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Global Warning - Jun 16, 2004 - Printable Version
- Toxic Texas
by Robin Buckallew
Let's talk about Texas. Oh, I hear you groaning already. I don't want to talk about Texas. It's hot. It's dry. It's windy. It's full of Texans. All true. I won't bore you by detailing here the good points about Texas (and there are some to be found, even for those of us with our feet firmly planted in Oklahoma soil). Instead, I will paraphrase the old adage from George Santayana "Those who ignore Texas are doomed to repeat it". I would urge you to keep in mind that Washington these days is being run from Texas. And those who have failed to look closely at Texas have often been surprised by what is coming out of Washington. Those who fail to look closely at Texas look at the things G. W. Bush and company are doing, and say, "Oh, my God, he has changed so much". Folks, he hasn't changed. The policies he is implementing in Washington closely mirror those he implemented as governor of Texas. And if you want a whiff of the future, let's talk about Texas. Toxic Texas, that is. Perhaps some of you are aware that in the past few years, Houston surpassed Los Angeles as the US city with the dirtiest air. Perhaps you are aware that several large metropolitan areas in Texas (including not only Houston, but Dallas-Fort Worth) fail to meet the minimum clean air standards set by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) - in short, they are "non-attainment areas", to use the bureaucratic lingo. For those of you who are fair-minded, you will be quick to point out that this cannot totally be blamed on George W. Bush - that sort of air pollution takes many decades to build up. True enough. Still, this happened on his watch, giving him an historic opportunity. And he seized it indeed. Governor Bush came up with a unique, innovative way to clean up Texas' air, and should be given credit for his ingenuity. So, I here will acknowledge the extraordinary efforts made by the man from Crawford. Not one to let such a thing be totally ignored, he hastily dispatched his envois to Washington, urging them to help him clean up, not only Texas' air, but the air of numerous non-attainment cities around the United States. His plan was simple, and would cost little to either government or business. He proposed that the EPA should change the air quality standards to allow higher levels of polluting substances into the air we breathe. That's right, folks, this is the genius of Texas thinking. One simple stroke of the pen, and the air is cleaner. Texas cities are back in attainment status (along with LA and every other US city) and can once again open up their arms to welcome the polluting industries to whom they currently have to say no. The citizens will be able to breathe more easily knowing their city no longer has "dirty air" as defined by the EPA. Washington refused. But now George is running Washington.
Then there are whistleblowers. Most folks are aware that whistleblowers are such a rare and threatened species that they are protected by federal law. If your employer is doing something that is illegal, immoral, ethically questionable, or not in the public's best interest, you are able to go and tell everyone about it without fear of retaliation. This is often considered a public service of the highest magnitude. Except, of course, by those who have the whistle blown on them. Well...it seems a few of those folks were very large contributors to the George W. Bush for Governor campaign (which, in Texas, which has no limits on political contributions, leads to a huge amount of clout). George, being the nice fellow he is, could not stand to see the pain in his friend's eyes. His compassionate conservatism kicked in overtime on this one. Thanks to the efforts of friend George, Texas passed a new law, setting a new standard of protection for whistleblowers. The standard? No protection at all. Let's look at what this law does more closely. Under Texas law, a company that is in violation of environmental laws can perform an internal audit (that's right, audit themselves). When they "discover" the violation, they can report it - to themselves. Once this has been accomplished, they stick the audit report in a file cabinet somewhere. As long as they hang on to that report, they are protected from any sort of action. That's right, the regulators cannot then come in, discover that they were in violation, and levy a fine. They are free and clear, because they reported it - to themselves. And if a conscientious, ethical company employee should find out and feel the public has a right to know they are being poisoned? Anyone reporting this violation, either to the EPA or the press (or to anyone else who might be interested, such as the public), will be guilty of a felony. Large fines, long prison term. Honesty and integrity are now a crime in the state of Texas. But, you say, surely no one else would adopt such a ridiculous law. Friends, 27 states adopted the Texas law. Yours could be one of them. And Washington is contemplating making it federal. George is now running Washington.
Then there's the veggie laws. The state of Texas, at the urging of Iowa Beef Producers (IBP, the folks who bring you a significant amount of your meat), passed a law instituting a large fine against anyone who says anything negative about the meat packing industry. That's right, folks, insult your hamburger, you could end up indicted. Couldn't happen, most people thought. It would just be relegated to being one of those silly laws that make it into those silly law books that people find so amusing. But then, it happened. Remember Oprah? Simple situation - had a guest on her show explaining the beef packing industry. Her crime? She commented, perhaps even in jest, "I'll never eat another hamburger again". Several millions of dollars later, Oprah was able to get cleared of the charges brought against her under this law. Unfortunately, when the courts absolved her, they did it without declaring the law unconstitutional, so it remains on the books to this day. And while she was acquitted, I want you to remember something crucial - most of us cannot come up with several millions of dollars for the sort of defense that is required to combat the high-powered lawyers IBP can, and does, hire. Again, several states have adopted this law. Once again, there is talk of taking it federal. And IBP and friends are large campaign contributors to - you guessed it - George W. Bush.
Also, under the reign of Governor Bush, Texas became designated as the national site for the dumping of hazardous waste. Did Bush fight it? Oh, no, it was his idea. Originally, this was supposed to just be a deal between Texas and Vermont, where Texas accepted Vermont's low-level radioactive waste (usually hospital waste), but the greediness of Bush saw huge dollars coming into the state from all the dumping, and managed, with great effort, to get Congress to designate Texas to receive all of the nation's waste. To date, this has not happened. It seems George ran into a small problem - environmental justice. The site he selected, Sierra Blanca, is in a poverty stricken, predominantly Mexican community. The usual sort of community, in fact, that usually receives such toxic "gifts" from industry. The citizens were expected to be compliant. After all, they were living in poverty, and this would bring jobs to their town. The citizens were not compliant. After all, they were already living with the long term consequences of another, non-hazardous, waste site that had been "given" to their town. They were adamant about not wanting another. They took it to court, and won. So, while Texas is still officially designated the receiving state for the nation's low-level radioactive waste, they have not yet received any, for lack of a site. Perhaps Bush should volunteer his ranch in Crawford. After all, he's the one who wanted the waste - I say, let him have it.
Yes, folks, if you want to understand Washington at all these days, look no further than Texas. For those of us who looked at Texas before 2000, there have been few surprises from Washington. For those who looked only at the surface, the Texas that Bush showed us in nice commercial bits, we have wondered what happened to the nice boy from Midland, the compassionate conservative. Was he hijacked by Karl Rove? Dick Cheney? Kidnapped by aliens? Before you put out an APB on the "nice" George W. Bush, Governor of Texas, be advised - a person who never existed cannot be considered a missing person. And once again, I repeat my warning , "Those who ignore Texas are doomed to repeat it."
Take a tour of Toxic Texas:
http://www.txpeer.org/toxictour/
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