involving the ironically named "Freedom Industries," (freedom to pollute a region's water supply?) here's some reporting on the story:
Lax Regulation, Shady Owners Probed in W. Virginia SpillCorporate malfeasance may have a played a central role in generating disaster
A New York Times report points the finger for a chemical spill last week on the Elk River in West Virginia at a state government well-known for "lax" environmental and public safety regulations.
The Times describes the state's weak regulations as pervasive:
Critics say the problems are widespread in a state where the coal and chemical industries, which drive much of West Virginia’s economy and are powerful forces in the state’s politics, have long pushed back against tight federal health, safety and environmental controls.
“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.
And investigative journalist David Gutman, reporting for the West Virginia Gazette, explores the troubling behavior of Freedom Industries executives and their history of illegal behavior, political manuevers, and past associations with other environmentally damaging industrial failures. According to Gutman:
Freedom Industries, the company responsible for contaminating the water of 300,000 Kanawha Valley residents, was founded by a two-time convicted felon, benefited from the 2009 federal stimulus and at least two of its executives have longstanding ties to the Charleston business community.
Since the chemical spill on Thursday, Freedom Industries executives have entirely avoided media requests, except for a brief news conference Friday night.
On Sunday morning, Charles Ryan Associates, a prominent Charleston public relations firm hired by Freedom, abruptly dropped the chemical distributor as a client. "I made the decision not to represent them," said Susan Lavenski, who was handling Freedom for Charles Ryan. She would not give any details as to why she would no longer represent the company.
Freedom Industries was founded in 1992 by Gary Southern and Carl Lemley Kennedy II, according to filings with the West Virginia secretary of state. The company's website, however, says it was founded in 1986.
"Our friends and our neighbors, this incident is extremely unfortunate, unanticipated and we are very, very sorry for the disruption to everybody's daily life that this incident has caused," Southern, the company's president, said at the news conference Friday night. "It has been an extremely long day, I'm having trouble talking at the moment. I would appreciate it if we could wrap this thing up."
I wonder if Gary Southern, the head of the laughably named Freedom Industries has whined to the media that he'd "like his life back."
More HERE.
28 comments:
Lax regulations?
An article I read states there are NO regulations that the tanks be inspected.
Now Freedom Industries (beautiful) will make sure they are off the hook for any cleanup.
Republican voters are epic when it comes to voting against their own best interests. Propaganda outlets like FAUX NOOZ have them in thrall to their fact-free pundits who constantly tell them what victims they are and that libruls are all eeeeevul!
You read the con blogs every day, Ducky. They are marinated in fact-free victimhood.
Have any of them reported on this disaster in West Virginia? Or are they still trying to impeach Mr. Obama for BENGHAZI! and the non-scandal involving the IRS?
Their attention span is quite good when it involves misinformation that distracts them from reality.
All those government regulations sure saved the economy back in 2008...
*eye roll*
See what happens when governments, be they federal or state, get in bed with industry?
Good interview on Democracy Now! today with Erin Brockovich.
One wy that Freedom (lmao) Industries skates is that they aren't the manufacturers of the chemicals. They only provide storage for a related corporate entity.
As such there is no emergency plan and no inspection.
Massive regulatory failure just like BP.
Off topic on Chris "Mr. Bluster" Christie:
He got some 'splaining to do
but but but... it's all about JOB CREATION ! And that gosh,darn,gammit EPA just gets in the way of JOB CREATION....
or at least it seems by the Wisco Gubner
http://www.jsonline.com/news/gov-scott-walker-decries-protesters-at-proposed-iron-ore-mine-b9953592z1-215323911.html
...somehow...I am very frightened
Scott Walker is upset about the "extremist" demonstrators but he hires uncredentialed paramilitary to patrol the site.
That is truly frightening.
Right now Governor Christie seems to holding is own with his constituency. Even in Ft. Lee.
Go figure...
It IS about job creation and preservation. SAFE job creation and SAFE job preservation.
Having said the above the EPA and OHSA can at times be a bit overzealous. After all their job security is at stake as well.
Having said the above I am not saying this spill is a small matter and it never should have happened. There should be some VERY heavy fines levied and clean up costs borne by the company.
WEST LONG BRANCH, N.J. — About half of New Jersey adults think Gov. Chris Christie knew his staff was involved in the "Bridgegate" scandal before e-mails became public last week, according to a new Monmouth University/Asbury Park Press Poll.
And 51% say they do not think the governor has been "completely honest" about what he knows about the incident, the poll found.
RN: Having said the above the EPA and OHSA can at times be a bit overzealous. After all their job security is at stake as well ... Having said the above I am not saying this spill is a small matter and it never should have happened."
Would you PLEEZE you take a stand FOR ONCE instead of equivocating like a senile Polonius. What bunk!
From Shaw:
<< Republican voters are epic when it comes to voting against their own best interests. >>
This is a smart comment and one that I agree with.
What if a Democratic voter is convinced her country will be better off with legislation that is not helpful (or even hurtful) to her personal situation and votes for it anyway. It's legit.
Recent polling suggest the Dems and Repubs are a dyeing breed. People claim to be Independents because the alternative is NAS-T :-)
In a way, everybody votes against their best interests at times.
Short answer: I like the comment by Shaw.
"Please excuse me while I enjoy a glass of tap-provided poison while watching my bank account get looted.”
Ahh, yes. Over 300,000 people without water; yet Speaker Boehner leaves me speechless with this claim: “We have enough regulations.”
Perhaps some of our so-called friends of the conservative persuasion should read this article: The Easy Problem With Government:
“Or maybe, just maybe, government isn't the problem. Maybe the people we allow into government are the problem with government. Maybe the people who eviscerate regulations and then highlight ineffectual regulations as examples of bad government are the problem with government. Maybe the people who are bought and paid for by private business have no business in public office.”
… before more people get hurt.
Perfect description of the whackos on the right and the reaction to the Christie scandal:
"Somehow, the right’s response to Chris Christie’s still-breaking Bridgegate scandal has devolved into this: Why are you writing about New Jersey traffic jams, because Benghazi!
In letters to newspapers and online comments, in phone calls to their favorite conservative radio and TV pundits, conservatives are in a state of collective denial: They refuse to acknowledge there’s anything to Gov. Chris Christie and the George Washington Bridge scandal until President Obama and the consular attack in Benghazi get equal time."
Okjimm hit the nail on the head. There's a reason chemical companies build plants on rivers. They can dump whatever crap they want into it and use the threat of closing the plant and taking jobs someplace where authorities will let them dump whatever crap they want into rivers.
In most cases if there is a fine involved it's far cheaper to pay that than legally dispose of waste.
Yes, Joe "T101" Kelly, the bloggers on the right are ignoring this story because for a year and a half they've been screaming BENGHAZI! Even though no cover-up has been found and no "scandal" is evident.
RN...//SAFE job creation and SAFE job preservation.//
hmmmm perhaps you meant safe job creation and SAFE environmental preservation.
Gov Walker is touting a iron mine in nothrern Wisconsin...in an area where the watershed is Lake Michigan and Lake Superior...the mine would be using, in refining, the basic same chemicals that were used in West Virginia.
then, follow this, most of the very good paying jobs created from the mine would involve engineers and industrial scientist NOT currently Wisco residents. The rest, under Wisco's new RIGHT TO Workk regs and Union Busting, would be minimal wage or slightly better.
In Minnesota proper vetting for a new ore mine takes six years or more. Walker wanted it done in less than a year.
WISCONSIN CURRENTLY GENERATES BETWEEN $16BB and $19 BB per year on outdoor tourism and recreation.
Walker would jeopordize that income and jobs to produce a minimal, and temporary, boost in economy. Current stats estimate that there is less than a 20 year supply in the mine area.
the whole thing reeks. He could potential hurt thousands upon thousands of small business owners who depend on those recreational dollars and barter it away to huge coporate, out of state, interests.
check it out..
http://wisconsin.sierraclub.org/Penokeemine.asp
...now...this is when I get CONSERVATIVE... no no no...no mine, this is projected to be one of the WORLD'S LARGEST OPEN PIT MINES.....
go ahead, call me a 'tree-hugger'....but asked yourself, "when has a sludge pit ever hugged anyone" (without giving them cancer)
oh oh...and Joe the Truth is correct... "In most cases if there is a fine involved it's far cheaper to pay that than legally dispose of wase."
yes, indeedy-do, then the tax payers will be left with the cleanup bill.... if a clean up can even work!
...oh. and just to show I am not just talking out of the side of my mouth.... some of the best local breweries in the state use that water to make absolutely great beer. You wanna buy a local beer in West VA now?????
okjimm, that is astounding. No wonder Charlie Pierce calls Wisconsin a holding company for the Koch brothers. How are they involved in this?
Never mind. I read all the sickening details HERE.
RN: There should be some VERY heavy fines levied and clean up costs borne by the company.
Wouldn't it have been better to have prevented this from happening in the first place? Yeah, I know, that isn't how things work under Libertarianism. Get rid of the "overzealous" regulations and punish AFTER the fact (when it's too late). Then HOPE that it will never happen again (offenders learn their lesson due to after the fact fines and bad publicity).
Unfortunately the public has a short memory, fines are often seen as a "cost of doing business" (they actually come out ahead when they break the law but nothing bad happens or they aren't caught) and, if worst comes to worst, the company can just "go out of business" and then reincorporate with a clean slate.
Shaw... Flint Hills Resources and Georgia Pacific have a large presence in the state. Flint in chemicals used in refining, and GP in wood products.
Part of budget passed by Walker, though a proviso not yet used, would allow the state to sell off current holdings, including state operated geneeration plants (Koch has specific interest in plants and each University in the state has a generation plant) and other resources without going through a competitive bid process: ie. at any price deemed fair.
sheesh...must go somewhere and calm down.
John Boehner said "we have enough regulations." John Boehner also too $5,000 from the company behind the spill.
Best government money can buy.
Boehner $5K is NOT the only money he got from the Mining Co... I would guess that the mining company makes rather significant contributions to various Conservative PAC groups whose main function is to buy people that can be bought....I am sure Boehner is on several lists...he does need the money,poor boy, those suntanning sessions are not cheap.
The chemical company which is using Freedom Industries tanks for storage is owned by the Kochs.
Why was it inevitable that they show up in this mess?
No one's surprised at that, Ducky. The Koch brothers are our shadow government.
....aaaand today, 12 days after the spill, we find out, Hell, the president of Freedom Industries just found out, that there is another chemical in there besides the HCHM.
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