Obama administration criticised over failure to disclose coal dump locations

[Karmadillo]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/jun/18/coal-dump-location-obama-usa

A rift has opened between the Obama administration and some of its closest allies - Democratic leaders and environmental organisations - over its refusal to publicly disclose the location of 44 coal ash dumps that have been officially designated as a "high hazard" to local populations.

The administration turned down a request from a powerful Democratic senator to make public the list of 44 dumps, which contain a toxic soup of arsenic and heavy metals from coal-fired electricity plants, citing terrorism fears.

The refusal has put the Obama administration at odds with some of its strongest supporters over an emerging area of environmental concern in America.

Last Christmas, a retaining wall burst on a coal ash pond in Tennessee disgorging a billion gallons of waste and putting pressure on the authorities to bring in safety controls over the management of some 600 similar waste pools dotted across the country.

Some 44 of the most dangerous coal ash dumps are known to be located in populated areas in 26 separate locations. The high hazard designation means that a breach, like the one in Tennessee, could cause death and significant property damage if the sludge spills into surrounding neigbourhoods. But that is all the adminstration will disclose.

"Right now we have a blanket gag order," Barbara Boxer, a California Democrat who heads the Senate environment and public works committee told a press conference last week.

more...

[Autumn]

1. Disgraceful

maintaining the status quo seems to be the only thing these politicians are interested in. This has got to fucking end

[katandmoon]

2. The Bush Administration could not have done better

[Autumn]

3. This sound like something the bush admistration

would have done. Who are they protecting? Not us.

[G_j]

5. according to them, it is us they protecting

another Deja Vu from the Bush admin.

[Autumn]

6. This crap is really getting old n/t

[Autumn]

4. Nine recs and no one has anything to say n/t

[unc70]

7. Obama always a friend of coal --"downstate", "clean", IL, KY, whatever

This is one of those issues (health care is another) where you really have to parse exactly what Obama says and what he actually does, rather than all the feel-good rhetoric. The devil is always in the details -- like mountain top mining. That's why RFK, Jr. and others have been so outraged.

Obama pandered to downstate IL coal interests from the beginning his political career and and still does. The "clean coal" initiative is a pet project of Dick Durbin and would bring several billion dollars to southern Illinois over the next ten years, while probably allowing the coal industry to continue current practices while waiting for the "new" technology. Wonder what Chu thinks about having to be the front man for this?

I fear that Obama and the Dems (?) in Congress will do much the same with healthcare/insurance (remember who has been paying most of the bills in the Obama household for years; well except for those book deals, the year+ with all his income from a single client that was obscured on financial disclosures and required almost no work product).

This has been the pattern with the financial crisis for the most part, with state secrets, torture, war crimes, his choices for senior advisors including many culpable for actions during the Bush admin.

I had no illusions when I voted for him in the general election, so I have not been surprised by his actions, only disappointed and really frustrated.

[JustinL]

8. ignorance is strength

In a letter earlier this month, the army corps of engineers told the EPA to keep the sites secret. "Uncontrolled or unrestricted release may pose a security risk to projects or communities by increasing its attractiveness as a potential target," Steven Stockton, the army corps director of civil works wrote.

"It was our attention to release the list, but we certainly feel obligated to take into account any recommendations from our agencies as they release to terrorist attacks," said an EPA official.

It's for our own safety, see? :sarcasm:

[Karmadillo]

9. Be afraid. The Bush administration isn't the only one that knows how to play the terror card.

nt

[cherokeeprogressive]

10. Imagine that. Having information withheld from us due to "terrorism fears".

And here I thought we had an election and an inauguration. Did I just wake up on the set of Dallas?

[ensho]

11. kick

nt