
connections.
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Koch Industries, the second-largest privately-owned company in the United
States, has owned Georgia Pacific since 2005. That Koch subsidiary
manufactured the "Talon line" of chemicals used by Freedom Industries for
their coal processing. Since 2008, the Talon line has been used for coal
operations in West Virginia, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Maryland,
Minnesota, Kentucky and Michigan. Just after the spill, the newly-launched
West Virginia chapter of Americans for Prosperity the Koch-funded
political advocacy group was handing out gallon jugs of water in
Charleston.
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The Koch Brothers also own Flint Hills Resources which manufactures
paraxylene one of the main chemical ingredients in terephthalic acid, a
raw material used to produce PET (Polyethylene terephthalate) to make
plastic water bottles.
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Eighty percent of PET materials end up in water bottles used by Nestle
(Pure Life water), Coca-Cola (Dasani) and Pepsi (Aquafina). Both Coca-Cola
and Pepsi have admitted their bottled water is simply tap water, and
Nestle's claims of using "pure" water have been debunked by RT's Abby
Martin.
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As West Virginians continue to depend on bottled water for their potable
water needs, bottled water sales are skyrocketing for Nestle, Coca-Cola,
Pepsi and most likely for Flint Hills Resources as well.
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Possible Criminal Action
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The Department of Justice has already begun criminal proceedings against
Freedom Industries in connection with the Elk River spill, and more
federal action may be pending. As I reported in my previous story, the
federal Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement (OSMRE) is
due to respond to five claims of the West Virginia Department of
Environmental Protection's failure to regulate the coal industry, cited by
the activist group West Virginia Citizens Action for Real Enforcement (WV
CARE). Rich Katz says the DEP is not held in high regard by West
Virginians for doing the job it was created to do.
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"As far as rank and file citizenry, the DEP has very little credibility.
Most people understand that the DEP does not do a very good job of
protecting the environment," Katz said. "They however do a very good job
of protecting industry interests."
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The complete article may be read at the URL above.
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Links
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Fields Creek Slurry Spill 2-11-2014
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4JjYQ6P6Nk4
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Coal Prep Plant Waste Hits WV Stream
https://www.flickr.com/photos/88388404@N03/sets/72157640855453525/
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No One Who Gives Away Free Water Can Be Evil
By David Weigel
Slate
http://www.slate.com/blogs/weigel/2014/01/13/
no_one_who_gives_away_free_water_can_be_evil.html
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A shorter URL for the above link:
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http://tinyurl.com/p4az2d4
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Exhibit A: Daily Kos diarist "dharmafarmer" writes on Jan. 11 about the
chemical spill in West Virginia, the disaster that has left hundreds of
thousands of people without fresh water.* It's a hop, skip, and jump to
link Freedom Industries, the source of the spill, to Koch Industries.
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snip
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Exhibit B: a New York Times story from today about the questions raised by
the disaster.
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West Virginia law does not require inspections for chemical storage
facilities only for production facilities... West Virginia has a pattern
of resisting federal oversight and what they consider E.P.A. interference,
and that really puts workers and the population at risk, said Jennifer
Sass, a senior scientist at the Natural Resources Defense Council and a
lecturer in environmental health at George Washington University.
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Exhibit C: a proud press release from Americans for Prosperity, the
activist group chaired by David Koch, telling the media of a campaign to
distribute fresh water in West Virginia.
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snip
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PR problem solved! (AFP hasn't answered my irritating question about the
PR origins of the water handout.)
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UPDATE: AFP's Adam Nicholson explains the timing, which predates the media
cage-rattling about Freedom Industries.
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Sincerely,
David Dillard
Temple University
(215) 204 - 4584
jwne@xxxxxxxxxx
http://workface.com/e/daviddillard
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- » [net-gold] DISASTERS: CHEMICAL SPILLS : RIVERS : WATER : UNITED STATES: STATES: WEST VIRGINIA : WATER POLUTION : ENVIRONMENT: POLLUTION : ENERGY : HEALTH: ISSUES : BUSINESS: COMPANINES: NAMED COMPANIES: FREEDOM INDUSTRIES: Impunity in West Virginia as Criminal Law-Breaking Polluters Still Walk Free - David P. Dillard
