=======================Electronic Edition========================
RACHEL’S HAZARDOUS WASTE NEWS #88
—August 1, 1988—
News and resources for environmental justice.
——
Environmental Research Foundation
P.O. Box 5036, Annapolis, MD 21403
Fax (410) 263-8944; Internet: erf@igc.apc.org
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WHAT WE MUST DO–PART 1: THE MORAL ISSUE OF THE ’80S.
The grass roots environmental movement is engaged in a struggle
that cuts to the heart of the American system. The outcome will
determine the kind of nation our children inherit. Government
“of the people, by the people, and for the people” is threatened
by a massive, destructive and unprincipled new industry–the
waste haulers. What’s at stake is the health and safety of a
large portion of the American people, the fiscal soundness of
hundreds of local and county governments, and the democratic
process itself. Can people REALLY participate in the decisions
that affect their lives?
In the fall of 1987, the FORT LAUDERDALE NEWS and SUN SENTINEL
put a team of five investigative reporters to work examining the
garbage industry in Florida. They found they had to look outside
Florida to understand the troubles Floridians are facing. The
team examined official records from 22 states and many federal
agencies (the Environmental Protection Agency, the Securities and
Exchange Commission, the Justice Department and the FBI, among
others), and during December, 1987, they published a series of 25
articles on the waste industry.
Some of their findings:
** American municipal and county governments are taking on public
works projects larger than any that have ever been attempted by
local governments before, racking up billions of dollars in
public debt, just to manage waste;
** these enormous public works projects are installing unproven
technologies that are often poorly designed and poorly built,
often dangerously polluting, and always enormously expensive; the
projects lock affected governments into a pattern of rising
taxation and spending that will hold for the life of the project,
usually 25 to 35 years;
** a few enormous garbage haulers, who are increasingly in the
landfill business, the incineration business and the recycling
business all at the same time, are the sole beneficiaries of this
unprecedented outpouring of public funds;
** because modern garbage contains large quantities of dangerous
chemicals, what’s at stake is not only the fiscal soundness of
many local governments but also the health and safety of a large
portion of the American public; if the waste industry has its
way, whole states will soon be blanketed with garbage-burning
furnaces emitting tons of tiny particles of invisible soot
carrying toxic chemicals deep into the lungs of the entire
population; the residual ash–which is more toxic than the
original garbage from which it was derived-will be buried in
landfills that are certain to leak eventually, thus threatening
many communities’ water supplies;
** the “titans of trash” who dominate the waste industry (chiefly
Waste Management, Inc., and Browning-Ferris Industries [BFI]) are
growing at the rate of 20% each year, thus doubling in size every
3.5 years. Waste Management’s gross income shot past the $2
billion mark in 1986; BFI grossed $1.6 billion that year. Their
net profits typically range between 20 and 24% each year. The
Wall Street Establishment is backing these giants with large
infusions of capital, lending them an air of legitimacy as the
titans gobble up their smaller competitors (while the Justice
Department’s antitrust division stands idly by), consolidating
control of essential municipal services into the hands of a
greedy and unscrupulous few;
** the waste industry has developed a modus operandi based on
bribery, pricefixing, political payoffs, back door campaign
contributions, the intimidation and suppression of business
competition, the distortion and manipulation of technical data,
and the systematic violation of environmental laws and
regulations;
** the waste industry seeks to counteract its outlaw image by
supporting civic projects like art centers; it supports high brow
programming on National Public Radio and on public television;
and waste executives have begun to sit on the boards of directors
of those national environmental organizations that will have
them, such as the National Wildlife Federation;
** when regulators take enforcement actions against waste haulers
for environmental violations, the companies resist vigorously,
preferring to litigate rather than cooperate. As a result,
remedies are delayed for years or are forestalled entirely; in
the few instances where enforcement actions succeed, the
resulting fines are usually small and amount to nothing more than
a “license to pollute.”
** the waste industry makes a general practise of hiring local
political officials as well as state and federal regulatory
officials, thus acquiring a stable of political influence and
technical know-how that leaves local, state and federal
governments lacking sufficient expertise and clout to effectively
regulate the industry;
** this “revolving door” syndrome now threatens to weaken even
the environmental movement as well-known members of the
traditional environmental community go on the payroll and become
apologists for the polluters, carrying with them the knowledge
and expertise they gained as trusted environmentalists;
** the industry is now dealing with materials that are so toxic
that their safe disposal is a matter of major public health
concern but governments have become so dependent upon the
industry that even when the haulers violate all norms of decency
and safety, government cannot bar them from the business because
government has no alternate way to manage wastes;
** the waste industry has decided to develop its most dangerous
facilities in certain geographic areas, targeting regions of
America that are poor and rural, often with large minority
populations.
** The struggle to manage waste sensibly and to bring the outlaw
waste industry to justice is–in the words of Wendell Paris of
Emelle, Alabama (a longtime civil rights activist, now a leader
in the movement for environmental justice)-“the moral issue of
the ’80s.”
We will use the NEWS and SUN SENTINEL’s series as the starting
point for examining WHAT WE MUST DO–a series in which we sketch
the broad outlines of a strategy the grass roots environmental
movement could adopt to take back America from the polluters.
Most of the ideas we will present are not original, but are
derived from our friends, colleagues, brothers and sisters across
America locked in struggle at the local level with one poisoner
or another.
The 25 articles, by David Altaner, Jean Marbella, Jon Marcus,
Robert McClure, Rich Pierce, and Fred Schulte, are now available
in the RACHEL database; to retrieve the whole series, search on
“SUN SENTINEL” in database 7; alternately, send $12 and we’ll
mail you 85 pages of xeroxed material.]
–Peter Montague, Ph.D.
Descriptor terms: citizen groups; environmentalists; haulers;
health; organized crime; corruption; investigations; fl; msw;
epa; sec; doj; fbi; hazardous waste industry; waste treatment
technologies; leaks; federal; funding; health; incineration; ash;
particulates; landfilling; toxicity; water; groundwater; drinking
water; wmi; bfi; antitrust; price fixing; national wildlife
federation; wildlife; regulations; enforcement; revolving door;
wendell paris; emelle; al; david altaner; jean marbella; jon
marcus; robert mcclure; rich pierce; fred schulte;