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Toxic Death of
If
you were to travel through the small towns of East Liverpool Ohio, Chester and
Newell West Virginia you might think they are like any other small towns.
For the most part this is true, except for the one outlying factor is that there
is death looming over this part of the Ohio Valley. Through a long drawn out
political tug of war starting in 1981 to the present, WTI a toxic waste
incinerator plant was constructed on the Ohio rivers 100 year flood plain. To
make matters even more disturbing is how close this monstrosity was built to an
elementary school and residential areas, 1100, and 400 feet consecutively.
Now why would anybody allow something so
threatening into their community? Well in a manner of speaking they
didn't.
The power of money and the corrupt and confused
government played a role to push this grim reaper into a community of lost jobs
and hungry people. The people aren't to blame for something that ended up
being different than what was initially promised to them, which was a waste to
power treatment facility. Somehow the politicians were sleeping on this one or
somebody slipped them a Mickey, but the first permit expired after eight years
and a new one was submitted and there was a slight change. It was for a toxic
waste incinerator permit. This was pushed through so fast and the construction
mounted to get the facility up before any opposition could get organized.
When the opposition finally mounted their campaign,
they were met by the long arm of the law and red tape. People were getting arrested left and
right, to try and save their community from something that was taken out of the local
communities hands and was orchestrated by the Ohio Department of Environment
Protection.
Mothers and Fathers, Business people, Grandparents, and many many
more were arrested for standing up for their rights that were so rudely ripped
from the hands of justice and placed at the feet of some greedy Multi-national
Corporate Giant.
There has been articles written in practically
every renowned newspaper and several magazines regarding this problem. You can
read more about all the issues in a Salon Magazine article at this address http://salon.com/politics2000/feature/2000/04/26/gore/index.html
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It has also been found that in this small area the
Cancer rate is almost double for the national average. The Cancer rate for this
area is 242.9 per 100,000 people compared to the National average Cancer rate of
170.8 per 100,000 people. This is a 70% increase over the National average.
Well now that you know just a little part of
what the people of this Valley have been, and are enduring, let me ask you for your
support.
Please sign this online petition and take the
time to write your Congress or Senate and tell them to take action against this
miscarriage of justice.
It takes funding to promote these causes that
protect us all. So Please if you could, send a small contribution to Global
Impact. It would help in the
fight for our cause. Thank you.
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