SURPRISE!: Water-Poisoning Freedom Industries Had "Freedom" from EPA Regulations . . .

[Triana]

Freedom Industries, the company that freely and negligently poisoned the water supply in nine West Virginia counties with a chemical used in the coal industry, seems to be enjoying a lot of freedom from EPA regulations. According to the New York Times, the company is exempt from Environmental Protection Agency rules because it stores chemicals, rather than produces them.

The tank, which leaked over 7,500 gallons of 4-Methylcyclohexane Methanol (2,500 more than previously estimated) into West Virginia’s Elk River, had reportedly been leaking for an extended period of time. MCHM is not lethal unless ingested in large quantities, but can cause non-stop vomiting, burning throat, blisters, and other “poor people problems.” CEO Dennis P. Farrel’s fur-wearing girlfriend told Facebook that she was able to brush her teeth and shower therefore, despite Governor Earl Ray Tomblin declaring a state of emergency and numerous experts urging customers not to drink the water or use it for anything besides “flushing,” she feels that “no one and no thing” has been harmed due to the leakage.

Farrell himself has avoided facing the public for his company’s reprehensible and irresponsible lack of safety measures, but president Gary Southern has made it very clear that…he doesn’t care either.

THE REST: http://aattp.org/surprise-water-poisoning-freedom-industries-had-freedom-from-epa-regulations/

[whathehell]

1. That's just a taste of what's to come if the TPP is enacted. n/t

[polly7]

2. +1000 nt

[daleanime]

7. Amen....

[Enthusiast]

13. Yup. Indefensible. nt

[L0oniX]

3. Not surprised. It actually was my first thought when I read the news about it.

[JoeyT]

4. This is why you don't give anti-regulation people a single inch.

Be they right wing FREEDUM! types or Third Wayers weeping over the terrible burden we place on industry. Weakening regulation and enforcement to the point stuff like this is allowed to happen does nothing but weaken public trust in the regulatory and enforcement bodies (and with good reason) until no one cares about them because they're useless anyway.

[calimary]

10. I think we better start growing and nurturing a new meme: "FREEDUMB".

And why aren't our Dems yelling and screaming about this? THIS! THIS!!!! THIS is why you need government oversight. THIS is why you NEED those "annoying," "pesky," "nuisance" regulations and restrictions and laws and environmental impact studies and statements that actually have teeth and meaning and muscle instead of just documented lip-service. This is a cautionary tale of the first order.

"This is what you get when you vote republi-CON."

"This is what you get when you don't regulate industry."

"This is what you get when you roll back the regulations."

"This is what you get when let the 'free market' run unrestrained."

"This is what you get when you leave the foxes alone to guard the hen-houses."

"This is what you get when you have 'laissez-faire' capitalism."

"This is what you get!!!!"

"THIS!"

They all need to be saying these things and repeating them night and day, hour after hour, around the clock. They need to be walking around with megaphones and wearing sandwich boards with neon lights on them!

[niyad]

5. sickening, but not in the least surprising

[RayStar]

6. Silence

The outrage of this water poisoning is deafening. This is scary.

[Wait Wut]

8. Actually...

...I've been shocked to see the comments from some of my R or R-leaning friends on FB the last couple of days. Just now, a friend from Ohio threw a mini tantrum because they discovered the Ohio River is contaminated.

They're slow to wake up, but when it's in their own backyard they forget what they're supposed to think. This doesn't mean they'll be calling for changes to regulatory rules. It just means they don't want this crap happening at home. But, their acknowledgement that there is a real problem is comforting in some sort of twisted way.

[calimary]

11. So then YOU have to help them connect the dots.

If they don't like the result, YOU have to help them realize HOW YOU GET TO THAT RESULT. WHAT CAUSES, BRINGS ON, LEADS DIRECTLY TO THAT RESULT!

I apologize for shouting, but dammit, if I could vocally, I would!!!!

NOBODY connects the dots. Nobody. Except for the rare high-profile media people like Rachel Maddow and most of us civilians here. But it's a very rare and almost-never-seen talent. Which inevitably means - it inevitably comes back down to us. WE have to do the heavy lifting until some of the big-shot birdbrains and official-type slow-learners around us finally start catching on.

[Wait Wut]

15. Oh, I try.

Some catch on, but for the most part they're just as stubborn as any other Republican. A few I've had to make agreements with that we will not discuss politics, so I have to be sneaky about getting info across. When they post something I agree with, I just casually 'like' the post, but don't comment. It's a little like feeding deer.

[calimary]

16. Here's a key reaction to watch for.

I was in a taxi with friends in Las Vegas over the weekend and the talk, of course, turned... and it gave me a BEE-YOO-TEE-FUL opportunity to connect a dot or two because it posed the perfect moment to assert how important taxes are and what they're really for: funding infrastructure and the social safety net. And I made that point. Using the ol' "if-then" logic construct I learned in high school. Starting with - "well, because nobody wants to pay taxes, then you're stuck with streets in decay and deteriorating roadways and whole sections of Texas going to gravel roads ... Wow - let's all go Third World then, 'eh?" And the taxi driver, who seemed to be of the demeaner of a wobbly, low-information CONservative supporter, responded with - "well, I dunno..."

"Well, I dunno..."

And it usually trails off, vocally, from there. That's the giveaway - the first signal that you've rattled their complacency-cage and all the bullshit assumptions that have been carefully fed and nurtured and buttressed by the frank luntzes and newt gingriches and kkkarl roves and roger aileses of the world. Those bastards WANT YOU STUPID, and UNQUESTIONING. Just one big mouth, consuming and swallowing whatever the hell they want to insert there. What YOU then say, to blow a hole in the bullshit wall of these simple, gullible, ill-informed stooges and other noncritical thinkers, will not compute. It doesn't fit with what they're well-conditioned to be thinking and assuming and concluding. So they don't know what to do with that info. They have no template for this and no way to apply this new learning. Could even be the first time some of 'em have even been exposed to another way of looking at things like this. They don't know, and this never occurred to them before, and they don't know how to process this info or where it fits or what to do with it. This is their default response when confronted by this stuff that doesn't fit what they've been taught by the CONservative media exploiters and other opportunistic infections.

"Well, I dunno..."

These poor unfortunate pitiable marks give themselves away. They're spot-on there. Correct - they DON'T know! Self-accused, self-tried, and self-convicted. They DON'T know. They truly don't. They don't pay attention, they don't listen carefully, they don't read, they don't analyze, they don't connect dots, they don't try to look even a millimeter deeper or farther behind the curtain or the talking points. They watch Pox Noise and listen to limbaugh and clones and just absorb it passively. They don't engage. They engorge. And THAT is how you build a new GOP supporter.

[Wait Wut]

17. I agree completely, and it seems...

...that you and I approach these conversations in a similar fashion. You just toss in a fact or two and see what happens. And, you nailed it with the, 'Well, I dunno...'. That's the signal, but you have to maintain your composure or you'll spook them. It took me almost 5 years, but my once diehard R bestie has now drifted to Independent and another went full D. The latter is actually still drifting further and further into becoming a full-fledged Liberal.

The other thing you mentioned, that this could be their first introduction into looking at things differently, you betcha. I live in Arizona. If they could paint the sky red, they would. But, for the most part, their compassion is the easiest target. Because I don't hang out with any of the rich, old, transplants, my local friends are all mid 40's and struggling. They know how hard life can be and they really do give a damn as long as you put a name and face to the story. A random story about 'welfare' recipients isn't going to get you any love, but if you show them a story about a young mother faced with homelessness and hungry children, they'll be pulling all the change out of their pockets and it's just a quick step into "Okay, maybe we need to find a better way." Unfortunately, they also have very short attention spans.

It's all a continuous work in progress. It takes patience, tolerance and an occasional dose of humility, but it can be worth it.

[calimary]

18. It IS a continuous work in progress. And I have to watch it in the losing-patience department.

We have to keep at it, though.

I do believe that souls can be saved. Sounds like you singlehandedly have a few of those to your credit, Wait Wut!

[NuclearDem]

14. It was the lead story on TDS

MSNBC on the other hand is utterly obsessed with Bridgegate.

[Beearewhyain]

9. Hey folks, the lack of regulations has magical qualities

I mean it even makes water flammable.

But seriously, are we as a nation incapable of learning the lessons of the past? Hopefully not.

[lpbk2713]

12. Operate a chemical plant next to a waterway ...

and governmental regulatory agencies promise to stay away from you for at least 25 years.