Don't Poop On My Tomatoes and Tell Me It's "Fertilizer"-- Part II The Biosolid Myth

We covered this sewer sludge issue in a previous posting on Synagro Technolgies and its push into Northern Alabama to convince the state and local governments that "biosolids" (sewer sludge and toxic industrial wastes) were "safe" to spread all over North Alabama farmland and in other public areas according to their PR spokesman Stephen Bradley, because they were "strictly regulated by the EPA";

Steve Bradley, a spokesman for Synagro in Alabama, did not address the legislation specifically, but said the company is strictly regulated by the Environmental Protection Agency and also falls under the oversight of the Alabama Department of Environmental Management. Synagro also has developed management guidelines for its product with assistance from the Alabama Department of Agriculture and Industries. (click title for previous post)

This had been going on in Alabama since 1987 with the EPA & ADEM's blessings, and the state required NO Permits only a Land Base Book with the record of applications. The state of Alabama had "no objections to the project";

The state of Alabama has also been notified of biosolids coming to Alabama from out of state. In our conversations with ADEMs Jim Grassiano (Section Chief of Permits and Compliance, Municipal Branch Water Division) the state has no objections to this project.

Written confirmation of our intent to move forward has been sent to the Alabama Department of Environmental Management (ADEM). The state of Alabama will require NO PERMITS; however they will be sent a Land Base Book containing all application sites and specifics to those sites. They will also be sent a  Treatment Facility Book containing specifics to the lime stabilization of non PRSP biosolids. Synagro will provide this project information to ADEM.

ADEM has no Home Rule governing the use of biosolids they defer to EPA Region IV. However, Synagro has worked closely with ADEM since the project first began in Alabama in 1987. Synagro has presented this project verbally to Mike Horn at EPA Region IV.

Synagro probably has some foresight in choosing Alabama and "working closely" with ADEM based on its documented weakness and ineptitude which they had to be aware of and exploited to their advantage;

In 1984 the US EPA stripped ADEM of its authority to manage the disposal of hazardous wastes in Alabama on the grounds the agency personnel lack adequate training and competency in such manners.

On Dec. 17, 1985, a federal Judge in Montgomery ruled that ADEM in issuing environmental permits violated the due process provision of the US Constitution.

A following evaluation by a Washington based environmental advocacy group found Alabama's environmental management programs among the worst in the nation, ahead of those in only two other states.

(Times-Daily Newspaper, Weds. Feb 25, 1987 Page 6A)

ADEM gained control over all hazardous waste handling permitting from the US EPA in December 1987.  The timing was convenient for Synagro to come in and begin their toxic dumping on Alabama. Emelle, the subject of another post (also involving the illustrious Mr. Bradley) was another beneficiary from this change in regulatory powers.

Alabama lost. Our citizens lost. So did our environment. And we are still losing on this issue because it is still going on and being kept quiet.

Adding insult to injury in 1989, despite ADEM protesting and claiming "improvement" in managing Alabama's environmental,  the US EPA cited Alabama as "the fourth worst in water pollution, ninth in releasing toxic chemicals into the air, seventh disposing of toxic waste at facility sites and the seventh largest state receiving toxic chemicals from out-of-state."

(Tuscaloosa News June 22, 1989 Page 6A)

In other words, we have long been an environmental toxic soup aided by our state regulatory agencies, EPA Region IV and our greedy and corrupt politicians who have made deals with every big business who wanted a piece of Alabama.

Not much has changed after all these years unfortunately and the "biosolids" program is still in existence with the help of the US EPA, Region IV and ADEM under the direction of the Water Environment Federation (WEF) and the National Association of Clean Water Agencies (NACWA).

The WEF and NACWA are all under the National Biosolids Partnership and are front groups of industry insiders;

The National Biosolids Partnership (NBP), is a government-industry organization promoting the use of toxic sewage sludge as biosolids fertilizer. 

According to its website, it is an "alliance formed in 1997 with the National Association of Clean Water Agencies (NACWA) (formerly Association of Metropolitan Sewerage Agencies), Water Environment Federation (WEF), and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)."

National Association of Clean Water Agencies (NACWA) is the powerful political, PR and lobby arm of the publicly owned wastewater management agencies, sewage treatment and sewage sludge plants in the United States

Although its name evokes images of cascading mountain streams, the Water Environment Federation (WEF) is actually the sewage sludge industry's main trade, lobby and public relations organization, with over 41,000 members and a multi-million-dollar budget that supports a 100-member staff.

The WEF has been aggressively involved in promoting the so-called "beneficial use" of sewage sludge for fertilizer. To avoid the negative connotations associated with the word "sludge," WEF invented the euphemism "biosolids."

In 1977, Federation director Robert Canham criticized the EPA's enthusiasm for land application of sludge, which he feared could introduce viruses into the food chain. "The results can be disastrous," he warned. 

By the 1990s, however, Federation members were running out of other places to put the stuff. The Federation became an eager supporter of land farming, and even organized a contest among its members to coin a nicer-sounding name for sludge.

To educate the public at large about the benefits of sludge, the EPA turned to the WEF.

(SourceWatchWEF)

If this is not a grand illusion perpetrated on a massive scale by all involved we are hard pressed to find another suitable definition of it. There is a "brainchild" behind all of this beyond Mr. Bradley; the Washington DC PR firm of Powell Tate who specialize in controversial health, safety and high-tech issues. PT was founded by Jody Powell, ex press secretary of Jimmy Carter and Sheila Tate who was Nancy Reagan's adviser.

Powell Tate are the ones behind the campaign of the "National Biosolids Public Acceptance Campaign" and together with the Food Processor's Association are "strongly opposed" to labeling food as grown in sludge--the public doesn't need to know. They are after the Certified Organic Industry and seek to "greenwash" sludge with the endorsement of the COI.

In 1992 Heinz was firmly against the use of any sludge grown foods used in their products, but in 1995 they "reconsidered their opposition" and many other companies followed their lead. Once WEF got the EPA on their side it was open season on the public food supply and sewer sludge became the new "it" fertilizer thanks in large part to the efforts of PT.

"The public needs to know it's not safe to grow food on that toxic sludge no matter what it's called," said Hugh Kaufman of the EPA.   

Synagro is owned by the infamous Carlyle Group, but that is another story for another day.

In Alabama, Mr. Bradley became the voice of Synagro's toxic sludge campaign and Synagro succeeded in securing its place on Alabama farmlands that grew cotton, corn, hay and soybeans among other crops. Some of the areas where this sludge was applied are as follows;

Foley, Colbert County, Lawrence County, Decatur, Limestone County, Gulf Shores, Albertville, Jasper, Guntersville, Madison County, Muscle Shoals, Franklin County and Stevenson among others.

In 2009, Northern Alabama had finally had enough and passed legislation to get Synagro out of their area. Civil lawsuits have followed and motions have been filed by the defendants to move the cases to Morgan County where there may be a more lenient legal environment for them;

State Sen. Roger Bedford, D-Russellville, represents the Franklin County Commission as a co-plaintiff in one of the lawsuits. The senator, who also sponsored bills that would ban the fertilizer, said Friday he is determined to keep human waste off farmland in his district.

The lawsuits deal with sludge containing chemicals known as PFOA and PFOS. The substances originated in Decatur industries that used them to make non-stick coatings used in products like Teflon.

A panel of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency concluded the chemicals, even at extremely low levels, are likely carcinogens.

Local industries that use or have used the chemicals that ended up in Decatur Utilities sludge include 3M Co., Daikin America Inc. and Toray Fluorofibers. All three are defendants in the county lawsuits, and are plaintiffs in the Supreme Court case filed June 28, 2009.

Synagro South, LLC, Biological Processors of Alabama and Dyneon LLC are also defendants in the county lawsuits.

From 1996 until November, DU contracted with Synagro to spread the biosolids on area farms as fertilizer. The practice ended in November because the EPA discovered alarming accumulations of the chemicals it calls “unregulated contaminants” in the soil of farms that received the biosolids.

According to documents it filed in court, Synagro completed 598 land applications of DU’s toxic mix on area farms between 1996 and 2007.

It did not list its applications in 2008. 

But this all supposed to be "safe" and everybody follows "strict regulations" from the federal government and the state regulatory agencies, the same agencies that are trying to unload this toxic sludge on all of us, not just Alabama. San Francisco, California is a recent recipient of the sludge in a story from August 2010. San Francisco's Gavin Newsome has dirty hands with this sludge issue, even though he is supposed to a "Green Mayor."

And another case in Bakersfield, California from June 2010.

Bingham Township, North Carolina April 2009.

Montgomery, Alabama "The Wave" which is the Alabama Water Environment Association Newsletter, this one from Winter 2008. They are spreading it on hay fields which is a primary food source for cattle and horses.

They are doing it even after this happened as reported in the Athens-News Courier March 29, 2008, by reporter Karen Middleton:

Synagro Technologies has a contract to dispose of human wastes from New York. The company, which operates with approval from the Environmental Protection Agency, treats sludge from wastewater plants in New York and ships it to Alabama by rail car. The sludge is treated at a plant in Leighton, and then offered at no charge to farmers in Limestone County to fertilize their fields.

 About 40 farmers signed up to receive the sludge.

In Georgia, a farmer’s cattle died and the milk from another farmer’s cattle was contaminated by fields treated with sludge from the waste-treatment plant near Augusta. Last week, a federal judge ordered the Agriculture Department to compensate the farmer whose land was poisoned by the sludge. His cows had died by the hundreds.

In October, the county had reached an agreement with the company after seeking an injunction against Synagro. Alabama Agriculture Commissioner Ron Sparks said Synagro officials had assured him they would no longer distribute the fertilizer on pastureland. Where it is spread, it would have to be worked into the dirt instead of being placed on top of the soil. *(Editor's note--shame on you Mr.Sparks!)

Sounds like one great big load of crap to us, and a highly toxic one at that.
(See the "Document Box" R. sidebar for "PR Industry Unspun")

Additional stories:

3 part series: Moulton May Sue Over Dumping
Clinton WH "walking on very clean poo."

 

Senator Richard Shelby & His River of Lies

Recently the US Fish and Wildlife agency proposed a major expansion of the Cahaba River Preserve, one of Alabama's most bio-diverse, but imperiled rivers that would expand the size from its current 3,600 acres to more than 200,000. Rapid development in the Upper Cahaba River watershed threatens not only the quality of the water, but also the unique species that exist in this region--the rare Cahaba Lily among them;

The current refuge includes the largest known stand of the Cahaba lilies, also know as the shoals lily. The river has 64 rare and imperiled plant and animal species, 13 of which are found nowhere else in the world. With 131 species of fish, the Cahaba has more species than any other river its size in North America.

Cahaba Lillies by Beth Maynor Young

But the habitat on the river, even in the protected refuge, is being battered by siltation and pulse floods resulting from development and paving in urban areas upstream. 

"Development is our number one problem," said Steve Miller manager of the refuge. "We are trying to do what we can where we can to attenuate some of those impacts. Something will have to occur if we are going to have an effect on water quality and water quantity in the Cahaba."

It would take decades to achieve this acquisition and it is important for the quality of this river that the process begin as soon as possible.

From an August 2000, 86 page report by Robert E. Pitt PhD, P.E., DEE University of Alabama Bham.

"Water Quality Conditions in the Cahaba River and Likely Pollutant Sources"

Upper-Reach Cahaba River Conditions
The most serious water pollution problems in the upper reaches of the Cahaba River, in possible order of importance, are as follows:

· Toxicants exceeding the human health criteria (especially the carcinogens arsenic and the organic PAHs, plus mercury which always exceeded the EPA criteria, plus likely frequent violations of cadmium).
· Nuisance conditions, especially eutrophication (nutrient enrichment) caused by high phosphorus concentrations. Increased nitrogen discharges will dramatically worsen eutrophication conditions. Other nuisance conditions frequently occur caused by high iron content in drinking water and frequently turbid water.
· Aquatic life problems caused by toxicants (especially cadmium, lead, and possibly zinc), high temperatures during spawning periods, sedimentation because of localized high erosion, and infrequent low dissolved oxygen concentrations.
· Swimming problems caused by periodic exposures to pathogenic microörganisms (as indicated by high populations of fecal coliform bacteria).

The above problems are quite widespread and do not appear to be associated with specific locations, or times, although many of the toxicant problems are worse further upstream. 

Other problems identified (especially for chlorides and ammonia) are likely infrequent and were probably associated with intermittent (illegal?) industrial discharges. 

Some problems are also likely associated with more continuous discharges from improperly operated facilities (such as a landfill slightly above the Birmingham Water Works Board pump station, upstream mines, and poorly operated wastewater treatment facilities).
Mid-Reach Cahaba River Conditions

The current high concentrations of several heavy metals in the Cahaba River indicate the need for serious further investigations.  

Numerous and large violations of the EPA arsenic and mercury human health criteria (fish consumption) were observed for previously collected Cahaba River samples. These criteria were violated by every sample collected at West Blocton and Centreville. These criteria exceedences signal the need for comprehensive fish (and other organism) tissue analysis to quantify the threat to human health.

This report was done 6 years before the legislation to establish a preserve was passed. That is a long time considering the seriousness of the issues in the report and we can think of no logical explanation for such a long delay other than it was not high on the priority list for any state official or agency. But what has been high on the list is rampant development, a weak state regulatory agency and indifference by all of them regarding the water quality of the Cahaba--they have ignored the known problems with this river which supplies the metro Birmingham area with their drinking water.

The mindset is that pollutants and toxicants can just be "filtered out" and the developers scream "no-growth zealots" to anyone who points out to them that drinking water supplies should be clean at their source. In their twisted minds they believe its acceptable to degrade our drinking water supplies in the name of  "jobs and economic growth." This attitude is pervasive with BARD and big business including our legislators who are beholden to both.

The BARD bad boys who are always up to their usual no good, have been one of the main proponents for developing in this watershed which is why they wanted their floodplain ordinances adopted by Jefferson County, Alabama.
(page at footer of site "New Business Alliance")

One of their members, Drummond Coal, the subject of two previous postings, is at the top of the contributor list for Senator Shelby and we suspect that the difference in the Senator's stance on the Cahaba River Preserve in 2006, and now may have something to do with the coal and natural gas reserves that lie under the proposed expanded acreage.

Senator Shelby is firmly against this expansion and is citing revenues and jobs lost among his reasons:

"While we all agree on the importance of preserving this ecological treasure, this is a major expansion of the Refuge, which will not only cost millions of dollars in federal funds for land acquisition, but will also take a large portion of the tax base away from the state," Shelby wrote in a Friday letter to U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar.

Salazar is the go-to-guy for big oil and gas interests, go ask the Mustangs that are left in the West, if you can find any, what a good friend Salazar's DOI and the Ruby Pipeline have been to their environment. Another one of Shelby's big contributors, the Forestry Association, provided their own results to Shelby to use in his letter to Salazar asking for an extension on the public comment period (read: They need time to figure out how to put the brakes on this.);

The Alabama Forest Owners Association, using an economic impact study that looks at forestry, wood products, paper products and wood furniture industries, says moving the acreage from private to public ownership will cost $22.8 million in payroll contributions annually, $778,958 in state tax contributions each year, and 702 jobs. Shelby cited those statistics in his letter to Salazar.

What a difference a few years and a lot of cold, hard cash from big business makes.

From 2006:

 Press Release

SHELBY ANNOUNCES PROJECTS FOR ALABAMA
Senate Passes FY 2006 Interior Appropriations Bill Conference Report
Contact: Virginia Davis (202) 224-6518
Friday, July 29, 2005
WASHINGTON, DC - U.S. Senator Richard Shelby (R-AL), a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, today announced Senate approval of the conference report to accompany the Fiscal Year 2006 Interior Appropriations Bill. The FY 2006 Interior Appropriations Bill will now go to the President’s desk, which he is expected to sign into law.

1. Important Environmental Programs Receive Federal Funding

Last week, before leaving Washington D.C. for its August recess, the U.S. Congress passed Interior Appropriations, Energy and Highway legislation.  Here is a list of environmental programs that will benefit from these new laws.

Interior Appropriations - (for more details )

Cahaba River National Wildlife Refuge - $421,000 - Championed by Rep. Spencer Bachus, the Refuge will add 350 acres, thanks to the Land Water and Conservation Fund.

Cahaba National Wildlife Refuge, $421,000 - The Cahaba River National Wildlife Refuge was established in the 106th Congress, and the land that it encompasses is home to 32 animals and plants protected under the Endangered Species Act. 

These funds will allow for the acquisition of 264 acres within the Refuge in Bibb County. 

Map showing current (2006 legislation) and the 2010 proposed expansion. The area in red is the current reserve which is a very small area and the proposed expansion areas in green and yellow show the proposed reserve sought by the USFW.  Senator Shelby and Congressman Bachus did the bare minimum for this river in the 2006 legislation-- the map speaks for itself.

Senator Shelby said, “I am pleased that the Senate approved these funds for the Cahaba River National Wildlife Refuge. This environmentally-diverse, pristine land must be protected for future generations to enjoy.”

Flip flop or flim flam, which is it Senator Shelby? You admit that this area is "environmentally diverse" and "must be protected for future generations" which is exactly what the USFW is proposing to do with this expansion, but you resist it and cite lost revenues to the state and the "spending of millions of federal dollars" to validate your opposition.

You certainly should know a thing or two about spending millions of federal dollars because it is something you do on a regular basis for your own earmarks and pet projects.

“Senator Shelby, like Representative Murtha before him, takes trading earmarks for campaign dollars to a level most members of Congress can only dream about,” as reported in a recent Politco article from July 2010. Records show that you steer large amounts of OUR money to your former staffers, big business and corporate "buddies" to the tune of hundreds of millions and climbing.
(LeftInAlabama.com video of Shelby's wasteful spending of federal dollars posted 9/7/2010)

We submit to you that your interest in the environment is actually non-existent and your big donors are not happy at the prospect of not being able to rape the land in the area of the Cahaba for their own ill gotten gains--you're only too happy to accommodate them and to hell with "future generations" of Alabamians and the Cahaba River.

Someday a viable candidate will run against you and when that day comes Alabamians will turn out in waves and flood you and Bachus out of office-- that day can't come soon enough for Alabama's environment or the Cahaba River. That is, if it survives the crimes that are continually perpetrated upon it by men like you and your big business environmental villains.

Update September 8, 2010

Shelby and Bachus are both in the fight now against the expansion and are stirring up landowners with distortions of a "federal land grab" despite the fact that the UFWS has said they would buy land from "willing sellers." Steve Miller the Cahaba Preserve manager said "The service never intended to use eminent domain and the reason such a large area was proposed was to expand the pool of owners who might be willing to sell." Landowners would be able to put their land into conservation easements and sell their development rights to the USFW.

         Cahaba River near the Shoals Jefferson County, Alabama

 

Obama Hands the Republican Machine A Big Bowl of Cherries--"Pits" Included

We are deeply disappointed by the Obama Administration's latest corporate welfare proposal by asking Congress to "approve at least $50 billion in long-term spending in the nation's roads, railways and runways." This latest move by the White House seems to be aimed at the November elections as a move to jump start the rising unemployment and sputtering jobs growth which all pre-election indicators show will drive the upcoming elections.

This will require the opening of more rock mining "pits" to supply the increased "infrastructure projects" should this proposal pass and we say that makes this bowl of cherries "sour fruit'' particularly to areas that are unfortunate enough to sit on limestone, sand, chert and dolomite i.e Illinois, Maryland, Missouri, Florida, Tennessee, California and Vincent, Alabama among them. Thanks so much for that Mr. President.

The  powerful Portland Cement industry will use this as an excuse to protest the recent EPA regulation changes to their emissions and before you know it that too will fall by the wayside. So far so good WH, there seems to be some real progressive thinking going on with this and the line of delineation between the democratic party and the ideals of big business are becoming as cohesive as sand through a sieve.

Party of "NO" (for now on this issue)

The Republicans have railed against the government's "out of control spending" in force but it should be interesting to see how they respond to this proposal as it moves along, particularly the Alabama representatives who are road and bridge happy to great faults.

The initial response to this is predictable from the obstructionists;

Republicans made it clear that Obama can expect no help from them.

Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell said the plan "should be met with justifiable skepticism" because it would raise taxes, while Americans are "still looking for the 'shovel-ready' jobs they were promised more than a year ago" in the original stimulus program.

The House Republican leader, John Boehner, added "We don't need more government 'stimulus' spending. "We need to end Washington Democrats' out-of-control spending spree, stop their tax hikes, and create jobs by eliminating the job-killing uncertainty that is hampering our small businesses."

Those are the voices from the national party and we would be surprised to see opposition to this from the state representatives--but it could happen because they assume voters are too ignorant to pay close attention. We will be watching this closely and will report on developments as we find them.


In the meantime, we can hear the gnashing of teeth and chop-licking from BARD, the road builders, Riley and corporate landowners from miles away at the promise of even more federal crapulus dollars to keep them propped up while Alabamians continue to suffer in this boondoggle of an economy.

In Alabama, proponents of the NorthernBeltline, Trinity Hospital move (a direct benefactor of the 280 plan) and the elevated Highway 280 project claim that building these highways will "stimulate Alabama's economy and create jobs, jobs, jobs."  In a followup article on Obama's morning announcement by Bloomberg there are words to the contrary on those claims of whether or not infrastructure plans are capable of producing what their stated intentions are;

Republican economists questioned whether rushing out more money to rebuild roads and other such spending was the best way to help the economy rebound.

“Infrastructure programs are always popular for stimulus talk but disappointing in practice.”

We've got two sides of the argument, Republican economists above and the liberal leaning PBS link below and they are both meeting in the middle in their conclusions. You don't build roads just for the sake of building them just to keep the federal money spigot turned on as the PBS report "Blueprint For America" clearly illustrates. It's a waste of the taxpayers money and benefits only select groups and interests.

Road to Nowhere courtesy of the federal government and the American taxpayer

 Note to Obama; get out the Republican chair line and dance with them that brung you.

Same note to Alabama gubernatorial candidate Ron Sparks-D who (gads!) just came out in support of the powerful and porkulous Senator Richard Shelby-R ;

Sparks, a Democrat, said he supports Tuscaloosa Republican Richard Shelby in his bid for re-election to the U.S. Senate because of Shelby’s experience and ability to get things done.

“I don’t want Richard Shelby getting beat,” he said. “I want Richard Shelby helping me to save the Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville. I want Richard Shelby to help me when we start looking at military closures in Alabama because they are extremely important. Can you imagine the economic impact of the military leaving Alabama?”

The next thing you know these guys will be sharing each others skivies they have become so tightly wound with each other. At least in Alabama we know this is all part of the "good ol' boys" club and even though we find it distasteful as hell, we are not all that surprised.

But to see this camaraderie of propping up special interests on the taxpayer's dime at the national level signals a very ill wind blowing through the country similar to the one that surrounds Mexican restaurants on bean dip night.

The following linked special report from PBS illustrates the problems that result in some states from increased federal program dollars for infrastructure projects:

PBS Blueprint America "Zombie Highways"


Update 9/7/2010:  
On WAPIs morning radio show with Matt Murphy Steve Pryor of Pryor McCormick Investments told radio host Matt Murphy that "road projects do not create sustainable jobs."  Mr. Murphy agreed with him.
And so do we.

 

Balch and Bingham Say "No" to AG Troy King but 'Yes" to Governor Bob Riley in Alabama BP Suit

This is getting more ridiculous by the second. And very suspicious in its motives.

Balch and Bingham cited a conflict of interest when they were approached by Alabama AG Troy King to represent the state of Alabama against BP and Transocean and "bowed out" despite a firm partner, Steve McKinney, stating in the press that they had no COI;

Steve McKinney, a partner in Balch Bingham, said "it's every client's prerogative to choose their lawyer and we have no problem with the attorney general going in a different direction."

But he said he did not believe the firm had any conflict in representing the state in the lawsuit. He said the firm's Mississippi office did at one time represent Transocean, "but that was quite a while ago and it was in no way related to the oil spill."

King would not say which other firms he talked with after this but we hear through the grapevine that it may have been Maynard Cooper, Jere Beasley and Josh Hayes who were at the top of the list to be King's litigation team. Beasley would have been a great pick because of his bulldog tactics in going after big business.

Governor Riled Up came out bellowing that AG King was "acting prematurely" and his filing of a lawsuit against BP and TO would only result in the lawyers getting millions of dollars and would not serve "the best interests of Alabamians." He refused to support his own AG in filing the suit. These two boys do not play well together anyway, but King showed some real moxie by filing the suit before the 90 day deadline under Admiralty Law and Riley was left looking like the spoiled mean boy that he is.

WSFA TV 12 reports at 5:24 CST on September 3, 2010 that now Balch & Bingham have been hired by Governor Riley;

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) - The tense relationship between Alabama's governor and attorney general has taken another stinging twist.

Attorney General Troy King has accused Gov. Bob Riley of trying to compromise litigation against BP over the Gulf oil spill. Riley, meanwhile, has hired a law firm to deal with the BP issue and claims the price is much cheaper than King had planned.

King wrote Riley a letter Friday, saying the initial claim of $148 million that the governor filed with BP is "grossly inadequate." He also accused Riley of holding secret meetings with BP officials.

Riley announced he has hired the Balch & Bingham law firm to advise the state on the oil spill, at $195 per hour. King had approached the firm about representing the state on a contingency basis of up to 14% of the money recovered, but Riley refused to go along.

Riley is partially right about one thing, nothing he does serves "the best interests of Alabamians." B&B looks equally as ridiculous saying one thing, doing another and playing both sides against the middle which is a technique they have managed to well hone over the years. (the Waste Management Emelle and ExxonMobil vs. Alabama cases come to mind.)

We kind of thought that first round of "no we can't" and "yes we could" was based in B&B holding out for a whale, as in BP,  since that's usually the side of the argument they are on historically, but instead of a whale they held out for a know-it-all, arrogant Big Mule.

Or did they? Is the BP case going to be history repeating itself for Alabama?

If this case goes the way of the ExxonMobil case in which the state of Alabama lost BIG no one should be surprised. The fact the Riley or King would even consider hiring this firm, based on their history in the Exxon case suggests "Something Wicked This Way Comes."
High Court Nulifies Exxon Verdict;

A Montgomery jury in 2003 returned a verdict of $102.8 million in actual damages and fined the company $1 1.8 billion in punitive damages, an amount later reduced by the trial judge to $3.5 billion. In its decision last week the court allowed only $51.9 million in actual damages to stand. The justices had also nullified an earlier jury verdict of $3.5 billion in 1999, sending it back for a new trial on a technicality.

ExxonMobil's third quarter profit for 2007 totaled $9.41 billion. The company's Alabama lawyer, David Boyd, said that the verdict "affirms what we have said along.. . that this was never a fraud case."

More on this from the Jere Beasley Report; 

Exxon’s local lawyers are David Boyd and Joe McCorkle of Montgomery’s Balch&Bingham firm. The law firms for the state are Cunningham-Bounds firm of Mobile and Montgomery lawyer Jere Beasley’s firm, which was added this year by Governor Bob Riley. Exxon did a risk analysis and concluded that if they underpaid the royalties and did get caught, all they would have to do would be give the money back with interest. “In short, the corporate lawyers at Exxon took us for a bunch of inexperienced hayseeds.” One Exxon document went so far as to call state regulators “inexperienced.”

 If King's claims are accurate and Riley is holding "secret meetings with BP officials" that raises suspicions of collusion of the worst order, but when coupled with Riley hiring the same firm that has worked vigorously against Alabama's interests in a previous high stakes fight with Big Oil, in our opinion, it borders on criminality.

Why didn't Riley hire Beasley and Cunningham Bounds to represent the state against BP? He hired them for the appeal of the Exxon verdict and the 14% recovery fee wasn't an issue then for Riley then as it seems to be now in the BP case;

Riley, however, has decided to have his own attorney in the Exxon case and has lined up Beasley, one of Alabama’s most successful plaintiff lawyers.

Riley’s legal adviser, Troy King, said the governor wanted a Montgomery attorney involved since the case will be retried in Montgomery. “The governor has significant confidence in Jere Beasley’s ability to try this case,” King said.

Former Gov. Don Siegelman’s administration originally hired the Mobile lawyers to handle the lawsuit on a contingency basis and promised them 14 percent of what they recovered for the state, plus expenses. King said bringing in Beasley will not cost the state anymore because Beasley’s firm and the Mobile firm will share the 14 percent, with the division to be worked out by the two firms if the state wins.

September 3, 2010 Office of the Governor Press Office;  “I will not approve an arrangement that pays lawyers 14 percent of the very large claims we have presented and expect to present on behalf of the state, especially when those claims are being paid without litigation of any kind,” said Governor Bob Riley.

What's so different now Governor? How do you think it looks to everyone watching that you are in a constant state of disunity with your own Attorney General? Grow up and act like a man not a spoiled child who isn't getting their way, sir--this isn't amusing anymore watching the two of you openly spat while Alabamians are hurting.

Beasley has been described as the "devil's incarnate" by big business which makes him the best candidate for the job in our opinion;

Montgomery attorney Jere Beasley, the standard bearer for trial lawyers and the devil incarnate for business interests, represented the state in part of its litigation against ExxonMobil. He maintained that the oil giant deserved punishment because it cheated Alabama out of royalty payments.

What's going on here? Not one bit of it makes any logical sense if  "doing the right thing and Alabama's best interests" are truly the driving force behind Riley's actions as he has claimed in the press. We say be afraid, be very afraid and maybe also royally pissed off.

**Update Sept. 17, 2010

Troy King has hired Jere Beasley to represent the state. Governor Riley has come out publicly in the press stating that Alabama's Education Trust Fund had to be slashed because of King "acting prematurely." Riley is not being truthful about the cuts, they were slated to happen anyway and he is using this as a way to score cheap political points. It is reprehensible he chooses to use Alabama's children in his vendetta against King.

 

Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour and the "New South" Fake History

Everything old is still old. And it's still wrong.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Mr. Big Oil seeks to rewrite history in a recent Human Events interview and gets called out on it by Rachel Maddow and the Washington Post Pulitzer Prize winning reporter Eugene Robinson:

There sure seems to be a lot of this going around, isn't there? 

Rachel Maddow and Eugene Robinson do some fact checking on Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour's recent bit of revisionist history, attempting to sanitize the racism and rewrite the Civil Rights movement in the South and how the Republicans have been taking advantage of the racial divide in America for decades.

Eugene Robinson did an especially good job of following up Rachel Maddow's critique of Barbour's interview with the right wing Human Events and explaining why Barbour is frankly just full of it when he tries to pretend he didn't experience segregation himself growing up and at the schools he attended. 

As they noted it looks like he's trying to shine up his image with white voters who might not want to vote for someone they consider a bigot in the 2012 presidential elections.

Oops, looks like you got some splainin' to do Mr. Barbour. Maybe you could also explain some of your other fantastical statements at the recent Hoover, Alabama event (hosted by you and "good buddy" Alabama Governor Bob Riley) the Southern Governors Meeting while you are at it:

Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, who has charged that the moratorium has worsened the economic impact of the spill on Gulf states, welcomed the news that some rigs might be allowed to drill sooner than Nov. 30, but he urged the officials to press for a lifting of the moratorium as soon as possible.

"I know the determination is to be safe, safe," Barbour said. "But, we've drilled 30,000 wells, and this is the first time this has happened, and we probably know why. Because they didn't follow procedure."

Barbour said that, when a pilot make mistakes and a plane crashes, the government does not cancel all flights.

"There are a lot of people at Southern Governors' which view this moratorium as something we need to get behind us," Barbour said.

One word Mr. Barbour in response to "...this is the first time this has happened..." IXTOC. As far as the plane analogy goes, generally when planes crash they don't destroy an entire ecosystem and have the potential to threaten the health of a massive body of water for decades.

Senior Presidential Adviser Valerie Jarrett sat the Mississippi puffer fish right back on his ample behind:

Jarrett listened as Barbour talked and assured him that the administration understands the drilling industry is important to Gulf states, but not more important than the safety and welfare of people and communities.

"It might have been pilot error, but we don't know yet. Perhaps it was something else," Jarrett said. "I think it was important to take a pause before we did any more harm."

Haley and Riley's body language speaks volumes in response to Jarrett's call for pause on lifting the drilling moratorium

That's a triple insult for him, a woman whose black and a Democrat. Priceless.Wonder how your friends with the Council of Concerned Citizens felt about that? That's a tolerant group isn't it?

The 'Uptown Klan' Reborn

Political influence has always been a point of pride for the Council of Conservative Citizens. Founded in 1985 by Gordon Baum, a worker's compensation attorney and longtime white-power activist, the CCC rose from the ashes of the Citizens Councils of America Brown vs. Board of Education.

(CCA), a coalition of white-supremacist groups formed throughout the South to defend school segregation after the Supreme Court outlawed it in

 Unlike the "white trash" KKK, the CCA groups — commonly called "White Citizens Councils" — had a veneer of civic respectability, inspiring the nickname "Uptown Klan." While there were plenty of bare-knuckles racists attracted to the Councils' anti-integration slogan, "Never!" the members also included bankers, merchants, judges, newspaper editors and politicians — folks more given to wearing suits and ties than hoods and robes.

Many of them, including Trent Lott's uncle, were elected to state and local offices. Some were even more powerful: governors, congressmen, U.S. Senators.

CCC sponsored Blackhawk BBQ July 19, 2003 Carroll County, Mississippi

(L to R: Mississippi GOP aide Chip Reynolds, State Senator Bucky Huggins, Ray Martin, Haley Barbour, John Thompson, and CCC Field Director Bill Lord)

During the 2003 election, the CCC was at the center of another controversy involving the endorsement of a major politician.
In July, Mississippi Republican gubernatorial nominee Haley Barbour, who served as Chairman of the Republican National Committee from 1993 to 1997, attended a CCC-sponsored barbecue.
Though the attendance of local Republican and Democratic office-seekers at political events partly sponsored by the CCC usually evokes little controversy, this year the group posted on its Web site a photo of Barbour at the barbecue

Barbour comes from a familial line of "Eastland Democrats" (ED) which was founded by James Eastland the staunch segregationist senator who was often called "The Voice of the South." Barbour admits his father and grandfather were both ED's according to a September 2, 2010 Salon.com article.

Harry Ransom Center, The University of Texas at Austin video of a Mike Wallace 1957 James Eastland interview.

(warning-- may contain offensive language, y'think?)

Barbour's "roots" run deep and dark, he knows it and is actively trying to "whitewash" history to win the suburban voters he will need if he challenges Obama for the 2012 campaign--but he won't announce anything firm until after the November elections. That should give him enough time to come up with some additional fiction to try and portray himself as anything but the bigot he is.

This weak attempt by Barbour to refer to the 1960s South as if it were some kind of "integrated paradise" is deceptive and fraudulent. We have to wonder why he even went that route when the facts and history are so easy to fact-check against what he claims. It's either brazen or just downright stupid--maybe both. But worse than that it dismisses the real pain of racism and the Old South's crimes against an entire race of people in some weak attempt to distance fellow Southern Republican office seekers from a past they cannot rewrite.

Barbour 40 minute interview discussing possible WH 2012 Bid

**As a side note Barbour has weathered controversy amazingly well considering he has granted pardons to five murderers, three of them killed their former girlfriends.

 

EPA Audit Completed of Jefferson County, Alabama SWMA--BARD Lied

When BARD muscled Jefferson County, Alabama into abandoning its Stormwater Management Authority Program (SWMA)  in favor of a " new plan" drafted by them and contracted to Malcolm Pirnie, Inc.,  two of the reasons they cited were that Jefferson County "was doing too much" and its current regulations were "unnecessary and not cost effective for the taxpayers." BARD submitted their own ideas and influences and convinced JeffCo to pull out of its established SMWA. The recent US EPA federal audit of the county exposes "major failings" with the adopted SWMA plan and exposes BARD's "misinformation and distortions."

(*Note--Scott Phillips of the EMC, the agency that oversees ADEM works for MP, Inc.)

In other words, BARD lied and they did it twice to some of the same players who did not learn any lessons from it the first time it happened with the JeffCo Floodplain Ordinances (FO).

FOs were the subject of a previous fight with Jefferson County by BARD that came to a boiling point in 2005/06 and was very similar to the fight over SWMA. These two issues are interconnected and it is relevant to discuss both of them together--BARD was against each of them because it would cost their clients money and preserve some faction of environmental protections.

This isn't the first time the Bham News has published and editorial piece on the SWMA issue and it has been controversial from the start.

Mayor Larry Langford and Carole Smitherman. Many remember Malcolm Pirnie as the company hired by the city to manage construction of Carver High School. 

Completed in 2000, the project was a $50 million debacle that cost much more than estimated yet produced a new building riddled with costly problems, such as inadequate wiring, buckling floors, cracking walls, a splitting foundation, and a moisture problem to which the only solution was to run the heating and cooling systems simultaneously.

Several years ago, Jefferson County hired Malcolm Pirnie to reorganize its mismanaged sewer system. If all of that doesn't raise a few red flags, in a potential conflict of interest, there's the fact that Malcolm Pirnie Vice President Scott Phillips is chairman of the board of the Alabama Department of Environmental Management (ADEM), the same agency responsible for determining whether Birmingham is complying with water-monitoring regulations. 

So ADEM, which he heads, will decide whether his company, Malcolm Pirnie, is doing its job.

Why is that every time a situation reeking of collusion with big business and developers in following the environmental rules always has ADEM on the wrong side of the right thing to do? Why don't they just change their name to Absolutely Dim-witted Environmental Mismanagement?

The claims of two BARD members, Don Erwin VP of corporate development for the Barber Company and Tom Howard of USS Realty (subsidiary of USS Steel one of the largest landowners in the proposed Northern Beltline Route) who were upset about the floodplain ordinances being considered put it this way from a *2006 Birmingham News story;

''Our company has a lot of assets in the Birmingham MSA,'' he said recently. ''How are we going to be prosperous if the Birmingham MSA doesn't grow?''

Howard of USS Realty said the money his company has spent on BARD has ''been a very good investment for us.'' He said growth is important for both the companies and the region.

''We tell cities,'' he said, ''that what's good for us is, in almost every case, good for the city.''

Those words have come back to haunt them in the morning edition of the September 2, 2010 Birmingham News Editorial on the real truth of those claims by BARD;

The EPA noted major failings, including an unclear and inadequate system for detecting violations and enforcing regulations that are supposed to prevent polluted runoff from getting into waterways. 

The audit has provided fodder for critics and supporters of SWMA, which last year succumbed to years of attacks by the Business Alliance for Responsible Development.

BARD was formed by some of the region's largest corporate landowners and developers, which saw SWMA as a thorn in their side and wanted it out of the way.

BARD convinced Jefferson County and cities including Birmingham, Hoover and Bessemer to pull out of SWMA, leaving the cooperative without enough money to continue its storm water watchdog operations.

The full court press by BARD to get JeffCo to pull out of its SWMA and FOs was based in distortions and inaccuracies that were deliberately designed to get the county to adopt ordinances that were favorable to its clients in the Business Alliance for Rampant Development:

Business leaders felt that the proposed regulation would prevent new construction in most of the floodplain, a blow for many future residential or business developments. They feared the ordinance would become a model for towns, cities and other counties throughout the metro area.

BARD has drafted a model ordinance for buffers around streams and rivers in Jefferson County. 

When the process of talks first started with SWMA and the FOs there were positive meetings between the conservation groups and the county that had been going on for three years. Individuals closely involved with that process tell us that all changed when Rob Fowler and Joel Gilbert (BARD lawyers) began to attend these meetings:

Joel Gilbert and Rob Fowler, lawyers at the firm Balch & Bingham, attended the meetings about the watershed on behalf of the Birmingham Regional Chamber of Commerce. They felt that business voices went unheard, and Gilbert said he felt the ability of landowners to develop their property was being threatened.

BARD's attorneys have gone to council meetings of nearly every SWMA member to encourage them to pull out of the coalition. Two of the largest members, Jefferson County and Hoover, have decided to pull out; Hoover Mayor Tony Petelos said BARD had nothing to do with his city's decision.

Not long after that BARD met privately with the Jefferson County officials and Mayor Langford and submitted their own set of FOs and SWMA ideas which were eventually adopted by the County-- the three years of previous talks were completely undermined in short order;

BARD's attorneys have gone to council meetings of nearly every SWMA member to encourage them to pull out of the coalition. Two of the largest members, Jefferson County and Hoover, have decided to pull out; Hoover Mayor Tony Petelos said BARD had nothing to do with his city's decision.

Large campaign contributions that surrounded the elected officials involved with this were reported right before key votes on the SWMA and FOs and three of the five JeffCo Commissioners at the time have since been convicted of corruption and taking bribes while in office.

Mr. Bradley whose one of our "favorite" people made these claims regarding the FOs in a *2006 Bham News story;

''We testified about the impact of what they were about to adopt,'' Bradley said. ''We would go to those elected officials and say, 'We want you to be sure you understand what is at stake here.' . . . We have been attacked for doing that.''

He even got Jefferson County Commissioners Sheila Smoot and soon-to-be Mayor Larry Langford to parrot the nonsensical "Bradley language":

''What swayed me was the engineering reports,'' Commissioner Shelia Smoot said of her vote for the BARD-backed plan. ''I kept asking for technical data, not emotion, from BARD opponents. I never got that.''
Commissioner Larry Langford said BARD's big-name involvement had nothing to do with his vote. ''I don't know who BARD is, but that doesn't matter. What mattered for me was which one worked best for the community.''

But a 2005 opinion piece in the Bham News penned by Mr. Bradley his true thinking is revealed about the FO issue and BARDs opponents which carries over to the SWMA;

While it was working to sway political leaders, BARD used its public voice to polarize the floodplain issue.
In a September 2005 opinion piece in The Birmingham News, Bradley called environmentalists such as the Cahaba River Society who were active in the upper Cahaba watershed study ''extremists,'' ''no-growth zealots'' and ''no-growthers (who) rammed through their agenda.'' He called their efforts ''underhanded'' and their case ''distorted.''
Bradley also said The Birmingham News had ''inaccurate and incomplete'' reportage about the issue, and ''wrongheaded'' and ''naive'' editorials.

That opinion piece, Bradley said, was a conscious, strategic decision.

''We decided to call them in public what they are - no-growthers,'' he said. ''I've always been an advocate of plain language.''

We are also advocates of plain language Mr. Bradley--LIAR. If there have been any "distortions, inaccuracies, wrongheadedness and ramming of agendas" it has been you and your ilk, sir, and we do use that term "sir" loosely.

BARD has been exposed for what it is all muscle and no truth:

Trussville Mayor Gene Melton pretty well summed up the Storm Water Management Authority's deficiencies in the eyes of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, as well as the irony of the attacks against it by developers and big corporate landowners.

"We weren't doing too much," as those who set out to destroy the agency claimed, said Melton, SWMA's chairman. "We were doing too little."

We will continue to follow this and report on additional information as soon as it becomes available, in the meantime, this raises serious credibility issues with the WRQ Vincent Hills quarry process since Mr. Bradley and Mr. Fowler are the lead local representatives for that.

The public is catching on to the connection of the quarry to the Highway 280 project, so the Town of Vincent, Shelby County and the elected officials have some explaining to do. Now.

Update #1

By the way, Jennifer Trammell of the the Shelby County Chamber of Commerce, why did you contact Doug Eddleman of Eddleman Properties in regards to the proposed elevated Highway 280 project and ask "how you could help with his efforts?" Mr Edleman owns 6000+ acres in the Westover area of Highway 280 and would stand to profit nicely from it being developed as would Shelby County in revenues from permits, taxes and access to federal grants based on rooftop numbers.

(located in the ALDOT files)

Vincent's Mayor is after the rooftop grant money too, which is why the press is on Bud Weber to develop his 300+ acres in Vincent. One small problem with that is bankruptcy has been filed.

Things like this also fuel citizen detractors who say that the real winners in the four controversial projects Vincent quarry, NBeltline, elevated highway and the Trinity Hospital move are presented to the public as one big Trojan Horse tacked out in jobs, growth and public benefit. 

The real benefactors are private corporations, special interests, city and county governments along with some corrupt officials and the state coffers. 

It's corporate welfare and inside baseball at its worst.

(2006 article link included as a page on this site)

Update #2

We knew this was coming-- the CYA mode begins.   

Trussville Mayor Gene Melton completely negates his previous statements with this asinine rhetoric;

"I would acknowledge EPA is sending us a message that they want us to play a bigger role in enforce­ment than they have acknowledged before," Melton said. "But with our new arrangement with the Health Department, I think we are moving in the right direction."

Under its new structure, SWMA and the Jefferson County Health Department believe they have cre­ated a much more robust system of inspection, detection and enforce­ment.

That would be the same "robust system" JeffCo just got nailed for.

ADEM, the "handmaiden for big polluters" cannot resist getting in on the second curtain call either;

ADEM spokesman Scott Hughes said ADEM is working with EPA and local governments to create a sys­tem of enforcement to comply with federal requirements."ADEM has worked diligently with local stakeholders and EPA to ensure our MS4 permits provide the needed protection for Alabama's water resources," he said.

How's that going for you in Shelby County Mr. Hughes you know the one don't you? Jefferson's neighboring county that is also in non-compliance status with the EPA on SWMA? It has been over a year now with SC and no end in sight (we checked), but they keep churning out those SWM permits to any developer or business that they can make a buck off of.

Unmitigated greed. Sounds familiar...maybe something Gordon Gecko would have said perhaps?