The Politics of Mean & PSC Candidate Kathy Peterson - Part Deux

In a previous article, we laid out the venomous nature of Kathy Peterson's campaign against Lucy Baxley in her bid to become president of the Public Service Commission (PSC). Ms. Peterson confirms our premise of 'mean queen' in her latest Internet ad with her gun-toting, Tea Party nut job husband Dale playing the lead role of  'I'll shoot your ass' sidekick.



If you're looking for some of that fabled southern graciousness, or maybe just a little bit of plain old reasonable, clearly the Peterson's aren't it. 

Dale Peterson made big media waves with his own AG Commissioner Internet ad in 2010. It was an ad that put him in the national spotlight. Unfortunately for Dale, that media wave didn't translate into votes in his home state. Alabamians told him what they thought of his 'shoot 'em up style' by handing him his hat (and gun) at the voting booth. Peterson was soundly defeated by fellow republican John McMillan and he wasted no time flipping his gun of support for McMillan.

What does the Peterson approach say about Alabama republican/Tea Party voters? If this is the type of campaigning that works in Alabama, then we deserve the ridicule of the nation as being backwoods, bible-thumping, logic-at-the-end-of-a-gun loon label that's constantly aimed at us by the rest of the country.

Nowhere in Kathy Peterson's ad does calm and steady leadership blast through. In fact, she comes off as an overbearing, mean woman who won't be open to any ideas or suggestions to best serve the public if they're not accompanied by her approved brand of extremism.

Republicans have used the "job killing EPA" phrase over and over as cover for the benefit of their corporate campaign gifters ad nausea. Peterson's ally in this endeavor, PSC member Twinkle Andress Cavanaugh, was taken to the factual woodshed over her own inflammatory industry backed rhetoric that mirrors Peterson's. Cavanaugh's 2011 public editorial talking points came directly from an Alabama Power (APCO) 'power point presentation.'  BamaFactCheck roundly exposed her for the Pinocchio-nosed truth stretcher that she is.

In typical GOP fashion, she didn't learn a thing from the take-down. She just doubled down instead and maintains her nonsensical version of facts to Alabama voters in her own current PSC campaign.

What's interesting to ponder is why these two utility shills don't just take a job in the army of lobbyists APCO employs. The pay is much better than a public service job on the Alabama PSC. The perks are quite profitable, and allow for a whole host of unchecked power brokering with political insiders and influencers. 

And it's cushy job when compared with the demands of elected office duties.

In our opinions, there may be a couple of reasons for public office over private lobbying:  elected officials frequently masquerade as public servants first and enter the revolving door after. The path to becoming a lucrative legal briber lobbyist is easier if  'elected official'  is a part of one's resume.

Of course, value to the corporation is measured by the officials political status while in office, the ability to be bought persuaded by the wants of industry, and one's effectiveness in ramming through favorable legislation into law. Some are better at it than others, and if you aren't 'politcally effective,' post elected office lobbying job prospects diminish in availability.

The real reason may be simpler - Peterson and Cavanaugh aren't the sharpest knives in the box and any value they have as potential lobbyists is commensurate with their lack of cerebral firepower. Their value is better utilized on the notoriously corrupt PSC, an agency that has enjoyed the dubious distinction of 'always on' for APCO wants.

Having these 'yes boss' types in office is cost effective from the utility companies standpoint for a more sinister reason that escapes most party-blind-to-a-fault voters - the taxpayer pays the officeholder's salary subsidizing the utility company's roster of defacto lobbyists.

With Lucy Baxley on the PSC, APCO has been denied four rate increases over the last few years. They're not happy about it, and the upcoming election is key to increasing their enormous profits with an official who holds a more favorable view of  "making the utility companies successful."

Kathy Peterson has promised to do just that, in fact, the above quote is directly from Ms. Peterson.

What you don't hear from Peterson is that she will help consumers be successful in staving off the predatory ways of the utility companies. Instead, she alludes to helping the ratepayers in a bastardized style of pointing the finger of blame at EPA regulations and it's those 'damn liberals' fault, not mine, if rates do increase:

"...the greatest threat to Alabama utility rates is the Obama administration with its agenda of Cap and Trade and what Peterson calls “a clever regulatory sleight of hand” known as Utility MACT, short for Maximum Achievable Control Technology."

“Every household in this state will face financial ruin with utility bills exceeding $1,000 a month,” Peterson said. “This is if Obama and the liberals succeed with their agenda of shutting down our coal-fired electric generation plants in Alabama and across America.”  

Peterson goes on to say she's the one who will organize a coalition of public service commissioners (hopefully not armed) to beat back the e-vil Obama administration:

She added that by organizing public utilities commissioners from other Southern and Southwestern states to oppose the Obama agenda would be the first important item on her agenda to protect Alabama consumers and small businesses. “Obama and the liberals have done enough damage to our economy,” she said. “It’s up to us in the states to lead the fight for affordable energy. Washington has four decades to do the job and it just gets worse.”

Pardon us Ms. Peterson but saving the world from liberals is no where to be found in the PSC's job description. What you're doing is pandering to the republican & Tea Party base, with shrill, factually dishonest rhetoric as your only chance at getting elected.

It's disgusting and we wish you would just stop. Politicians who resort to these kinds of tactics are desperate, not qualified, because if they were qualified there wouldn't be a need for all the fear mongering and saber-rattling every time you open your mouth.

The power company has big boys in their employ. They don't need a mean queen fighting their battles for them. Get a grip Ms. Peterson. And you too Ms. Cavanaugh.

We're still waiting for an explanation from Peterson of why those same job creators she's so enamored with have slashed hundreds of meter reader jobs through the implementation of so-called "Smart" meters. The answer is simple if you're aware. Unfortunately for transparency's sake, it's been pushed purposefully outside the ability of public understanding, and you'll never hear Peterson or APCO admit it.

The "inconvenient truth" is that power/gas/water companies make a bundle from "Smart" meters. These devices are not without controversy and some communities are fighting back against them. Not Alabama. Not Ms. Peterson. Or Ms. Cavanaugh or anyone else on the PSC.

They just don't "give a rip" about it. 

APCO, and other utility giants, have been trying to dissolve the meter reader jobs for years. Fewer employees equals more profit to the bottom line. So do "Smart" meters.  They're just another way the utilities use to manipulate state government funds to increase their profit margins. It's a sneaky shell game and a big wet kiss to the generous power brokers from the politicians and commissions they hold captive.

California is a prime example of the problems with so-called "Smart" meters. Alabamians shouldn't hold their breaths that any news outlet or watchdog agency will seriously delve into the true cost of these "Smart" meters in Alabama. If APCO does it in-house, it will result in a predictably favorable outcome to them.

Ms. Peterson also refuses to believe that pollution from power plants is costing the American people billions in increased health care costs. The utility companies she is cheer leading for, namely Alabama Power, have just been pegged the worst of the worst according to the 2010 EPA Toxics Release study.

Ms. Peterson should "give a rip" that Alabama is number one in toxic metal releases because of the 20th century minded coal ash cads running APCO.

We don't doubt she'll continue to run around with her bullet-headed husband, downplaying any danger of air pollution, because APCO tells her too. Industry shills like Andrew Breitbart's Big Government conservative writers will give those lies deflective (and deceptive) cover. The ALGOP will fund and enable Peterson's propaganda-based campaign in their frenzied zeal to "turn Alabama completely red."

And no one will be the wiser because of blind party loyalty. Or maybe just because they don't want to know the truth. We think that's exactly what Peterson is counting on to get her into the presidents chair at the PSC.

There's no doubt in anyone's mind that this year's PSC race is one of the "hottest races in Alabama" and it promises to be an all out war to remove Lucy Baxley, the last democrat elected to statewide office in Alabama. The amount of money that will pour into the race will dwarf the amount Baxley spent on her last election, and could run as high as $750K.

Maybe the nineteen year-old University of Alabama sophomore with "years of experience" Peterson's recently hired as her political director will be able to help her convince the public of her pious moral character. He claims he believes in "honest campaigns" and we'll soon see what he's made of.

And if that doesn't work out, well, she can always call the trigger happy jackwagon Dale. He can just round up the voters at the point of his rifle and force the vote.

Here's something we 'give a rip' about: get out and vote in this election if you live in Alabama. If the PSC goes all the way red, one thing you can count on is that the business friendly republicans will raise your rates. They will look the other way on strict regulation of the utilities under their purview.

Voters shouldn't forget that in 2004, the PSC gave Alabama Power the right to raise rates by one percent a year through 2013, to have ratepayers foot the entire bill for the environmental improvements to their coal-fired plants. One of the very things that Peterson, Cavanaugh and APCO use as a tool to scare voters, rate increases due to required improvements, has already been happening.

The annals of Alabama's history and the PSC prove that this commission almost always comes down on the side of the utility companies.The notorious Bull Connor once ran the PSC and since his reign, corruption and the agency have been closely aligned.  It won't be any different with Peterson, Cavanaugh and Dunn in charge of the commission. In fact, Dunn better hold onto to his stones, because the two APCO 'mean queens' will soon have them in a jar if he isn't careful.

Ms. Peterson's claims of protecting Alabamians from unfair increases in utility rates, along with most of what she says, is just a lot of hot air. From our point of view, her campaign is an endeavor that's loaded with dishonesty, deception and the politics of mean.

So Say We The Opinion Board Of The Vincent Alabama Confidential

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BWRK Press Release "Alabama Coal Ash Ponds Receive Most Toxic Metals in the Nation in 2010"

For Immediate Release: January 6, 2012
Contact: Nelson Brooke, Black Warrior Riverkeeper: 205-458-0095


New Report: Alabama Coal Ash Ponds Receive Most Toxic Metals in the Nation in 2010

According to the Environmental Integrity Project (EIP), Alabama power plants lead the way in disposal of wastes containing toxic metals into coal ash ponds.

Ten states accounted for three quarters of total pond disposal in 2010, including (in rank order): Alabama, Georgia, Illinois, Kentucky, Missouri, Ohio, Indiana, North Dakota, Minnesota, and Michigan. Just 20 facilities account for more than half of the toxic metals (57 million pounds) contained in power plant waste and disposed of in surface impoundments in 2010. Four of these are in Alabama, with Alabama Power’s Miller Steam Plant (Jefferson County) ranked first in the nation in this category. Alabama Power’s Gaston, Gorgas and Barry Steam Plants round out the top twenty.

These figures are based upon information compiled in a national database called the Toxics Release Inventory. Power companies are required to report by volume the toxic chemicals that are contained in coal ash and other coal combustion wastes dumped into surface impoundments, or ponds, every year. 

In 2010, power plants reported disposal of wastes containing 112.8 million pounds of toxic metals or metal compounds, a category that includes arsenic, chromium, lead, and other pollutants that are hazardous in small concentrations and difficult to remove from the environment once released. According to EIP, that reflects a nine percent increase in toxics disposals since 2009, and is higher than the total reported in 2008.

Most of these surface impoundments are unlined, which means the toxins in the ash are likely to seep into groundwater or nearby creeks and rivers. Monitoring data developed in other areas of the country shows this is happening at many coal ash surface impoundments.

Alabama Power’s Miller Steam Plant (Jefferson County) and Gorgas Steam Plant (Walker County) are both in the Black Warrior River watershed, just northwest of Birmingham. Miller ranked first in the nation for disposing toxic metal wastes into coal ash ponds and Gorgas ranked fifteenth. 

Riverkeeper Nelson Brooke has concerns: “These coal ash ponds discharge wastewater directly to surface waters in large volumes on a daily basis. Miller discharges to the Locust Fork and Gorgas discharges to the Mulberry Fork, two tributaries of the Black Warrior that are heavily used for recreation and fishing. A major concern moving forward is the increase in the amount of toxics being discharged by the coal-fired power plants to these coal ash ponds and ultimately to surface waters due to the addition of scrubbers, which pull some pollutants out of their air emissions and transfer them to our water resources instead.”

Wastewater permits for these plants are up for review every five years, and the next cycle of re-permitting begins soon. Black Warrior Riverkeeper is encouraging residents in the greater Birmingham region and throughout Alabama to insist that ADEM to make Alabama Power's permits more protective of our rivers, lakes, and public health.

Environmental Integrity Project’s coal ash waste disposal analysis can be seen by clicking here.

For pictures of Miller Steam Plant and Gorgas Steam Plant and their ash ponds, click here.

To learn how you can insist that ADEM make Alabama Power's permits more protective of water and public health, contact info@blackwarriorriver.org for more information.

###

Black Warrior Riverkeeper (blackwarriorriver.org) is a citizen-based nonprofit environmental advocacy organization whose mission is to protect and restore the Black Warrior River and its tributaries. A member of Waterkeeper Alliance, Black Warrior Riverkeeper was the Alabama Environmental Council’s 2007 Conservation Organization of the Year and the American Canoe Association’s 2008 Green Paddle Award winner. Nelson Brooke, Riverkeeper, won the Alabama Rivers Alliance’s 2010 River Hero Award. In 2011 the Black Warrior became one of America's Most Endangered Rivers.

Additional reading & resources added by VAC:
2009 -  Dam Safety Inspection Report submitted to EPA RE: Gorgas Plant *(note heavy redaction of information)
2011 - Earthjustice report "State of Failure"
2011 - OIG Evaluation Report "EPA Promoted the Improper Use of Coal Ash Products With Incomplete Risk Evaluation"
2011 SEC documents on SOCO proxy filing submission & proper coal ash disposal
2011 Article: "There's Something About Vernon (and ADEM)" How APCO/SOCO lobbyists & state agency insiders convinced the Alabama Legislature to adopt dangerous coal ash legislation, and the epic problems with ADEM.
EPA Coal Combustion & Impoundment Reports (scroll down to Alabama for docs, all states listed)

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A River of Influence Runs Through It

"Coal Ash in the Coosa Valley"
Coosa Riverkeeeper's Frank Chitwood, takes us on an eye-opening ride through a section of Alabama's Coosa River and the effects of "dirty, dirty coal" from Alabama Power's two coal fired power plants on the historic waterway

Ironically, the capture of the Coosa by Alabama Power translated into another form of pollution affecting Alabamaians--a usurping of our political process by one of the most generous political donors and strongest lobbying forces in the history of Alabama.

When Alabama Power says “It’s always on,” they’re talking about more than energy; they’re describing their tireless and unending efforts to control the Alabama legislature and our regulatory agencies, and to continue their pollution of the once-beautiful Coosa River.

Every year, when Alabama’s legislature meets, APCO’s there, a de facto “shadow government” that serves their corporate interests first, the legislature second, and the citizens last.

How do they do it? By lobbying, political influence, horse-trading, and lots of cash and favors for the people whose votes and decisions affect the people of Alabama in ways many eyes-wide-open but unseeing people don't fully grasp.

Alabama Power's 'absolute power' began over a century ago, back when the mighty Coosa meandered freely through Alabama for centuries until the early 1900's, when three men changed the course of the river, and Alabama's history forever. The vision of William P. Lay, James Mitchell and Thomas Martin, and what was to become Alabama Power, wrestled the Coosa away from the citizens of the state and imprisoned the river to the utility giant's command.

They've not been good stewards of the river despite the bounty of monetary richness the Coosa has provided to Alabama Power for decades. What we've gotten in return is the erecting of an iron curtain around Alabama, effectively shutting out any 'consumer benefits' competition in electric service providers. We've gotten pollution that ranks Alabama at eight out of fifteen for the dirtiest air in the nation according to a recent report from the Environmental Integrity Project 

And we've gotten a form of government that owes their political careers to the demands of the power company. Few politicians have shown the fortitude to stand up to the smokestack bullies and put the interests (and health) of Alabamians before the wants of Alabama Power.

During a fight over rate increases in the late 1970's, The Times, a newspaper that served the black community, ran an account of the experience of one low-income father and his run-in with the power company:

The Times, a Black Montgomery newspaper, quoted a local man, "I have four children. It was about the coldest day of the year when they (power company workmen) came out and cut off my electricity.

"I had not received a light bill. I went down to the office and wanted to pay half of my bill, and they refused me.

"I told them that I had not received my bill, and they said it was my mistake-not theirs.

"I didn't have anywhere to take my family that night, and one of my daughters caught the flu. She almost died," he said.

After that night, he said, his family began using kerosene lamps for light.

The annals of Alabama's history are overflowing with stories of that nature, stories that continue unabated in the modern day. If you're unlucky enough to fall on hard times, and have your electric service cut off, the average cost to have it restored runs upwards of $500, a huge, and often unreachable sum for most economically disadvantaged groups.

The Coosa River has a diligent watchdog in the efforts of Frank Chitwood. Sadly, the same cannot be said of the watchdog agency that serves as the only barrier between the citizens of Alabama and APCO.

The Public Service Commission (PSC) is charged with regulating APCO and they've done very little over the years to reign in the company's harsh business practices. In fact, the PSC has long been viewed as being in league with the company first, contrary to their mission statement of 'fairness' to the rate payers of Alabama.

PSC member Twinkle Andress Cavanaugh serves as a prime example of APCO's ability to influence the commission. Cavanuagh took to the editorial pages earlier this year publicly blasting the proposed EPA regulations on coal fired power plants. She called climate change a "medicine-show tonic of global warming" and made a lot of outlandish and less-than-factual statements designed to garner public support for APCO.

Her claims were based solely on a power point presentation given by APCO. Bama Fact Check researched her rhetoric and found little evidence to support any of them. Of course she's not the only PSC member to act more like an APCO lobbyist than public servant, candidates now vying for a seat on the commission are spouting off the same old tired spiel that the power company has been peddling for years.

If you were to gather up all of the 'unofficial lobbyists' for APCO in one place and then asked to pick the ones that carry 'the water' for the power company, you'd be looking at the entire membership of the Alabama legislature.

But that's the nature of coal, utility companies, politics and undue influence in Alabama--it's always on.

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NPR--Secret 'Watch List' Reveals Failure To Curb Toxic Air

NPR and the Center For Public Integrity team up for a four part series "Poison Places: Toxic Air, Neglected Communities" kicking it off with the release of an EPA "secret watch list:"

Pollution violations at more than 1,600 plants across the country were serious enough that the government believes they require urgent action, according to an analysis of EPA data by NPR and the Center for Public Integrity. Yet nearly 300 of those facilities have been considered "high priority violators" of the Clean Air Act by the Environmental Protection Agency for at least a decade.
About a quarter of those 1,600 violators are on an internal EPA "watch list," which the agency has kept secret until now.

The report cites a "lack of modern equipment and rules" and a "system of self-reporting" as major contributors to the rampant, serial pollution that's continuing to threaten communities and lives. They're exactly right, but industry propaganda spins out fear and misinformation to the masses by claiming that increased regulation and equipment updating will result in a "loss of jobs and unnecessary rate hikes."

What these industry disinformation spin masters leave off is the documented increase in costs to Americans for health care, higher mortality rates and the overall increasing toll on human health from less stringent regulation and oversight. These industry apologists would have us believe that profits by the polluters trump citizen's rights to clean communities.

That idea came about during the Bush era EPA which instituted a steady decrease in the value of a human life as a means to institute less regulation.

It was a big lie then and it still is now. 

view full searchable map »

Incredulously, only one Alabama company wound up on the serial offender list: Chemical Lime Company of Alabama in Calera.

Region 4 EPA recently released their 'answers' to the residents of North Birmingham in response to the Walter Energy contamination (Deadly Deception). The 'answers' and explanations from the EPA are couched in generalities and offer no real solutions to the resident's plight.

On the heels of media attention and the environmental justice meeting that occurred in Birmingham this past July, it's our postilion that no one at that meeting heard a word. Inside sources tell us that the meeting was never supposed to be public, and it only went public because of pressure from the right people in positions of influence.

The EPA acts schizophrenic at times, listens to too many voices, contradicts itself and occasionally does things that defy logic unless you're a mental patient. This may be one of those instances. Why do they seem more concerned with keeping secrets and remaining less than transparent in releasing information that serves the public good? There's no excuse for that, but we're interested to hear their explanations.

Allowing these toxic titans to self-police and self-report is inexcusable. So is misleading the public by keeping internal 'secrets' designed to protect corporate America at the expense of citizen America.
*additional reading: "Many Americans Left Behind in the Quest for Cleaner Air"
Air monitoring results N. Birmingham--locations to view data

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Obama Administration Sides With Big Polluters--Orders EPA Implementation of Tighter Smog Regulations to Halt

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Barack Obama on Friday sacked a controversial proposed regulation tightening health-based standards for smog, bowing to the demands of congressional Republicans and some business leaders.

Obama overruled the Environmental Protection Agency and directed administrator Lisa Jackson to withdraw the proposal, in part because of the importance of reducing regulatory burdens and uncertainty for businesses at a time of rampant uncertainty about an unsteady economy.

The announcement came shortly after a new government report on private sector employment showed that businesses essentially added no new jobs last month -- and that the jobless rate remained stuck at a historically high 9.1 percent.

The withdrawal of the proposed regulation marks the latest in a string of retreats by Obama in the face of Republican opposition. Last December, he shelved, at least until the end of 2012, his insistence that Bush-era tax cuts should no longer apply to the wealthy. Earlier this year he avoided a government shutdown by agreeing to Republican demands for budget cuts. And this summer he acceded to more than a $1 trillion in spending reductions, with more to come, as the price for an agreement to raise the nation's debt ceiling.

Read more here 

Earthjustice response

In the face of this disappointing retreat by Obama, the president has the nerve to include the following statement as a disclaimer of sorts:

"I will continue to stand with the hardworking men and women at the EPA as they strive every day to hold polluters accountable and protect our families from harmful pollution," he said

Really?

Is this how you plan to embark on that endeavor Mr. President? 
photo credit: Juan's Rants

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Earthjustice August 2011 Report on Coal Ash Toxicity--"State of Failure"

Despite the Alabama legislature's attempts to appear like they were doing something beneficial for the citizens of Alabama's health and environment, with the passage of SB80, a bill designed to regulate dry coal ash disposal, it's a 'dam' shame the wet coal ash storage ponds, maintained at APCO utility plants around the state, remain unregulated. Was the exclusion of these dams that by accident or by design?

APCO registered twenty-six lobbyists for 2011, according to figures with the Ethics Commission, and they all worked hard on our lawmakers to pass the coal ash bill despite the impassioned outcries from the citizens of Perry County, Alabama. Those citizens have served as a test case of what SB80 will do to our communities, but no one on Goat Hill listened to their pleas--choosing instead to do what they were told to do on behalf of the small army of APCO lobbyists.

Landfills are a toxic soup in and of themselves. Adding coal ash to our landfills and promising that regulations from SB80 will safeguard our communities and groundwater from any untoward effects of that action is hubris personified, with a stench of possible payoffs and corruption wafting from the inception and process of that bill that's hard to ignore.

Our laws and regulations in Alabama were woefully lax on landfill monitoring, inspections and enforcement before this bill, and passing SB80 won't change what's inherently wrong with ADEM--their utter failure to protect the citizens of this state from big polluters and their waste products. Particularly the low income and minority communities where most of these industries and waste dumps are located.

Conspicuously absent from this legislation was any language to tighten controls on the existing wet coal ash ponds, and the problematic dams that surround them, located around Alabama and almost exclusively at the state's electric utility sites.

Wet coal ash storage remains unaffected and practically unmonitored and regulated, with the exception of the Rattlesnake Dam at the APCO Gorgas Plant. The EPA has that site on its radar, and APCO is employing its usual stance of we-would-rather-fight-than-comply to back them off of any future scrutiny, in addition to blocking the release of more detailed data by claiming CBI--confidential business information.

According to the EPA's website the final decision on whether to allow APCO's CBI request  is still in process. 

We noted at last count, the Southern Company, (SOCO) had spent at least *26,670,000 for the combined years of 2009-2010 on lobbying in Washington. Tracking their expenditures in Alabama is made more difficult by the unlimited contributions corporations can inject into Alabama's political system, combined with a non-requirement of lobbyists expenditure reporting.

*page 20 "Leadership We can Live Without" The Real Corporate Social Responsibility Report for Southern Company--May 2011, Green America

It boggles the mind that SOCO and APCO spend so much on lobbying and corporate legal attack dogs, but when they are asked to spend some of their enormous profits to upgrade their plants and reduce the overall risk *(est. to be $9 billion in increased health care costs) to hundreds of thousands of people from their toxic emissions, they complain 'if you make us improve we'll have stick it to the ratepayers' and "compliance costs jobs."

*pg 16 of Green America Report

It's a scare tactic argument that's successful on the masses who simply don't know any better and blindly accept the well-honed propaganda machine messages of these corporate behemoths.

Our state regulatory agency, ADEM, functions more as enabler than regulator by their refusal to enforce strict guidelines on APCO. They have grown dependent on the money they take in from the numerous fees they levy against APCO to operate. On smokestack emissions, ADEM charges APCO between $33-$37.00 per ton. The typical emission total per year is in the range of 180,000 tons, and frequently higher. More emissions equals more money. It's a diabolical arrangement in the best of circumstances.

ADEM also does not require any groundwater monitoring (GWM) at APCO's sites despite the enormity of their coal ash storage ponds and their close proximity to our rivers and groundwater supplies.

Dry coal ash is also stored at their sites in quantities that can only be estimated through aerial satellite photos because no records of any actual measurable amounts are available for public examination. It is entirely possible that no one but APCO really knows.

Alabama Power's Gaston Plant Wilsonville, Alabama. The Coosa River is on the right, one of the two wet coal ash ponds is wider than the river. Additional dry coal ash waste areas are in the immediate foreground.

 The state of Alabama set up ADEM in this manner with huge involvement from the utility giant in writing the rules. They hold onto this archaic arrangement in the same way aided and abetted by like-minded politicians eager to sweep the only thing green about APCO, their monetary influence, into their campaign coffers. This too is a diabolical arrangement that ends in predictable outcomes.

We suspect the utility companies, anticipating future problems from the EPA, sought the passage of SB80 to allow them to clean out their nearing capacity wet storage ponds, dry the waste, and ship it to landfills statewide, in addition to recycling the product for everything from road building to kitchen counter tops:

"This is a classic leap-before-you-look EPA initiative, where health and safety questions get asked only after the fact." Through Freedom of Information Act requests, PEER also recently found that the EPA had allowed the coal industry to edit information regarding coal ash use in products, including promoting "beneficial uses" while downplaying or completely eliminating mention of possible risks.

Burning coal for electricity generates more than 100 million tons of coal waste a year, but about half of that winds its ways back into consumer products, on food crops, or in structure- or road-building materials. Coal ash is routinely mixed into cement, drywall, kitchen counters, and carpet backing, and used in retaining walls and as ground fill. Because it is often laced with arsenic, lead, and other heavy metals, many toxicologists say more research is needed about what we're putting in the ground (and potentially the water supply) and in our homes. But as of now, industry is running wild—and making a pretty penny—possibly at the expense of our health. "We cannot and should not view agricultural lands as suitable waste-disposal sites for industrial or societal pollutants, just because it's cost-effective in the short term."

Earthjustice lays out the existing problems in their latest report appropriately entitled "State of Failure." Tables 2 & 3 (ppgs. 10 & 11) contain data detailing the failure of strict supervision and safeguards that should be required by our state regulatory agencies on coal ash disposal.

Page 14, in the report, labels Alabama the "worst of the worst" when it comes to coal ash disposal:

Alabama represents the worst of the worst when it comes to coal-ash disposal. 

First, Alabama has no laws or regulations on the books to specifically ensure the safety of the state’s coal ash dams.
It is the only state in the country without such laws. 
Because there are no federal laws to ensure dam safety, this essentially means that Alabama dams are completely unregulated. Until 2011, Alabama also completely exempted coal ash disposal in landfills. Consequently, coal ash from its ten coal-fired plants has been dumped mostly in unlined, unregulated, and unmonitored ponds and landfills. Given the historical absence of controls on coal ash disposal, it is outrageous that more than 5 million tons of ash from the Kingston TVA spill was shipped to Alabama for disposal.

State oversight of Alabama’s dangerous dams is also totally missing.

None of the state’s 15 coal ash dams have been subject to state regulatory inspections in the past five years. After inspections by the EPA and TVA contractors in 2009-2010, five of the dams were given poor ratings and two had to make immediate repairs to improve stability. Alabama dams are, on average, the tallest and largest coal ash dams in the 12 most dangerous states. The average height is nearly 7 stories tall (over 66 feet), and the average surface area is greater than 192 acres (about 151 football fields) more than twice the average of coal ash ponds in the other nine states. These large ponds pose high threats—two of Alabama’s dams are high hazard, and 11 are significant hazard dams. Lastly, these ponds are old-the average age of an Alabama coal ash pond is 40 years. According to the EPA, that’s the estimated lifespan, but Alabama utilities have announced no retirement plans.

Alabama’s coal ash ponds disproportionately impact low income communities and communities of color. The EPA statistics show that more than 40 percent of the citizen’s living near coal ash ponds in Alabama is non-white. Also, about 25 percent of nearby residents are below the poverty line, which is more than twice the national average poverty rate of 11.9 percent.

The facts and statistics are a sobering eye-opener into the serious risks that Alabama's governmental agencies and lawmakers stubbornly continue to ignore in favor of big business wants. A grim picture emerges of a system completely devoid of stringent accountability coupled with a total lack of consistent oversight. We, as citizens, have no choice but to live in a "state of failure" when it comes to the protection of our communities from corporate and political Alabama, and it's a risk we should not be forced to accept.

State of Failure

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In a League of His Own--Mayor William Bell

Birmingham Mayor William Bell is doing his level best to sidestep any taint from the Walter Energy contamination in north Birmingham by claiming that “until spring of this year he’d never been notified of soil contamination.” Bell’s coziness with the Birmingham Business Alliance (BBA), the entity who lured *Walter Energy away from Tampa where they had been headquartered since the end of WW II, makes us wonder if he’s being truthful about what he knew and when, or slyly covering for the generous corporate campaign and event sponsor at the direction of the BBA.

*entry #243--"I wish they were all this easy," said a beaming Jim Searcy, vice president of business and industry retention at Birmingham Business Alliance.

William Bell has always been a team player, but it's questionable whose team he has been a member of all these years--the one that benefits him or the one that steps up for his constituent's interests. Why isn't he going to bat for his citizens in north Birmingham? All we're hearing from him is excuses of why no one should put the bead on him for any responsibility in the toxic mess.

(On a side note, Walter Energy is up for takeover after their CEO of three months decided to call it quits. Watch for the next corporate owner to be hailed as yet another big bucks entity coming to Birmingham.)
 

In a recent CBS 42 “Deadly Deception” clip, Mayor Bell incredulously claimed that he was not permitted to even communicate with the EPA about the decades-old issue in north Birmingham or anything else EPA related:

“The EPA still had the Mayor of Birmingham, not William Bell, but the Mayor of Birmingham listed as being banned from being able to communicate any form, way shape or form, with the federal government, in particular the EPA.”

What Mr. Bell was referring to, and twisting to suit his purposes, is a move by the federal government in 2009 that came after former Mayor Larry Langford was indicted on bribery and conspiracy charges, which placed him on a federal “Excluded Parties List:”

Birmingham Mayor Larry Langford no longer has the authority to sign federal grant applications or enter into agreements that involve federal money as a result of his indictment on bribery and conspiracy charges.

Langford's name was placed on the federal government's Excluded Parties List -- a list of people and organizations barred from conducting business with federal agencies -- by the Environmental Protection Agency in March. Langford received a notice of the action in late February.

That action by the feds was to prevent Langford from having any more authority over federal grants and monies. It did not mean that Bell was "barred" from communicating with the EPA like he would have everyone believe with his recent statements. Unless he wants us to think that the EPA would not be willing to take a call from him that should have gone something like this:

‘I need help over here in my city Region 4, my residents are sick and dying because of a nearby coal plant. I'm hearing from them every day. We have three schools in the area and I am really worried about the children. Could you please send someone over here to do some testing and let’s see what we have going on over here?’

Bell never made that call and he’s never shown any concern for those residents until CBS 42 pulled back the curtain on the whole deal through their investigative reporting. Has anyone with CBS 42 put two and two together and questioned, among themselves, the validity of what Mayor Bell is now offering as an excuse?

Giving Bell the benefit of the doubt, that he really didn't understand, is not any more comforting because it suggests he isn’t sharp enough to comprehend the 2009 decision. The leader of a large metropolitan area should be quick on their feet in the critical thinking department and possess an ability to fully understand the detail and meaning of any federal actions directed at his city.

Blaming his inaction on Larry Langford's misdeeds is a lame ploy. And Bell knows it. He's a savvy political player who's well-versed in the game of misinformation and distraction.

We think he's playing the ‘I didn’t know’ card for political duck and cover in a publicly embarrassing situation while following the scripting of certain corporate interest coaches.

Much like the Birmingham News, who won't break themselves of the habit of protecting Walter Energy's misdeeds by continuing to use words like "voluntary cleanup," in addition to allowing Walter to continue the incessant parroting of their "good neighbor" and 'not our fault' nonsense.

We also find it ironic that Walter Energy teamed up with the Birmingham Barons and the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute for Jackie Robinson Day earlier this year. The Mayor has an on and off reputation for favoritism to minority rights and figures when it seems to suit his own agenda, financial interests and publicity stroking.

It’s a proclivity he often forgets when it comes to the Big Mules and the BBA’s pie-in-the-sky ideas. He’s way too caught up in his chameleon-like changeability of ‘I’m for my people until someone else has an economic scheme that will bring in the money and elevate my importance.’ Luring the Barons to Birmingham is high on Bell's list of importance.

With the Robinson tribute he got the trifecta--he appears (albeit selectively) racially sensitive, Walter Energy grateful and Birmingham Barons bone-throwing all rolled into one. But what has he done for those north Birmingham residents who have been suffering for years so far? Absolutely nothing, because there's no glory in it for him, and he knows he'll get a sackful of angry corporate cats (aka Walter Energy and the BBA) if he gets too involved with the little people.

It's a shame really, because he could have had his own Robinsonesque moment, if only he'd managed to call up enough courage to get on the right team just once in his long and often controversial political career.

Jackie Robinson’s contribution to baseball and his people deserved to have that honor in April, we won’t disagree with that, but of all the sponsors who could have been approached for the event the city chose Walter Energy. The same company who is the number one alleged suspect primarily responsible for the toxic poisoning in the minority neighborhoods of Collegeville and Harriman Park since 1989.

What would Jackie Robinson have said about that choice?

He would have called it what it is: foul ball.

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CBS 42 "Deadly Deception" Documentary August 9, 2011--9:00PM CST

From the leaders in environmental news we can use, CBS 42, Sherri Jackson and Ken Lass bring us full circle with the pervasive contamination in north Birmingham and beyond in their upcoming summation documentary on "Deadly Deception."

In what should be a contender for a well-deserved RTNDA Edward R. Murrow Award, this groundbreaking series from CBS 42 proves that one state media organization understands the concept of being unafraid and bold.

For decades the minority population in the Collegeville area of Birmingham have been the victims of toxic secrets, secrets that have cost them not only their health, but many have lost their lives for nothing more than just trying to live their lives. It didn't have to happen to them. The state knew the risks. The EPA knew the risks. Many people in positions of authority knew the risks. The citizens directly affected by the contamination were willfully kept in the dark while the profits poured into everyone else's pockets. 

It's happening all over Alabama: a flippant attitude of "better dead than unprofitable" permeates the economic development platform of this state. Jobs and profits trump clean air, clean water and the rights of citizens to exist in communities with a reasonable expectation that they will be safe from exposures that can kill them.

Years have passed, and many Alabamians are just now learning their right to live safely in their neighborhoods has been taken away from them by corporate Alabama. Compounding the tragedy is the fact that it's taken death after senseless death for these people to find out what they have been living with.

Why has it taken this long and why did so many have to die? How many more will?

Don't we have a Dr. "in charge of Alabama now" sitting in the Governor's mansion? Has he cast aside his Hippocratic Oath in favor of a monetary oath owed to his BARD benefactors and similar corporate campaign contributors? The same question stands for our lawmakers: where do their true loyalties lie?

There must be an end to this "deadly deception" and the paying to pollute mindset before any more lives are lost, communities are irreversibly ruined and more schoolchildren are sickened from the complete lack of responsibility by those charged with supposedly keeping us all safe. 

Anything less is not just a "troubling situation"--it's a fatal vision.



CBS 42 Deadly Deception Documentary-1

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EMC Hearing Officer's Report on Sheperd's Bend Coal Mine Allowing NPDES Permit Despite Legal Challenge From BWRK and Others

The following document is the record from the hearing on July 20, 2011 regarding the Shepherd's Bend Mine Permit. Black Warrior Riverkeeper issued a subsequent press release in response to the decision on July 22, 2011.

There is a lot to be troubled about concerning the decision of the EMC Hearing Officer, James F. Hampton, who's been a judge, a Special Assistant Attorney General for the State of Alabama and a hearing officer in the BARD Motion to Intervene regarding SWMA. Mr. Hampton has quite a long pedigree as a state inclined legal eagle and his conclusion about this controversial mine permit is not unexpected, but it is disappointing.

Page 7 Item 10 is also disappointing and allows a lot of wiggle room for what ADEM may or may not do if issuing this permit becomes problematic. The chances are high, if the history of mine discharge in Alabama is any indicator, that there will be problems and plenty of them:

"Permit does not contain limitations on chlorides, sulfide, total dissolved solids or aluminum, which are commonly associated with acid mine drainage. Under this permit, ADEM may modify the terms of the permit, if, in the future, it is shown to ADEM's satisfaction that the permit is not protective of water quality."

EMC Docket No 09-04-2011 07 20 Report of Hearing Officer

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"Capitol City Plume"--Fifty City Block Toxic Underground Plume in Montgomery, Alabama

This story has a compelling similarity to the Walter Coke contamination in north Birmingham--state and federal environmental officials have known about the contamination for decades and have been slow to act in cleaning up the area, while development has proceeded at a fast clip. A statewide pattern seems to be finally making its way onto the public radar revealing Alabama to be systemically and dangerously contaminated.

There's a tradeoff cost in human health and life that doesn't seem to figure into our governmental and business leader's plans. We cannot seem to count on EPA Region 4 for help either--they too seem to be carrying the water for the developers and getting into the *PR business outside of their environmental and public safety watchdog purview.

*(linked further on down in article on the phrase "revitalization of downtown Montgomery")

How many other areas in Alabama is the deadly deception going on unbeknownst to the potentially-vulnerable-to-exposure general public? And why?  Here's a list for Alabama from the Center For Public Integrity National Priority sites. Five Alabama sites are on the "Most Dangerous Superfunds Sites" list. The Capital City Plume, according to the census figures from 2000, was affecting a population of 209,615.

News story July 26, 2011 Associated Press via Al.com state wire:

The Environmental Protection Agency has identified the Montgomery Advertiser as one of the entities that may have caused the plume when operating at its former location.

County Commission Chairman Elton Dean said he remains confident that the county did due diligence before purchasing the old newspaper building and turning it into the county's main building after renovations.

News story by Ben Flanagan Al.com September 28, 2010: "Montgomery Commission tests air quality of county building":

"During a search for the source of the problem, a black, sooty substance was discovered in several isolated areas on the original concrete structure, according to a press release. A sample of that substance was collected on Sept. 3 and sent to Sutherland Environmental Company, Inc., where it was analyzed for 58 volatile organic compounds. Fifty-five of the compounds were not detected but small concentrations of *three compounds were detected." *note that the substances are not identified.

Region 4 Superfund

The Capitol City Plume site is located in downtown Montgomery, Alabama. The contaminated ground water plume is believed to exist throughout the downtown area. In September 1993, the Alabama Department of Environmental Management (ADEM) began investigating a report of Tetrachloroethylene (PCE) soil contamination at the Retirement Systems of Alabama (RSA) Energy Plant site at the corner of Monroe Street and McDonough Street.

After 17 months of investigative work, ADEM came to the conclusion that there are a minimum of 6 ground water plumes contaminated with PCE and benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene and xylene (BTEX). The site covers an area from Alabama Street (south) to Pollard Street (north) and Court Street (west) to Union Street (east). 

In 1993, soil containing PCE was excavated during construction of the RSA Tower. The soil was removed and disposed of properly. The discovery of the PCE in the soil prompted ADEM to conduct a preliminary assessment of the area near the RSA Tower. The preliminary assessment performed by ADEM concluded that ground water was contaminated with PCE and BTEX.

Field work for the RI/FS began in March 2000 and was completed in 2003. Soil samples and ground water samples have been collected to delineate the areal extent of the contamination plumes. Analytical results from the ground water indicate that the shallow aquifer in the Montgomery downtown area is contaminated with PCE, BTEX, TCE (Trichloroethylene), and metals. 

Installation of 16 new monitoring wells and 16 temporary wells has been completed. The City has removed and plugged two shallow drinking water wells at the Court Street Pump Station but continues to pump drinking water from deep wells.
The City of Montgomery has implemented a moratorium on well drilling in the vicinity of the site (downtown area). Beginning in May 2006, the City began monitoring the ground water contamination through monitoring wells. Monitoring will continue for five years. The City will be sending the ground water monitoring data to ADEM and EPA Region 4.
The City of Montgomery has also been working with EPA in implementing a voluntary phytoremediation effort in the ground water plume to reduce risk to human health and the environment.

A supplemental remedial investigation took place in stages from August 2008 to the present. *Sample results have identified sources of contamination and the time at which the contamination was discharged to the environment.

*Please note the above sentence which states that there are "identified sources of contamination" while this linked narrative from May 11, 2000 cites only "potential sources" generally identified without a specific business name as "a chemical wholesaler, airport maintenance shops, airport fueling areas, an auto repair shop and a dry cleaner."

Site investigation activities are being led primarily by EPA and the United States Geological Survey.

From August 2-5, 2011, EPA and USGS representatives will conduct field sampling activities to further delineate the groundwater contamination as well as to assess if vapor intrusion is taking place in an existing Montgomery County building.

Who's making the decision to "move forward with privately-funded activities" instead of applying for Superfund monies to clean up this massive twenty year old contamination?

On August 1, 2011, EPA will meet with representatives of two potentially-responsible parties identified in a Site remedial investigation, Alabama Department of Environmental Management, City of Montgomery, USGS, and Montgomery Water Works representatives to discuss moving forward with privately-funded activities related to Site characterization and remediation. 

Alabama could have applied for the $600,000,000 made available for Superfund cleanup from the 2009 Stimulus Funds but they did not make any applications for a percent of the available money in this area: (but they did in many other areas for federal handouts)

Hazardous Substances Superfund - (Alabama will not be receiving stimulus funds for this program)

(National Appropriation: $600,000,000)

Description: This program provides additional funding to the Environmental Protection Agency for the Superfund Remedial Program. This program allows states to enter in competitive agreements with the EPA to conduct certain remedial actions at Superfund sites and receive a credit from the government for 90 percent of eligible expenses.

John Archibald, of the Birmingham News, in one of his recent columns offered this statement about Alabama's rampant pollution and economic development mindset: "That's traditional Alabama values again: better dead than unprofitable." EPA Region 4 seems to go along with that idea, especially since they knew about the CC Plume, in the following statements on the *revitalization of downtown Montgomery and the importance of 'sticking to the plan':

Capitol City Ground Water PlumeGround water in western portions of downtown Montgomery, Alabama, is contaminated with trichloroethylene (TCE) and perchloroethylene (PCE), chemicals commonly used in dry cleaning and cleaning of machine parts. Work to assess the ground water contamination and develop the site’s cleanup plan is currently ongoing. The City of Montgomery is working closely with EPA to facilitate the site’s cleanup. Downtown Montgomery remains open for business during the site’s ground water cleanup. Land uses include retail districts, neighborhoods, parks, offices and industrial areas. The revitalization of Montgomery’s downtown is a major community priority. The area is recognized as the “heart of the city.” Recent redevelopment projects include the Montgomery Biscuits minor league baseball stadium, retail centers, downtown apartments and restaurants.

Have our business leaders, politicians, economic developers and state agencies simply lost their minds from the effects of all the pollution or are they just out to eliminate the undesirable elements of Alabama's communities? The location of the Capital City Plume seems to negate the latter, because a large portion of the businesses and developments in the affected area are housing some of our state elites, primarily in the RSA Tower Complex of Montgomery, located in the toxic zone.

So what other possibility does that leave us as to why Alabama continues to labor under the delusion of their favorite hackney-eyed, overused phrase of describing economic development as "world class?" There's nothing blue ribbon or superior about any development that comes with a staggering cost of health to a large segment of people.

Unless Archibald's right--"better dead than unprofitable."

Or maybe it's something else entirely consisting of the usual BARD suspects and their webs of deceit.

Maybe it's a combination of the two strengthened by the political pay to play system our legislators have grown ridiculously accustomed to.

Whatever the reasons, the citizens of this state deserve truth, accountability and transparency with information that directly affects the quality of their lives and not the same old deadly deceptions of business as usual.

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