| View previous topic :: View next topic |
| Author |
Message |
mac
Joined: 07 Mar 1999
Posts: 17747
Location: Berkeley, California
|
 Posted: Thu Jan 21, 2016 12:46 pm Post subject: |
 |
|
So stunningly uninformed on every issue. It’s liberals fault screeches Malibu Golden Dawn. Blame EPA says the Archbishop, fresh from getting nearly every fact wrong on arsonists in Oregon. Perhaps it might increase your knowledge if you read something outside of CNS, and thought a bit, if not deeply. Perhaps you might start here:
http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/01/27/drop-dead-detroit
You will, of course dismiss it as race-baiting, since the suburbs of Detroit have created a nearly all-white ring around the nearly all black city—taking jobs, population, and tax base with them. Flint and Detroit have been hollowed out by white flight. The population of Flint dropped from 200,000 in 1960 and is now under 100,000. Detroit’s population peaked at 1.8 million, and is now down to 680,000. Leading the way was the contraction in the automobile industry, exacerbated by the hedge-fund mentality of those making money on the decline like Quicken loans.
Now pay attention a little bit; the appointment of emergency managers—coincidentally in predominately black communities—may be another example of the soft racism of low expectations. In 2011 and 2012, the Republican legislature gave the governor authority to appoint emergency managers for communities with fiscal problems. An effective end to democracy for issues like police, fire, education, and of course water service. Contrary to the blathering of those on the right, most water service in America is provided by, and protected by, public agencies. Flint has been subject to an emergency manger since 2002. No hearings, no local votes, austerity not democracy rules. Darnell Earley, the fifth emergency manager for Flint, made the decision to switch water supply sources—but is now blaming the mayor and City Council. Use of the different supply began in April 2014. Nothing like local knowledge and continuity in government--ignored.
Decisions about changing the water supply were made within State Government, by appointed officials of the Republican governor, with fiscal austerity trumping all other issues. It was not the only time his Administration ignored water quality:
| Quote: | Flint’s crisis is the third time during the administration of Republican Gov. Rick Snyder that decisions about water supply and water quality at the most senior levels of state government have put state residents in harm’s way. In 2014, again as a result of the governor’s decision to appoint an emergency manager in Detroit, drinking water services were cut off for thousands of city residents said to be in arrears on their water bills. But water services for many of the city’s largest commercial water consumers, which owed the city water department millions of dollars in unpaid charges, were not halted.
The Snyder administration, according to business owners and residents in northern Michigan, has been slow to respond to the threat of a major Great Lakes oil spill from two 63-year-old pipelines that transport 540,000 barrels of oil a day across the Straits of Mackinac at the top of Lake Michigan. An environmental law group in Traverse City, For the Love of Water, has argued that other existing onshore pipelines are available to transport oil to Great Lakes refineries and that Gov. Snyder has the legal authority to shut down Line 5 and prevent what the group called an “imminent risk.” …Throughout the crisis, Gov. Snyder appeared indifferent while state officials defended the emergency manager’s actions and repeatedly rejected claims that there was anything wrong with Flint’s water. As evidence of serious contamination mounted, the Snyder administration insisted the city’s water was safe to drink.
Gov. Snyder did not acknowledge the unsafe condition of the city’s water problems until Sept. 30, 2015. |
Source: http://ecowatch.com/2016/01/13/flint-water-crisis/2/
When he finally acknowledged the problem, Snyder quickly threw his top water quality advisor under the bus. Now mrgybe, demonstrating his profound ignorance of the role of EPA, blames the Federal EPA for not somehow preventing this disaster.
Golden Dawn, with his profound ignorance of public budgets, seems to think that he could have balanced the budgets in the big cities in Michigan. So sad. |
|
| Back to top |
|
 |
mrgybe
Joined: 01 Jul 2008
Posts: 5180
|
| Posted: Thu Jan 21, 2016 5:08 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| mac wrote: | | Now mrgybe, demonstrating his profound ignorance of the role of EPA, blames the Federal EPA for not somehow preventing this disaster. |
Quote me. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
mac
Joined: 07 Mar 1999
Posts: 17747
Location: Berkeley, California
|
| Posted: Thu Jan 21, 2016 8:08 pm Post subject: |
|
|
So easy to lay blame. And there is no action by a Republican, no matter how heinous, that Gybe cannot blame on a Federal agency.
| Quote: | The EPA has not apologized. The local government failed, the State government failed, the Federal government failed. I know!! Let's blame austerity and have more government!!
|
But wait, the governor's e-mails have been released. Let's take a peek:
| Quote: | A day after doctors reported high levels of lead in Flint children, Gov. Rick Snyder's top aide told him the "real responsibility" for the city's water issues rested with local government officials, emails show.
Then-chief of staff Dennis Muchmore later told the governor that residents were "caught in a swirl of misinformation" about lead contamination and that it was up to city and county leaders to confront the issue, according to the emails, which were released Wednesday.
"Of course, some of the Flint people respond by looking for someone to blame instead of working to reduce anxiety," Muchmore wrote. "We can't tolerate increased lead levels in any event, but it's really the city's water system that needs to deal with it."
In a Sept. 25 email, Muchmore said he could not "figure out why the state is responsible" before noting that former state Treasurer Andy Dillon had signed off on the city's plans to build a water pipeline from Lake Huron, which required a temporary switch to the Flint River during construction.
o, he explained, "we're not able to avoid the subject."
Muchmore also said two state agencies and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency could not "find evidence of a major change" in lead levels.
By early October, the Snyder administration was forced to acknowledge the validity of the lead concerns and help Flint return to the Detroit water system.
The two-term Republican released more than 270 pages of emails a day after his annual State of the State speech in which he apologized again for the emergency and pledged to act. He called the release of the messages — which are exempt from Michigan's public-records law — "unprecedented" but necessary so people "know the truth."
He did not release the emails of his staff, drawing criticism from Democrats and open-government advocates. The rest of the administration is subject to the Freedom of Information Act.
According to Muchmore's emails to Snyder, officials at the Department of Environmental Quality and the Department of Health and Human Services felt some people in Flint were trying to turn the lead issue into "a political football," claiming the agencies were underestimating the danger and trying to shift responsibility to the state.
Flint's water became contaminated with lead when the city began drawing from the river in 2014 as a cost-cutting measure while under state financial management. The water was not properly treated to keep lead from pipes from leaching into the supply.
Snyder has said he was first briefed on the "potential scope and magnitude" of the crisis on Sept. 28. State epidemiologists validated local physicians' findings on Oct. 1, and the governor said he immediately ordered the distribution of filters along with water and blood testing.
In December, Snyder learned that the task force he appointed to investigate the crisis had concluded that the Department of Environmental Quality was primarily to blame.
The task force chairman, Ken Sikkema, said in a separate message that the finding was "critical and urgent" and could not be delayed until the group completed its report.
Snyder aide Jarrod Agen told the governor on Dec. 28 that the task force's "harsh" verdict suggested that personnel changes at the environmental department scheduled for after the holidays should not wait. Agency Director Dan Wyant's resignation — and the firing of three other staffers — should take effect the next day.
Also Wednesday, Snyder asked President Barack Obama to reconsider the denial of a federal disaster declaration to address the crisis, saying it poses an "imminent and long-term threat" to residents.
Obama declared an emergency — qualifying the city for $5 million — but concluded that the high lead levels are not a disaster based on the legal requirement that disaster money is intended for natural events such as fires or floods. Snyder had estimated a need for up to $95 million over a year.
In his appeal letter, Snyder called the decision a "narrow reading" and likened the crisis to a flood, "given that qualities within the water, over a long term, damaged the city's infrastructure in ways that were not immediately or easily detectable."
The community about 75 miles north of Detroit, has about 100,000 residents, with about 40 percent of them living below the poverty line. The population is nearly 60 percent black.
The lead— which can lead to behavior problems and learning disabilities in children and kidney ailments in adults — has left Flint residents unable to drink unfiltered tap water.
Flint Mayor Karen Weaver refused to call for Snyder's resignation while at the U.S. Conference of Mayors meeting in Washington, D.C., saying investigations should go forward.
"I'm staying focused on what I need to get from him right now," Weaver said Wednesday.
The Michigan House on Wednesday approved Snyder's request for $28 million more in the short term to pay for more filters, bottled water, school nurses and testing and monitoring — on top of $10.6 million allocated in the fall. The money would also replace plumbing fixtures in schools with lead problems and help Flint with unpaid water bills. The measure moves to the Senate for expected action next week.
Snyder plans to make a bigger request in his February budget proposal. He also announced the deployment of roughly 130 more National Guard members to the city.
|
Read Latest Breaking News from Newsmax.com http://www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/snyder-emails-Flint-Water/2016/01/21/id/710323/#ixzz3xvlXRwp7
So to review the bidding, the Governor's emergency manager changed the water system of Flint, bypassing local government. He had not been on the job long, and it is not clear how much he consulted with DEQ, the State water quality agency with direct jurisdiction. Both are political appointees of the Republican Governor, implementing austerity as a religion. When reports of problems came out, they poo poohed it until the health department test results were done.
EPA's crime? For their indirect involvement? Not moving quickly enough to declare an emergency. For which the Regional Administrator has taken the bullet and resigned.
Sure shows the value of austerity and amateurs in government, eh? But it is truly amazing how it can be spun to forgive all Republicans directly involved in the decision. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
mrgybe
Joined: 01 Jul 2008
Posts: 5180
|
| Posted: Thu Jan 21, 2016 11:22 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| mrgybe wrote: | | mac wrote: | | Now mrgybe, demonstrating his profound ignorance of the role of EPA, blames the Federal EPA for not somehow preventing this disaster. |
Quote me. |
Couldn't quote me could he? Because, once again, he made it up. Don't trust what he says. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
mac
Joined: 07 Mar 1999
Posts: 17747
Location: Berkeley, California
|
| Posted: Thu Jan 21, 2016 11:40 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| And I thought mrgybe was doing penence after his confession of the sins of lying and bearing false witness against the BLM staff. Turns out he was taking more spin classes. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
mac
Joined: 07 Mar 1999
Posts: 17747
Location: Berkeley, California
|
| Posted: Fri Feb 05, 2016 12:02 pm Post subject: |
|
|
This comment was always a bit puzzling:
| Quote: | | The EPA has not apologized. |
Now mrgybe is always going to be more current on the GOP spin, but this one is truly amazing, and is now playing out in a stalemate over the energy bill. The GOP, backed by think tanks like the Reason Foundation, are trying to spin this as EPA's fault. You can understand the spin and reasoning by getting some details on the hearing before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform Wednesday, where the chair, Jason Chaffetz, (R-Utah) attacked EPA. Their reasoning, in questioning of EPA's Joel Beauvais was why EPA didn't directly inform Flint residents about the water quality problems. Turns out that EPA learned, through tests done by the State, that the water supply was unsafe. EPA then, in accord with the structure of the law, tried to persuade the State to inform the residents. But the state kept trying to hide the ball. So much hypocrisy when the architects of state rights spin a problem so that EPA rather than the state was responsible.
This one scores a ten on the happy horseshit meter. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
techno900
Joined: 28 Mar 2001
Posts: 4161
|
| Posted: Fri Feb 05, 2016 1:49 pm Post subject: |
|
|
mac said: | Quote: | | EPA then, in accord with the structure of the law, tried to persuade the State to inform the residents. But the state kept trying to hide the ball. So much hypocrisy when the architects of state rights spin a problem so that EPA rather than the state was responsible. |
This could well be true, but I find it hard to believe that the EPA has NO power, or law behind it to REQUIRE the state to inform it's residents of a problem, or that the EPA couldn't to the informing themselves if the state refused. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
mac
Joined: 07 Mar 1999
Posts: 17747
Location: Berkeley, California
|
| Posted: Fri Feb 05, 2016 4:03 pm Post subject: |
|
|
Techno--EPA's authority, set by Congress, relies on the state's as the primary enforcer of laws, including the Drinking Water Act. But think for just one moment. No senior official at EPA, or at any of the many military installations that dot the country, is going to publicly embarass a governor by issuing a letter that says, in effect, the State is not doing its job. Conservatives would be outraged--the laws say let the state do it. When you run into problems where the state is blowing it, as they were here, you get things done by working it out at lower levels so the governor can announce that he has fixed the problem. Doesn't matter if he/she is Democrat or Republican, you need to have a relationship because this is not the only issue you need to work on. Here the governor's officials ignored the message and tried to bury the news--and the GOP spin factory is now blaming EPA.
Still 10 on the horseshit meter. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
mac
Joined: 07 Mar 1999
Posts: 17747
Location: Berkeley, California
|
| Posted: Thu Feb 11, 2016 7:51 pm Post subject: |
|
|
EPA should apologize for not doing what they had no authority to do. Well now they have that authority.
| Quote: | By MATTHEW DALY, Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — The House on Wednesday approved legislation to clarify the Environmental Protection Agency's authority to notify the public about danger from lead in their drinking water — the first action by Congress to respond to the water crisis in Flint, Michigan.
The bill, approved 416-2, would direct the EPA to notify residents and health departments if the amount of lead found in a public water system requires action, in the absence of notification by the state.
Flint stopped using treated water from Detroit and switched to the Flint River in 2014 to save money. Regulators failed to ensure the water was treated properly and lead from aging pipes leached into the water supply, contributing to a spike in child lead exposure.
The EPA did not notify the public for months after learning that state officials were not treating Flint's water.
Rep. Dan Kildee, D-Mich., said the notification bill would not have prevented the crisis in his hometown, but he called it a necessary first step to prevent a similar crisis in other cities. |
Those that hate government and science (among a lot of things on a long list) and have no understanding of how it works should not run for office if they are not willing to learn.
The pundits, mrgybe, and the Reason Foundation are all completely wrong on this one. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
mrgybe
Joined: 01 Jul 2008
Posts: 5180
|
| Posted: Fri Feb 12, 2016 10:48 am Post subject: |
|
|
| We were just following orders. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
|
  |
iWindsurf Community Forum Index
-> Politics, Off-Topic, Opinions |
All times are GMT - 5 Hours
Goto page Previous 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 Next
|
| Page 2 of 10 |
|
You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum
You cannot attach files in this forum
You cannot download files in this forum
|
|
|
Search
Profile
Log in to check your private messages
Register
