Article...An Environmental Disaster: The Al Gore Connection
by Ed Wolfe- Posted: 10.21.00
sierratimes.com
We've been wondering why the mainstream media have seen fit to ignore a massive coal-waste spill in the Tri- State area of Kentucky that occurred last week, spilling 250 million gallons of toxic waste into multiple creeks, streams and rivers.
It's fairly obvious to all but those who refuse to see it that the mainstream media has a favorable opinion of Clinton and his administration. One international news network has even been dubbed the Clinton Nonsense Network. Not only do the major networks appear to be very selective in the reportage of Clinton Administration scandals, but they are also quite willing to focus on international dramas that seem to occur with perfect timing whenever Clinton is in big trouble on the domestic front.
With the majority of journalists being registered Democrats and the presidents and CEO's of the major networks being decidedly more left than right, it's not unreasonable to assume that the Clinton-friendly (selective) news coverage will extend to Al Gore should we wind up with a Gore/Leiberman administration.
In the case of the environmental disaster still unfolding in Kentucky and spreading into Ohio and W.Virginia, the big news networks may be giving us a preview of the sort of coverage we can expect not only of Gore's legal troubles and fiascoes, but also those of Gore's friends and associates.
The Fluor Corporation, the parent company responsible for the toxic coal waste that is currently heading toward Ohio water intake stations is definitely a friend of Gore.
Peter Knight is a close advisor of Al Gore's; a man that Time magazine calls "the hub of Gore's political circle," having managed Gore's failed 1988 presidential campaign and having served as Gore's Chief of Staff in both the Senate and the House.
He also happened to be a lobbyist for Fluor and It's been questioned whether Knight used his easy access to Clinton and Gore to secure lucrative contracts for his clients.
After Clinton and Gore won the '92 election, Knight became the Deputy Director of Presidential Personnel for the Clinton/Gore Transition Team and was a consultant to the White House Office of Presidential Personnel. He oversaw sub-cabinet positions such as the Secretary of the Department of Energy - a position that was given to Tom Grumbly.
After Westinghouse lost its contract to maintain the Hanford Nuclear Reservation in southeastern Washington state, Fluor won the new $5 billion contract that was awarded to them by Tom Grumbly, passing over others who some believed to be more qualified, such as Raytheon and Lockheed-Martin.
Two months prior to winning the contract, Fluor and its PAC gave $100,000 to Clinton/Gore fundraisers. (Fluor had already given another $103,000 not long before that.) In 1997 under Fluor's management, America came close to experiencing its own Chernobyl nuclear disaster when a chemical tank in the plant exploded within twenty yards of ten tons of plutonium.
In an article on this incident written by Jeffrey St. Clair, the director of the Hanford watchdog group Heart of America Northwest, Gerald Pollet is quoted as saying "Fluor Daniel violated every rule in the book, put thousands of lives at risk and then... tried to cover it all up and accuse the workers and nearby residents of mass hysteria."
Senior DOE officials felt that Fluor never should have gotten the contract. Especially in light of Fluor's past experience with radioactive waste cleanup at the Fernald nuclear site in Ohio. St. Clair says that "in Fluor's four years at Fernald, the company has been accused of massive overbilling, shoddy work performance and false record keeping. Fluor was also cited by the DOE for more than 1,000 serious safety violations, ranging from lax rules to exposure to radiation."
Fluor is now racking up new charges, fines and citations from its subsidiary's contribution to the corporation's list of disasters and near-disasters. Residents in the worst affected areas already felt ambivalent toward the A.T. Massey subsidiary of Fluor due to the dangers they constantly face from the coal mining operations, while at the same time depending on the company for their economic survival. Now, however, they are focused on more immediate and personal survival concerns.
10 Eastern Kentucky counties have been declared States of Emergency. The water plant in Louisa, Ky., which was supplying water to Fort Gay, W.Va. has been shut down. Stores have experienced a run on bottled water. Water intake valves in several West Virginia and Kentucky towns have been closed. In some areas closest to the spill site schools and business were forced to close. Temporary water lines are being laid to serve residents in affected areas, and the company says it's working to bring in clean drinking water. At least one person is virtually trapped in her home. Janice Maynard told a reporter, "In order to get to civilization, we have to walk through woods, down through a field and through a swampy area.'' Maynard has a broken ankle and says, "I can't make that walk.''
Meanwhile, officials in Ashland, Ohio are trying to track the progress of the sludge to determine what effect it may have on their water treatment plants. There are currently eight barges on standby to ship in clean water if it becomes necessary. The National Guard says it has 270,000 containers of drinking water to distribute. Swimming pools are even being considered for emergency fire-fighting water. Despite the preparations for potential water crises, official statements on the severity of the situation vary widely and often contradict one another. Kentucky Governor Paul Patton, a coal mining veteran said, "If [the sludge] pollutes the Ohio badly enough we've got major problems." As many as 25 water treatment plants in Kentucky and West Virginia could end up being shut down. George B. Kincaid, chief of the Army Corps of Engineers water-quality section said “We haven't found anything that would be reason for alarm on the Ohio.” Wayne Davis, chief of the Department for Fish and Wildlife Resources' environmental section, said: ``We have instances of black water every year, but this is the worst one I've seen or heard of.''
Aside from various official opinions, another way of looking at the effect on the water is its turbidity rating. Ashland, public services director Steve Corbitt said the water they usually treat has a turbidity rating of 1. After floods, it can be as high as 750, which indicates extremely dirty water. At the peak of the sludge, ten miles from Ashland, Corbitt received reports of a 6000 turbidity rating.
It's currently estimated by the EPA emergency response team that it will take 5 or 6 months to clean up the toxic mess and only afterwards will an environmental impact assessment be possible. The coal-waste sludge flowing down the Big Sandy and into the Ohio River has the consistency of lava and sinks to the bottom of the river. Cleanup crews have tried removing the bank to bank sludge with vacuum trucks, makeshift dams using bales of straw as filters and skimming booms -- all with limited success. Crude oil spills on the other hand are easier to clean up since it floats on top of the water and can be skimmed off. And yet 10 years after the Exxon Valdez spill in Alaska, oil is still on parts of beaches. The Office of Technology Assessment reported last year that after nearly ten years, only 3 to 4 percent of the Valdez spill had been recovered..
Regarding clean-up efforts, one government official told the SierraTimes yesterday on condition of anonymity that 10,000 people worked to clean up the Exxon Valdez spill. "In this case," he said, "there are less than one hundred." This is just one more baffling aspect of this environmental disaster that brings several questions to mind, particularly when looked at in contrast to the Valdez oil spill.
1. Where's the network news coverage??
2. Where are the environmental groups??
3. How many people even know that 250 million gallons of toxic waste was spilled into the rivers recently?
3. Is the plight of Alaskan fishermen more important than that of Kentucky coal mining communities?
4. Would the media and environmentalists suddenly take notice if baby seals were photographed covered in coal sludge?
5. Why has neither presidential candidate mentioned this, despite their campaign promises regarding cleaner air and water?
6. Are the media ignoring this because of the Gore/Fluor connection?
And speaking of Al Gore, that champion of the environment and author of "Earth in the Balance" in which he stated, "At some point during this journey we lost our feeling of connectedness to the rest of nature" - has living in a mansion with improvements paid for by the Fluor Corporation caused him to lose his connectedness with that part of nature in the southeast where Kentucky, W.Virginia and Ohio intersect? |
