WV legislature is set on rolling back the storage tank legislation inacted after the tank spill.

[greatlaurel]

This is beyond disgusting. There are many third world countries that are not this corrupt. The failure to regulate storage tanks leads to massive numbers of spills and land contamination, not just in West Virginia. They rules that were put in place were proper and would have protected the citizens of West Virginia. The massively corrupt legislature now in power could never let that stand.

http://blogs.wvgazette.com/coaltattoo/2015/03/10/chemical-tank-rollbacks-how-soon-we-forget/

"Legislation that dismantles large portions of the chemical tank safety bill passed after last year’s Freedom Industries leak appears headed for passage, following a narrow approval late Monday night by the House Judiciary Committee.

Committee members approved the bill (SB 423) by a 13-12 vote taken at about 11:30 p.m,, following the defeat of an amendment aimed at strengthening parts of the bill at the end of a more than four-hour meeting. That amendment failed by an identical margin.

“This bill is a rollback of all we accomplished last year,” said Delegate Stephen Skinner, D-Jefferson."

This is another great article written by Ken Ward,Jr.

Cross posted from the Appalachia group.

[gratuitous]

1. Every voter who cast a ballot for these bandits . . .

Every voter who cast a ballot for these bandits can have nice big glass of shut the hell up when (not if) their drinking water becomes undrinkable. It may even happen before the next election, which might serve to change a few minds. We can hope.

[greatlaurel]

2. The only reason they knew about the Freedom Industries spill was due to the strong odor.

How sad the legislators are so venal to not understand they may well be drinking contaminated water without realizing it if the particular chemical does not have a strong taste or smell. They care nothing for their families let alone their constituents. It is so incredibly sad. The risk from failing to inspect and regulate storage tanks are quite real. Tanks fail on a regular basis. People would be amazed if they knew how often these tanks leak, are overfilled or fail in a myriad number of ways.

[hatrack]

3. My Giveadamn's all broke as well. You keep electing these venal pricks? OK, fine - enjoy!

There was as story on the local NPR station here about a week ago. It was all about a small rural town about 100 miles SE of here that was about to lose its hospital, meaning that if a local clinic couldn't handle whatever it was, you'd be looking at at least 30 miles in any direction for a hospital.

Why the shutdown? No money. Why no money? Because the venal pricks (GOP, of course) who control the state house voted against accepting Medicaid funding that would have helped fund low-income care at that hospital, because Freedumb.

So, just out of curiosity, I went to the Secretary of State's website. Lo and behold, St. Clair County, home of the now-shuttered hospital in question, voted 65-35 for McCain in 2008, 69-31 for Romney in 2012, and has been voting for GOP State House and Senate members for decades now.

So you know what? If you're not just stupid, but choose willful ignorance, as so many voters in St. Clair County have done for decades, then fuck you. Fuck you and the gay-bashing, gun-fellating elephant you rode in on.