EPA knew and did nothing....

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CrappieKeith

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EPA Knew Wood Piles Were Contaminated, Did Nothing LIBBY, MONTANA

Et tu, Brute? The very government agency responsible for cleaning up the town of Libby, Montana, after it had been contaminated with asbestos from a W.R. Grace vermiculite mine that killed an estimated 400 people and sickened approximately another 2,000, said and did nothing for over three years while tons of wood chips and bark were used by residents, and sent around the country for landscaping.



An Associated Press (AP) story showed that a study by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in 2007 found potentially deadly asbestos fibers in four of 20 samples taken from piles of scrap wood. Those piles, primarily wood and bark chips, came from a now-defunct timber mill that took thousands of trees from a forest tainted with asbestos from the W.R. Grace mine.



According to the AP, the wood and bark chips were popular with homeowners wanting to add some landscaping touches to their backyards, and for contractors who packaged it and sold it around the country.



Local officials estimate that 1,000 tons were used in landscaping and erosion control in Libby. Over the past decade, as much as 15,000 tons were sold and hauled out of town to destinations unknown, according to the economic development official who was selling it.



Libby has been declared the worst Superfund cite in the nation's history, and a tragedy of gargantuan proportions. In acting on its charge to clean up the pollution in Libby, the EPA has spent over $370 million over the past 11 years. Contractors in moon suits are commonly seen carting off tainted materials.



Why, then, would EPA officials in charge allow tons and tons of contaminated material to be spread across the lawns of Libby and shipped across the U.S. to contaminate others?



The EPA is now scrambling to gauge the public health risk and is preparing to issue guidelines about how residents should handle the wood, including warning not to move or work with the material when it's dry to avoid stirring up asbestos. But the agency has decided it won't track down where the chips went. It says it no longer has jurisdiction because the material is now classified as a commercial product.



The EPA made no comment about its moral obligation.



Readers of Hearth & Home and members of the hearth industry should be well acquainted with the plight of Libby, and the hearth industry's role in changing-out close to 1,200 old wood stoves there. The project required approximately two years and $2 million in cash or products. It also required a tremendous amount of time from the staff of the Hearth, Patio & Barbecue Association.



Now there's another connection to the hearth industry. The AP story said that EPA regulators were told that most of those wood chips were used to make fuel pellets that are bagged and sold nationwide at major retailers. Agency officials said it was unknown how dangerous it would be to burn those pellets, since the amount of asbestos in the material was never completely quantified.



Eureka Pellet Mills said the material was unsuitable for fuel pellets, so it went to a power plant in Canada. Officials at the company refused to offer specifics to verify that claim, and regulators said they had no intention of tracking down the material.



"We thought we were coming to an end and now we have this issue all over again," said Lerah Parker, a Libby resident who spread dozens of truckloads of the material around her property.



As recently as last fall, truckloads of the chips and bark were still being shipped around the country. The pile, according to local witnesses, was originally as high as a four-story building and covered five acres. That's all gone now. A second pile still towers at least 20 feet.



It was known for years that forests around the W.R. Grace mill were contaminated. To what degree was the question. Records show that trees on more than 9,000 acres have been harvested from the vicinity of the mine since it was acquired by W.R. Grace in 1963.



Studies by the EPA and university researchers have found the forests around Libby are tainted with asbestos at least eight miles from the mine. The barbed asbestos fibers lodge themselves in cracks and crevices in the bark until they are released when disturbed or burned.

tonyward<http://ih.constantcontact.com/fs009/1102650311091/img/285.jpg>

Tony Ward



"We're talking about millions of fibers per square centimeter of bark surface area," said University of Montana researcher Tony Ward. "Thequestion is: What is the dangerous level? There's a lot of people sick up there and you can't argue with that.


"Theoretically, it takes just one fiber to get sick."
 
The EPA has got to be the most crooked of any government agency in our country, and I learned first hand just how far some of those officials will go to pad their own pocket and ignore the real reason they are supposed to do their job.

Twelve years ago when I first married my wife, I worked in a small town truck shop in rural Mississippi. As a matter of routine, anytime we had any chemical we needed to get rid of, we threw it out back of the shop in the sandy soil and forgot about it. We pushed trucks out there and pulled the oil plug, dumped solvents and thinners from the paint booth, and even emptied the contents of a wrecked tanker truck out there. We had no idea what the chemical was, but it dissolved our rubber boot treads like they were butter.Dumped over a thousand gallons of the stuff on the ground under managements orders.

After a anonymous tip from somebody, the EPA showed up and took a test sample, and returned six days later with an army of guys, must have been ten of em.They told all of us to stop work, and go home, and then padlocked the doors. Boss man invited them all to his "office" above his airplane hangar that evening to "discuss" the problem.
Next day we all got phone calls to come back to work, and the shop foreman told us he had been ordered to clean up the mess behind the shop by torching the place. We poured a five hundred gallon tank of diesel fuel on the ground where we had dumped all the stuff, and he lit the fire. It burned for over a week, and sometimes the shop foreman would use the loader to stir the ground up a bit and the fire would resume.We were then ordered to dump all chemicals in a tank out back.Funny part was, of all the stuff we dumped in there, it was never pumped out.Not once. It just sat there right on the same spot that we had dumped everything else.

Every winter at Christmas time the boss man threw a party for his employees. We had the day off, and spent the entire day eating, drinking beer, and having a good time.Prominent citizens from our town would show up, the CEO of Sanderson Farms, big wigs from all the chicken processing plants around town, the mayor, and even some officials from NASCAR would show up.Guess who else showed up?You guessed it. The first official from the EPA that showed up. And always left with a big smile on his face and what I was sure a nice fat envelope in his pocket but i was never sure.
 
Oh I'm not sup-prized one bit after all it is a Gov. agency.
I just got that in an email and I thought to share it here.

I love my country ,but fear my government.
 
Oh I'm not sup-prized one bit after all it is a Gov. agency.
I just got that in an email and I thought to share it here.

I love my country ,but fear my government.

Got guns, ammo, and food?

Then don't worry about the gov. It'll probably bring itself to collapse.
 
The EPA is the biggest scam ever pulled on the American citizen. A regulatory agency with power to wright "law" and enforce it outside of the judicial system... and with near zero oversight. A regulatory agency that has forced on us some of the most ridiculous things in history... overly restricted mufflers on small engines, ethanol blended and other oxygenated fuels (with associated wasteful government subsidies), regulation on household cleaners, the complete ban of some of the most effective herbicides and pesticides ever produced, licensing fees (to increase agency revenue) just to use common chemicals, the advancement of so-called man-made climate change, the ban on lead shot, etc., etc., etc...... and none of it based on real science, just on ideology alone.

It all comes down to money and power... if they can't increase their revenue and/or power, they just don't give a $H!T.

It's all a huge joke... the EPA (and ALL of it's regulations) should be abolished!
 
The EPA is the biggest scam ever pulled on the American citizen. A regulatory agency with power to wright "law" and enforce it outside of the judicial system... and with near zero oversight. A regulatory agency that has forced on us some of the most ridiculous things in history... overly restricted mufflers on small engines, ethanol blended and other oxygenated fuels (with associated wasteful government subsidies), regulation on household cleaners, the complete ban of some of the most effective herbicides and pesticides ever produced, licensing fees (to increase agency revenue) just to use common chemicals, the advancement of so-called man-made climate change, the ban on lead shot, etc., etc., etc...... and none of it based on real science, just on ideology alone.

It all comes down to money and power... if they can't increase their revenue and/or power, they just don't give a $H!T.

It's all a huge joke... the EPA (and ALL of it's regulations) should be abolished!


CLOSE. Social Security was the biggest Ponzi Scheme ever perpetuated on us.
The EPA is a close second.
 
Every winter at Christmas time the boss man threw a party for his employees. We had the day off, and spent the entire day eating, drinking beer, and having a good time.Prominent citizens from our town would show up, the CEO of Sanderson Farms, big wigs from all the chicken processing plants around town, the mayor, and even some officials from NASCAR would show up.Guess who else showed up?You guessed it. The first official from the EPA that showed up. And always left with a big smile on his face and what I was sure a nice fat envelope in his pocket but i was never sure.


If you were never sure, you shouldn't be spreading it around.

I worked for the feds. I did not ever take any money, but somebody started a rumor. At least it was somebody who nobody took seriously, but it made me want to punch him in the nose. I take such rumors seriously.

Accusations that you can't prove can ruin the reputations of perfectly good people. I have seen tax payer money used to try to get somebody, who was accused of taking bribes--all because of a nasty divorce and the partner making the accusations. His accusations could not be proven, and were not true, but a very nasty investigation that took a couple of years was done.

Just because you hate the EPA is not a reason to spread falsehoods.
 
If you were never sure, you shouldn't be spreading it around.

I worked for the feds. I did not ever take any money, but somebody started a rumor. At least it was somebody who nobody took seriously, but it made me want to punch him in the nose. I take such rumors seriously.

Accusations that you can't prove can ruin the reputations of perfectly good people. I have seen tax payer money used to try to get somebody, who was accused of taking bribes--all because of a nasty divorce and the partner making the accusations. His accusations could not be proven, and were not true, but a very nasty investigation that took a couple of years was done.

Just because you hate the EPA is not a reason to spread falsehoods.

Alright, I retract my last sentence.I never saw a fat envelope in his pocket.But here are the facts.
1.We dumped huge quantities of all sorts of hazardous chemicals on the ground.
2.The company didnt pay a single dime in penalties or fines.
3.the tank used to store chemicals after the investigation was never emptied unless it was done after dark or on a Sunday or holiday in the three years I was there.None of the guys I worked with ever saw it pumped out, and more than once we would "sound" the tank by tapping on it with a hammer.It never got over half full.
4.We burned the chemicals rather than the company being forced into a massive cleanup like everywhere else.Ever heard of that before as your first choice in cleanup?
5.I dont care who you are, it is highly improper for a high ranking investigator to show up for a party year after year on the scene where a company was allowed to slide on a clean up.Just doesnt look right.


I have always said if it quacks like a duck.....Well, it quacked like a friggin pay off. But I aint saying it....
 
The EPA has got to be the most crooked of any government agency in our country, and I learned first hand just how far some of those officials will go to pad their own pocket and ignore the real reason they are supposed to do their job.

Twelve years ago when I first married my wife, I worked in a small town truck shop in rural Mississippi. As a matter of routine, anytime we had any chemical we needed to get rid of, we threw it out back of the shop in the sandy soil and forgot about it. We pushed trucks out there and pulled the oil plug, dumped solvents and thinners from the paint booth, and even emptied the contents of a wrecked tanker truck out there. We had no idea what the chemical was, but it dissolved our rubber boot treads like they were butter.Dumped over a thousand gallons of the stuff on the ground under managements orders.

This is exactly why the EPA was formed, because normal citizens are not "responsible for their own well being" or their neighbors for that matter. If you had a corrupt EPA official out of the thousands of EPA employees, that doesn't make the whole agency corrupt. If it wasn't for the EPA, your polluting practice will still be the norm in this country instead of the exception, so maybe the EPA has had a positive effect for our future!
 
Dont take for a second that I either condoned what was happening, or that it was MY polluting practice. I didnt establish the rules for what went on that truck shop, the boss man did. Since he had no interest in providing any responsible methods to get rid of the waste, there really wasnt any other place to dump the stuff now was there?
And dont go giving me any hi handed ideas of "well, if you knew that was going on there you should have gotten another job somewhere else" cause I looked.There werent any other jobs to be had, and I looked for an entire month before landing the one opening at the truck shop.Being from the PNW a lot of southern rednecks are not real eager to give a chance to someone from out of town in a town as small as that one. I was lucky to land that job, crummy as it was.

It wasnt just one corrupt official from the EPA, the OP started this thread with another example of corrupt EPA officials to start with. I dare say you will find that the majority of EPA officials lean towards padding their own interests rather than the official mission of the EPA.

I wont even bore you with the examples that I can cite from first hand experience with the Navy Shipyards in Newport News Virginia and the EPA. The EPA basically turns a complete blind eye to operations there, and tons of hazardous wastes are dumped every year when a ship is overhauled.You dont really believe that when the Navy overhauls a pre 1980 ship they actually pay for the asbestos insulation to be hauled away at the tune of $150 a pound do you? Hell no. They take it out to sea and dump it, and the EPA signs off on the dump.
And yes, I saw the signature myself from the EPA official that signed off on our demo of the USS Coral Sea after a fireroom flood. Tons of hazardous asbestos was taken out to sea and dumped, and the EPA investigator personally signed that the waste had been properly disposed of.
 
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[We] Dumped over a thousand gallons of the stuff on the ground under managements orders.
This is exactly why the EPA was formed, because normal citizens are not "responsible for their own well being"... …If it wasn't for the EPA, your polluting practice will still be the norm in this country instead of the exception, so maybe the EPA has had a positive effect for our future!

That’s just flat BULL $H!T! If you believe that’s why the EPA was formed you’re letting someone else do your thinking for you… You’ve been scammed. Normal citizens are not “responsible”? Give me a f**kin’ break!

It would be a simple matter for congress to pass a law making it a federal criminal offense to dump anything containing X, Y or Z on the ground, or in the water, or whatever … In which case the offender could be arrested and brought to trial according to the Constitution. But that would mean those lazy pricks in Washington would actually have to work; actually have to learn something about the real world, the environment, business, etc. Such a law would put it under the jurisdiction of the FBI, or they could set up a new Federal level “Law Enforcement” division (maybe call it the FBEI – Federal Bureau of Environmental Investigation -) that would be bound by the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.

BUT……

The EPA was formed because those pricks in Washington are lazy. Their thoughts were, “Well, we’re too busy raising taxes, setting up nanny-state programs, planning parties and taking care of our mistresses to deal with that silly crap… here, you guys take some of this tax money (don’t worry, we can get more) and deal with it… oh, and we’ll give you guys regulatory power so you don’t have to bother us or law enforcement with it, or worry about the Constitutional issues… just handle it, OK… thanks guys…….. Now, where were we? Oh yeah, we need more tax money.”
 
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The EPA is a much maligned group here, and, at least partly, for good reason. The Libby situation is stupid, as the EPA has known for at least three years that the pile was contaminated and did nothing about it, claiming it is a commercial product over whihc they have no authority. While that may be true, it is a truly lazy government official who wont take the next step to find out who does regulate it and bring it to their attention. Shouldn't be that hard.

Assuming that Av's story is true as told, there are many examples of corrupt government officials and this would just be one more. As far as superfund sites go, the EPA fills a huge void in these cases and normally does it reasonably well, but not cost effectively or quickly. It is obvious that owners and workers can't be trusted to do the right thing, so someone must be the watchdog. At one time, many people thought that dumping chemicals was ok, as the soil would take it up. However, we have come to know better in the last 30 years and anyone still doing this as recently as 12 years ago is simply wrong and everyone involved knew it was wrong. If the only remedial action was burning the soil, that also was wrong and so much more should have been done. How certain are you that this was an EPA official and not a state official? Most states regulate this type of activity and take the lead before the EPA gets involved. I've had people assume I was from the EPA, even though I worked for a private contractor. Many people think anyone doing environmental work must work for the government in some capacity.

BTW - I think the military is exempted by Congress for many hazardous waste regulations. Given that, the EPA may have little or no jurisdiction over what the military does and how it disposes of materials. Unfortunately, I can't be any more specific than this, so I am not sure what is regulated and what isn't. Also, dumping asbestos contaning materials in the ocean is not the worst disposal method, as the problem with asbestos is when it is breathed in.

WS - It is a crime for anyone to dump, spill, or otherwise pollute water. This is part of the basis for the EPA and one of the primary Acts on which it was founded and receives regulatory authority. The EPA develops regulations based on the primary laws passed by Congress. To have Congress develop the regs would not work, as they have absolutely no technical abilities nor should they reasonably be expected to. Believe me, I am not an EPA supporter, but I think that in superfund type work someone needs to be there. In other areas, I think the EPA goes beyond their primary purpose, but they are driven by politicians with agendas. In this aspect, I agree with your contention that they go too far in their role, as politicians use the EPA to further their agenda instead of taking up the issue on the floor of congress. Politicians have found that this is an easier and more expediant route.
 
The EPA is a much maligned group here, and, at least partly, for good reason. The Libby situation is stupid, as the EPA has known for at least three years that the pile was contaminated and did nothing about it, claiming it is a commercial product over whihc they have no authority. While that may be true, it is a truly lazy government official who wont take the next step to find out who does regulate it and bring it to their attention. Shouldn't be that hard.

Assuming that Av's story is true as told, there are many examples of corrupt government officials and this would just be one more. As far as superfund sites go, the EPA fills a huge void in these cases and normally does it reasonably well, but not cost effectively or quickly. It is obvious that owners and workers can't be trusted to do the right thing, so someone must be the watchdog. At one time, many people thought that dumping chemicals was ok, as the soil would take it up. However, we have come to know better in the last 30 years and anyone still doing this as recently as 12 years ago is simply wrong and everyone involved knew it was wrong. If the only remedial action was burning the soil, that also was wrong and so much more should have been done. How certain are you that this was an EPA official and not a state official? Most states regulate this type of activity and take the lead before the EPA gets involved. I've had people assume I was from the EPA, even though I worked for a private contractor. Many people think anyone doing environmental work must work for the government in some capacity.

BTW - I think the military is exempted by Congress for many hazardous waste regulations. Given that, the EPA may have little or no jurisdiction over what the military does and how it disposes of materials. Unfortunately, I can't be any more specific than this, so I am not sure what is regulated and what isn't. Also, dumping asbestos contaning materials in the ocean is not the worst disposal method, as the problem with asbestos is when it is breathed in.

WS - It is a crime for anyone to dump, spill, or otherwise pollute water. This is part of the basis for the EPA and one of the primary Acts on which it was founded and receives regulatory authority. The EPA develops regulations based on the primary laws passed by Congress. To have Congress develop the regs would not work, as they have absolutely no technical abilities nor should they reasonably be expected to. Believe me, I am not an EPA supporter, but I think that in superfund type work someone needs to be there. In other areas, I think the EPA goes beyond their primary purpose, but they are driven by politicians with agendas. In this aspect, I agree with your contention that they go too far in their role, as politicians use the EPA to further their agenda instead of taking up the issue on the floor of congress. Politicians have found that this is an easier and more expediant route.

Reading that make me want to burn a tire.:msp_sneaky:
 
Reading that make me want to burn a tire.:msp_sneaky:

Be my guest. I don't expect this to be a popular post (and it's a little long), as so many people think everything about the EPA is bad. I disagree and just think that many things about the EPA are bad, just not all.
 
Dont take for a second that I either condoned what was happening, or that it was MY polluting practice. I didnt establish the rules for what went on that truck shop, the boss man did. Since he had no interest in providing any responsible methods to get rid of the waste, there really wasnt any other place to dump the stuff now was there?
And dont go giving me any hi handed ideas of "well, if you knew that was going on there you should have gotten another job somewhere else" cause I looked.There werent any other jobs to be had, and I looked for an entire month before landing the one opening at the truck shop.Being from the PNW a lot of southern rednecks are not real eager to give a chance to someone from out of town in a town as small as that one. I was lucky to land that job, crummy as it was.

It wasnt just one corrupt official from the EPA, the OP started this thread with another example of corrupt EPA officials to start with. I dare say you will find that the majority of EPA officials lean towards padding their own interests rather than the official mission of the EPA.

I wont even bore you with the examples that I can cite from first hand experience with the Navy Shipyards in Newport News Virginia and the EPA. The EPA basically turns a complete blind eye to operations there, and tons of hazardous wastes are dumped every year when a ship is overhauled.You dont really believe that when the Navy overhauls a pre 1980 ship they actually pay for the asbestos insulation to be hauled away at the tune of $150 a pound do you? Hell no. They take it out to sea and dump it, and the EPA signs off on the dump.
And yes, I saw the signature myself from the EPA official that signed off on our demo of the USS Coral Sea after a fireroom flood. Tons of hazardous asbestos was taken out to sea and dumped, and the EPA investigator personally signed that the waste had been properly disposed of.

So, why didn't you complain? Whistleblow? Turn em in? Start an investigation?

If one crazy ex-husband can start up a couple years of investigating, you should have been able to gather facts, pictures, soil samples, etc.

Wouldn't that be the "responsible" thing to do?

Remember the burning river?
 
BTW - I think the military is exempted by Congress for many hazardous waste regulations. Given that, the EPA may have little or no jurisdiction over what the military does and how it disposes of materials. Unfortunately, I can't be any more specific than this, so I am not sure what is regulated and what isn't. Also, dumping asbestos contaning materials in the ocean is not the worst disposal method, as the problem with asbestos is when it is breathed in.

Your right, the military is exempt in many ways from federal regulations concerning disposal of hazardous waste. But, in the event that a shipyard is involved in a renovation of a US naval vessel, its not actually the military that is doing the work, but shipyard personnel that are civilians.

In our case of the flooded engine room being stripped of its asbestos insulation, the work was performed by what we called "yardbirds", civilian employees of the company that ran the shipyard. As military members on board, we were charged with ensuring that the work being performed was up to specs set by our superiors.
In my case, I was the Petty Officer in charge of the fireroom that was also destroyed, and therefore privy to the documents that were required to be maintained during the removal and replacement of the insulation.Literally miles of high pressure steam pipes were wrapped with insulation, as well as fuel oil, fresh and seawater, etc. They all had to be stripped and replaced, and I had to inspect at the end of each day the repairs done for the day, and sign off on the repairs.
The problem came when the asbestos material was loaded into a dumpster specifically marked as "Asbestos" on the hangar bay. All material stripped from the engine room was placed in there, and from there it was to be lowered to the pier by crane to be hauled away by an independant contractor for disposal. Here again I was charged with ensuring that ALL asbestos waste was placed in that dumpster.
When the work was half completed and the dumpster was full, I called my chief to arrange for it to be lowered to the pier.But instead, the dumpster was lowered on to a barge that was brought up alonside our ship, and was later taken out to sea and dumped along with the rest of our debris that was removed.
Four dumpsters full of asbestos were removed, yet only one dumpster was lowered to the pier and hauled away, but in the final report only one was listed as being hauled away, and even a chimp could look at the figures and note that of all the asbestos removed from an entire engine room and boiler room, only one full dumpster was removed for proper disposal.

At the end of the 60 plus pages of reports was a signature page, anyone having anything to do with the repairs had to sign their name and their official capacity. I added my signature to the list alongside of the "Petty Officer of the Watch Of Boiler Room 1C" and also noted signatures from my chief, engineering officer, Executive officer, shipyard supervisor, and the EPA official overseeing the clean up of hazardous materials such as the asbestos, some material called 62Alpnat, and the fuel oil spill when we pumped the flooded engine room to the sea.

The problem with the asbestos insulation is, it floats. Years of service meant it had been painted a jillion times with a very hazardous lead based paint, and anytime when we did repairs in the engine room and a piece dropped into the bilge it floated just fine. There is no doubt in my mind that every stitch of those three dumpsters taken out to sea ended up right back on the beach where they dried back out. Even if health risks are minimal, still the fact remains that the material was not disposed of properly and according to the EPA regulations, and everyone either knew about it and for some reason looked the other way, or flat out didnt do their job and note that there was no way only one dumpster was used for cleanup. An engine room and a boiler room on an aircraft carrier are huge, our fireroom by itself was in the 30X60 area with at least a 20 foot ceiling , and full of miles of pipes. The engineroom was even bigger.
 

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