Kim Jonson Attacked - Please help!

My name is Eugene. I run www.thetruthabouttrixie.com website, and I was about to interview Kim when her cameraman freaked out. I don't know what to do. I live 1000s of miles away from Iowa. I called the local Sheriff's department 1 712 560 1196, but they think it's a prank. This is all about DP Chemicals, and something called Scarlet Omega. I don't know what else I can do...

Save Ogden Marsh!

E.

Door to Door with Greenpeace!

Hey all, it's Kim! I'm back!

We went door to door trying to pull this community together and bring awareness about just what a potential hazard DP Chemicals is to our town, and it seems every time I mentioned DP Chemicals everyone just clammed up!... Anywho, I'm taking this action to the streets... It's time to pull together and stand up for OUR rights and OUR safety. Because if we don't who will?

So watch out Ogden Marsh... Kim Jonson is back!



p.s. Gary, you're a dear friend but drink bottled water... drinking from that hose was disgusting :p

hehe

Kim

Ogden Marsh's notorious K I M

Gary again. Roger and I picked up Kim at her house after she had to spend the night in jail. We knew she'd be upset, but we definitely didn't expect this reaction... but that's our Kim.



Peace, Gary.

Kim protesting against DP Chemicals in Ogden Marsh!

Hi everyone, this is Gary Schultz. I shoot and edit the vids for Kim. I have to post this because unfortunately Kim got arrested for trespassing on DP Chemicals property. Boo!

Anyhow, here's a pic... She only spent one night in jail. I'll post the video of her exploits in a bit!

Remember, ask yourself... ARE WE SAFE???

Peace, Gary.

Are You Paying Attention Yet?

I'm not kidding when I say these chemical plants put us at risk.I write about it a couple times a week because that's how often it happens!
Just a week and a half ago FOUR incidents occurred over a period of just two days at a DuPont Chemical Plant in Belle, WV. To make matters even scarier for nearby residents, this is just 20 miles south of the Bayer Crop Science facility I blogged about a few weeks ago…you know, the one that received FOUR citations for improper maintenance of storage tanks?

The worst of these 4 incidents ended in the death of a worker. On Saturday, January 23rd, an employee of the DuPont facility was hit in the face with a small amount of phosgene. The employee died the following day as a result of the exposure. Phosgene is a highly toxic chemical that is dangerous even in miniscule amounts and was used in World War I as a chemical weapon. Frighteningly, this chemical is also used when building crop protection chemicals. That’s right, they spray our food with this crap and we eventually consume it.
Prior to Saturday’s fatal accident, 1,900 pounds of toxic methyl chloride leaked from a storage tank on Friday, January 22. Unbelievably, this leak went undetected for almost one week! We should be very concerned about facilities housing toxic chemicals yet operating with such a poor safety program in place – how could this leak could go on for almost a week!?
In addition to this (almost) week long leak, on Saturday morning there was sulfuric acid leak and later that night there was a small fire which was later labeled as an electrical “arcing.” A small fire and three chemical leaks, one of which led to a death, all in 48 hours? DuPont’s doing such a bang-up job of following safety protocol that there is now a federal investigation of the facility.
What a scary scenario for residents…a chemical leak in your town followed by a bunch of government officials checking things out. Sounds freaky.
You can read the full story here.

Is Obama the new Mr. Clean?

Good news on the Clean Air Act front! The Wall Street Journal is reporting the U.S. subsidiaries of two French companies agreed to install new pollution controlling technologies in 28 plants! Though the total cost to the companies, combined, will be somewhere around $282 million, the result would be the decrease of 41,000 tons of pollutants that cause respiratory problems as well as a variety of environmental damage. I hope other corporations will see this as a cue to change their procedures as well.

Under Obama’s administration, the E.P.A. has taken more aggressive measures than the Bush Administration when it comes to enforcing the policies of the Clean Air Act. This month the E.P.A. announced it would be making the standard for ground-level ozone (aka smog) more strict and new rules on the elements that cause haze in polluted cities could also be announced in the near future.

While you and I are certainly thrilled with the direction Obama is taking, the administration has its opposition. For instance, a newspaper out of Dallas, TX mentions that many officials in the state including Gov. Rick Perry are fighting the changes. It is certainly an uphill battle faced by Obama so be sure to contact President Obama and tell him you support the E.P.A.’s stricter measures. Its reaching out to elected officials like this that leads to great initiatives like the Clean Air Act!

Shoutout!

I just got a web cam, woohoo! It is a very strange thing to talk to a camera alone in your room. I got so nervous I almost forgot my own friends' names and had to write them down! :-/

Also, special thanks to Eugene at www.thetruthabouttrixie.com, and Gary my cameraman :)

Gotta Love that New Car Smell

I have never owned a new car, nor have a ever been inside one to experience first hand that "new car smell," but maybe you have. Tell me, did you feel sick afterward? Because I just read the following on AOL Autos and I'm for once thrilled to drive a beat up used truck from 1991:

"...the plastics and textiles used in vehicle interiors contain a number of harmful chemicals, including antimony, bromine, chlorine, and lead. Repeated and concentrated exposure to any of these chemicals may contribute to a variety of acute and long-term health issues such as birth defects, impaired learning, liver toxicity, and cancer."

Are we safe from anything??

Source: Kirk Seaman @ AOL Autos

Is There a Deadly Intruder in My Home?

That’s the question residents of Elmira, NY are asking themselves lately as many families have discovered that their homes, near Facet Enterprises Superfund manufacturing plant, have been under a vaporous intrusion of a potentially deadly chemical. According to the E.P.A., elevated levels of the chemical trichloroethylene (TCE) have been found in at least 27 out of 103 homes tested. TCE, is a chemical whose emissions can rise above the soil and affect air quality in your home.

What’s worse than this? How about the fact that TCE is a probable human carcinogen – meaning it can be CANCER CAUSING – and it is a COMMONLY used industrial solvent! In a press release issued yesterday, an E.P.A. rep strongly encouraged Elmira residents to permit E.P.A. officials to sample the air quality in their homes with a warning, “Long-term exposure to these vapors can have serious health implications.” The E.P.A. goes on to say that they have systems that are effective at venting the air and making it safe for residents.

However, the reality is that cleanup methods have not always worked in the past and I worry about how well they will work in the future.

Alternatives to TCE exist and, in fact, have been implemented by many facilities. This site has info on how to make this change. If you or your friends and family live in Elmira, NY you can contact Congressman Eric Massa to demand Facet Enterprises Superfund and facilities like it switch to the safer solvents. It’s safe to bet facilities near all of us, anywhere in the country, are using toxic chemicals like TCE regularly. Contact your local official and tell them you don’t want an unseen, unheard, and deadly intruder in your home!

Bayer: Expect Wonders ... As in Wonder Why They Are Putting Us at Risk!

According to state inspectors this weekend in West Virginia, Bayer CropScience - yes, the Bayer company that makes your aspirin - has been cited with not one but FOUR citations for improperly maintaining a storage tank which stores about 200,000 pounds of methyl isocyanate (MIC). That is the same chemical that killed more than 15,000 people in Bhopal!! The citations are based on the discovery that the contractors who installed a protection system on the MIC storage tank were NOT certified for that kind of work and the fact that uncertified workers are also performing the periodic tests on these storage tanks!

Back in August 2008, this Bayer CropScience facility had an explosion that killed two people when methomyl, a chemical used in pesticides, along with several other potentially threatening chemicals leaked and caught fire. Will it take another Bhopal these plants to get it together???

If you live near Institute, WV you might be wise to contact your reps and town officials to let them know how concerned you are about this! Send them a letter!

Photo Credit: Conanil

Me at DP Chemicals

Hey Blog Readers - Jenny and I shot this video a couple weeks ago outside of DP Chemicals. They wouldn't let us into the plant with a camera, but we were able sneak past security to as close as possible.

Check it out and PLEASE join me in demanding increased security measures at chemical plants, like DP. Our town is too close to this facility to risk it. You can send a letter here.

The Price of Clean Air

I’m sure I’ve posted about this before, but The New York Times has been running a really fantastic series this year called “Toxic Waters” where they have exposed some of the worst chemical polluters in America. I’ve been following it religiously, and found myself skimming through the old stories today. Their last story was published in December and I’m obviously going crazy waiting for more! So, to make my wait less difficult, I just had to mention something about their October piece, “Cleansing the Air at the Expense of Waterways.”

The reporter relates the story of Allegheny Energy, a plant located in Pennsylvania. They were found to be emitting exorbitant levels of mercury into the air, which in turn is rained down into the waterways, into the fish, and into our bellies. Per the Clean Air Act, they began to reduce emissions by “scrubbing” their smoke-stacks with water and chemical sprays. The effort was successful in lowering toxic levels of mercury emissions, but the chemicals used to “scrub” have run into the Monongahela River. The article says this river provides drinking water to 350,000 people! While reducing toxic mercury emissions from the air is certainly something to applaud, doing so by essentially re-routing the poison is just  irresponsible in my eyes.

Apparently, the federal government is still not coming down very hard on these plants. The article says there are “no federal regulations specifically governing the disposal of power plant discharges into waterways or landfills.” How can this still be the case when the E.P.A. reported in 2007 that people living close to power plants were at a 2,000 times greater risk of getting cancer. AND we have proof that mercury poisoning causes neurological damages in fetuses and small children!

In addition, I’ve spoken about this time and again, but fines for plants in violation of regulations that do exist are still not substantial enough to dissuade them from polluting in the future! How is the government supposed to stop these plants from poisoning the public if they enforce no penalties?

Until the federal government steps up and insists on their regulations being followed, your next glass of H20 may have toxic waste pollution.

Article: N.Y.Times
Image: Matt and Kim Rudge

Trapped in a Toxic Cloud

Forgot to mention, but over Christmas, I found an article from 2005 in my parents' massive Reader's Digest pile in the den. The story is about a small town outside of San Antonia, TX, and what happened when a derailment caused a ruptured tank car. It's a real horror story.

Read it and pass it on. It's a great example of what can happen, even out here in Ogden Marsh...


Link to story

Indian Corporation Unveils Product to Provide Millions with Clean Water

Okay - I know I've been radio silent the last few weeks but with the holidays and some additional protesting (pics and video coming soon!) I have had a chance to site down and write.

As you know,  the 25th anniversary of the Bhopal disaster was last month. So I thought it would be appropriate to kick off 2010 with my latest find, the release of an affordable water filtration system in India. The device was introduced early in December, and is said to meet EPA guidelines. The company, based in India, released this new system in an effort to provide millions of at risk Indian citizens with clean drinking water. Best of all, the system is supposed to be priced so that most Indian families will be able to purchase one for their homes.

It’s great to see a company in India catering to the masses and making a much more affordable product! AP Business Writer Erika Kinetz quotes a senior executive for the company, who claims safe water is a “right public policy has sought to fulfill, not very successfully so far. We'd like to make a small contribution to offering that.”

I’m glad to see a company in India taking responsibility for its citizens and stepping up where the government hasn’t. Maybe I’ll order myself one of these new systems and add it to my collection. You can never be too careful when it comes to clean water!

Photo credit: mckaysavage

Chemical Waste Site May Cause Birth Defects

Sometimes while I am standing in the cold asking for petition signatures and getting ignored, I think that being an activist is just an exhausting and pointless career choice. But then I read stories like this am reminded that all of our surveying and petitioning you outside of your grocery store does have a real world impact.

According to the Los Angeles Times, a group of environmental justice activists were surveying the Kettleman City community and found an alarming amount of birth defects. Of the 20 babies born within the last 15 months, 5 had cleft palates and 3 of them died. The residents of the community believe it has to do with the landfill near their homes.

This farming town is located near the largest landfill in the west, which is also the only landfill in California licensed to accept carcinogenic PCBs. PCBs have been shown to cause cancer (CANCER!) and have serious effects on the immune, reproductive, nervous, and endocrine system. So PCBs are only harmful to your entire body, makes sense to put it next to a community (sarcasm!). According to the LA Times article, this specific waste dump was also recorded in 2003 as one of 22 facilities in California with unusually high radiation. So the community clearly has reason to inquire.

An activist being interviewed said that since they stumbled upon the problem and made it public, not one agency has bothered to investigate. What makes me sick is the comment by a Kings County health officer in an interview. The officer said:

"I understand why people are concerned. But most of the time, when we are talking about small numbers such as these, they are just random occurrences.”

So it sounds like if only 3 kids die then it is not worth investigating. What if one of those 3 kids was yours, sir? I mean, if Chemical Waste Management Inc., which owns the landfill site, is pressing for an outside an investigation and chastising the county for not doing so, what is the hesitation!? Please don’t tell me money.

Where is Erin Brockovich when you need her!

Image source: L.A. Times

Are You Drinking Dirty Water?

Last Thursday, I blogged about Bhopal’s 25th anniversary and considered how frightening it must be to live in fear that your drinking water might poison you, not to mention living with the knowledge that your government is doing little to nothing to protect your health. Well, an article I read today from The New York Times has me reliving this fear!

The article is called “Millions in U.S. Drink Dirty Water, Records Show,” and it cites 49 million people in the U.S. as having been exposed to illegal levels of chemicals like arsenic and uranium since 2004.

Arsenic and uranium? What on earth are they doing in my water? I’m getting queasy just thinking about how many people, including my family and friends, could be cooking with, bathing in and drinking water that could make us sick. In addition, the NYTimes explains that fewer than 8% of water systems supplying this contaminated water have been persecuted. I was absolutely livid to read that America is allowing these treatment facilities to get around the law; how are so few of these facilities being punished? Well, it seems that unless the contamination is immediately life-threatening, many minor violations requiring excess paperwork have been pushed aside, effectively allowing individuals to continue drinking water containing chemicals beyond their legal limit. These chemicals have been linked to many different cancers, and the effects of drinking such tainted water can take years to surface.

I think the most alarming point of the article came toward the end, during a discussion of the failure of the Safe Drinking Water Act’s regulations:

“A system could deliver tap water that puts residents at a 1-in-600 risk of developing bladder cancer from arsenic, and still comply with the law.”

I don’t understand how laws that leave so many people at such risk can exist. There are enough things to worry about; no one in the world should have to be apprehensive that they might get cancer from the arsenic in their water. The article ends on a slightly dismal note;

“The same people who told us to ignore Safe Drinking Water Act violations are still running the divisions,” said one mid-level E.P.A. official. “There’s no accountability, and so nothing’s going to change.”

I can only hope that anticipated reforms do address the issues they need to, including accountability for officials. I mean come on, what is more important than public health?

And I’m now going to filter my drinking water a few more times…although I doubt that will help with the uranium.

If any of my readers want more information about the Safe Drinking Water Act, you can visit the EPA at EPA.gov. If you’re feeling really bold, check out their list of water contaminants. Warning, do not read if you are thirsty!!

Photo Credit: Randy Son of Robert

Incredible Video on Bhopal - Please Watch

I know it's the day after the 25th anniversary for Bhopal, but got stuck helping the girls at softball practice last night. (Tigers gotta win this season!!!)

Wanted to share this - I saw an incredible video on a blog this morning, and thought you should check it out too. The stories of the people in this really hit home every time I go out on Highway 50 and see the plant:

25th Anniversary of Bhopal

Today marks the 25th anniversary of the world's worst industrial disaster and I hope you take a minute to learn from this.  On the night of December 3, 1984, methyl isocyanate gas leaked from the Union Carbide factory in Bhopal;  8,000 people were killed immediately and an estimated 500,000 were exposed to the poisons.

Led by the the Bhopal Group for Information and Action, hundreds of gas victims gathered in Bhopal last night for a torch rally. They marched and chanted for the 5 kilometers to the old Union Carbide factory, sending the message that they will not give up until they receive justice and adequate compensation.

The damage that Union Carbide (now under Dow) has done is evident not only in the faces of these Bhopalis, but is also in plain site at the factory

According to Corpwatch, toxic materials have been abandoned inside the factory and left in evaporation pools outside. Their waste systems were poorly designed and are now leaking contaminants into the surrounding area.
"Groundwater and soil inside and outside the factory hold dangerous levels of chlorinated solvents, pesticides and heavy metals. Every rain spreads the poison to groundwater that more than 30,000 people rely on as their main source of drinking water."

Can you imagine the fear of being poisoned by the only water you have to drink? And knowing you have no other option because you're own government won't intervene? That's frightening! Facilities like Union Carbide's pose a threat to cities in the U.S. as well as their safety measures and the size of chemical containers are at risk for a terrorist attack.

I ask that you take a moment and click here to learn more about the victims of Bhopal, and understand hat there is a possibility that this could occur in the U.S. - even in Iowa.

Image: RAVEENDRAN/AFP/Getty Images (Via Amnesty International)

Some Good News!

Today was a huge success in the movement to reform the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). The Senate Committee for the Environment and Public Works held their first hearing to discuss the need for reform, mostly due to pressure from concerned citizens, (like myself!)

Even more exciting, I read that 13 state governments released their own statements for TSCA reform. Sadly, my Iowa is not on that list, but with these states leading the way, hopefully more will catch on that these toxic chemicals are doing more than just polluting our air and waterways, they are posing real risks to American families.

I remembered today that December 3rd marked the 25th anniversary of Bhopal, and it makes me so angry that after all these years, and all the terrible repercussion we have seen from that disaster, that we do not have comprehensive regulations for toxic chemicals! It totally freaks me out that something like Bhopal could happen here in Ogden Marsh because the government hasn’t taken appropriate action to protect its citizens. It’s crazy that these chemical companies are still trying to keep dangerous chemicals on the market just to make a buck. Remember when chemical companies spent millions of dollars to squash a bill in California that would ban toxic flame retardants from furniture? Why? I understand industries need to make a profit, but why at the expense of public health?

Alright, I’ll stop my rant there. I am really hopeful that this hearing is a sign of a wave of change for chemical reform, and I’ll be keeping my fingers crossed for Iowa to follow suit with those 13 other states who have called for safer regulations.

If you are as concerned about this issue as me, check out the Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families campaign webpage, where you can send a letter to Congress asking for better regulations for toxic chemicals! They also have some great blog posts that I’d suggest checking out if you want more information about the hearing today and the history of TSCA.

And of course, please tell your representatives to put limits on toxic chemicals!

Image by blmurch

AP Reports Dow Spent 1.4 million on Lobbying Govenrment

According to a report posted by AP today, Dow Chemicals spent $1.3 million on lobbying the U.S.. government in the third quarter. 1.3 million!! That's insane! That money could be much better spend on the 200,000 people in Bhopal, India injured from the Union Carbide gas leak 25 years ago.

According to a report filed at the House Clerk's office, Dow lobbied on legislation that dealt with surface transportation reauthorization, railroad antitrust, toxic substances and chemical security, as well as on climate change, pensions and issues related to credit markets.
 
Complete Report
Image by Simon Standgaard