Local Democracy
We live in a democracy. We have the opportunity to freely elect the people who will represent us at every level of government, from township trustees to representatives and senators. Even though we do this at every level, the elected representatives who are closest to us, and who are most likely to share our concerns for our communities are our local officials – township trustees, borough councilperson, and county commissioners. These people are often our neighbors and friends and we elect them because we know that they will have the best interests of the health and safety of our communities at heart. We may agree or disagree on national or world issues, but we trust that these representatives will work to keep out communities safe locally. So what happens when a community is threatened with some kind of environmental damage? What happens when a large, out of state corporation decides that one of our communities is an ideal place to dump the toxic waster from their factories, or store the contaminated water that comes back out of their fracked natural gas wells? The dangers are obvious and well documented – smell, contamination of drinking water sources, increased danger for our local fire fighters and first responders, damage to agriculture, increased health problems for all people nearby. What can our trusted local representatives do to protect our communities from these dangers? NOTHING! That's right – NOTHING! Yes, these elected leaders can challenge the permit, making sure that all the details are correct, but if the details are not correct, the corporation can fix the errors and resubmit the permit application which is pretty sure to be approved. Depending on the existing zoning ordinances local officials may be able to shift the location of some corporate installation slightly. But there is no action that local officials like township trustees or county commissioners can take that will in any way prevent the state and/or federal government from issuing the desired permit. NONE! In fact, the state and federal regulation processes that are supposed to assure clean air, clean water, and safe communities are all actually set up to assure that corporations get the permits they need to do the business they want, whether it is harmful to their neighbors or not. Whenever a new law is passed by the legislative branch (state or national), offices of the executive branch go to work writing the detailed requirements that a corporation must meet to carry out its business. However, the government staff of these offices may not be knowledgeable about the work of many corporations and so they call on representatives of the companies to explain their version of what the risks and benefits are and what is a reasonable way of carrying out their business. In other words, the very corporations that will be regulated get the chance to recommend how the regulations will be written and enforced. The fox is guarding the henhouse! There are a few places where elected community leaders have tried to fight back. Sometimes they have won the first round because corporations are so sure of receiving their permits that they are sloppy in their preparation. But when the corporation comes back with all the paperwork properly filled out, the permit for whatever environmentally damaging activity is sure to be granted. In the regulatory process, the so-called “property rights” of an outside corporation will be more highly valued than your community's rights to clean air and water. Are there any ways for communities to protect themselves against outside corporations whose work damages our lives, our safety and our comfort? This article will be continued next week.
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What's For Dinner?
Is there any question that gets asked more frequently? Every day that questions is asked in hundred of thousands of households. But does anyone really know what is in the food that we eat for dinner? Do we even have a right to know? Through the natural world God has given us an amazing variety of plants that we use as food. They nourish our bodies, and our spirits are nourished as we share that food with our families and friends. But what is in that food? Is it healthy, nutritious food, or filled with empty calories and chemical preservatives? Is it food that grows naturally, or food that has been genetically modified to make it resistant to certain pesticides and herbicides? Do you know what you are eating and feeding to your families? Over the last few years, many states have passed laws requiring that genetically modified ingredients be accurately labeled in all food products. At the same time, many huge food companies, and many of the companies that provide seeds, fertilizers, herbicides, and pesticides have resisted these laws, trying to have the information hidden or coded in some way. If these products are perfectly safe for us to eat, why are the companies afraid of letting us know what is in our food? This issue came up a year ago, in the form of a proposed national law euphemistically called the “Safe and Accurate Food Labeling Act.” The problem is that this act would have eliminated the requirements for accuracy in food labels, and allowed things which have not been proven to be safe to be added to food without being listed on the labels. It also would have overridden state laws that protect consumers. It was more properly known as the “Deny Americans the Right to Know” act, or the DARK act. In July last year this proposed DARK act was defeated, preserving the right of states to pass laws protecting consumers, and protecting the right of consumers to know what is in the food they buy. That should have settled it, right? No such luck! Now the grocery and food industry is back with another proposal – instead of clearly legible labels to tell what is in the food, they want to make the information available only to those who want to go hunting for it. This law would allow food companies to hide information about genetically modified ingredients in the QR codes (Those little square boxes that require a smartphone and an App to read) or make it available only by calling the company's 1-800 number. Either way, the information about your food becomes more and more difficult for you to obtain. The new DARK act will make it clear - You won't have a right to know what companies are putting in your food! The companies don't want you to have that right! We all have the right to know what is in our food, and companies that produce seed, fertilizer, herbicides and processed food have a responsibility to respect that right. All of us can let our senators know that we strongly oppose any effort to hide health information about what is in our food. We DO have the right to know! We can also vote with our shopping power by buying local, unprocessed foods. That can mean a big change in our thinking and habits but it sure gets the message across to the food industry! Recently the Susquehanna River Basin Commission reported that the water use for drilling and hydraulic fracturing has had a “Minor Impact” on the resources of the Susquehanna River Basin. We need to serious questions what is a “minor” impact. The same report says that the drilling companies have used an average of 6,700,000 gallons of water per day every day for more than five years, more than 13 billion gallons. This is 13 billion gallons of water that belongs to all the people of Pennsylvania that is being used to make a tremendous profit for a few corporations. It is first contaminated with chemicals, then pumped at high pressure into the ground, breaking up the rock a mile or more below the surface. Some of this water comes back up, but it is now so completely contaminated that it is a hazardous waste product. A few days after reading that report I looked at the United States Geological Survey website to find the streamflow of the Susquehanna just below Williamsport. The flow of the river is measured in Cubic Feet per Second (CFS) but it easily converts to Gallons per minute. On Monday after the rainy first week of May the flow was 516,157 gallons per minute, but most weeks are not that rainy and the flow is even lower. Even after a week of rain, the gas drilling industry is using enough water every day to dry up the river for almost 13 minutes! Making a river run dry for 13 (or more) minutes every day is NOT a “minor impact!” Of course all of that water is not taken from a single place at a single time, so those of us who live downstream don't notice the problem. The water is mostly taken from six smaller watersheds, not evenly divided among all the smaller streams that feed the Susquehanna. While we may not notice the difference in the river below Williamsport, it is a very large difference in those six streams where more than 70% of the water is withdrawn. So far, we here in Pennsylvania have been safe from the problems of water that have afflicted other parts of the country and the world.. We have been blessed with a climate that gives us a lot of rain, plenty of springs and many beautifully flowing streams and rivers. The way of life in Pennsylvania has been built on that water – agriculture, recreation, hunting and fishing are multimillion dollar businesses here, providing income for hundreds of businesses, large and small, and providing long-term jobs for thousands of employees. The rest of the country and the world have not been so lucky. The wars of the 20th century were fought over land and oil. The wars of the 21st are going to be fought over water. Already large government-owned corporations from Saudi Arabia are growing food on irrigated land in the US to send back to Saudi Arabia. Already large areas of the Southwestern part of the US suffer from a seriously depleted water table that will take centuries to replenish. Wells that pumped water for more than one hundred years are now not deep enough to reach the water level. In the American Southwest states vie with one another over the rights to pump a certain quantity of water from above-ground rivers and underground aquifers. Court battles are common as people struggle to find enough water. Many communities have had to ration water, or have had their pipes go dry entirely because there is not enough water to go around. This pumping and contaminating of our water for the profit of a few corporations is a threat to our way of life. Do you believe pumping 6,700,000 gallons a day of the Susquehanna river into the ground to come back contaminated is a “minor impact?” If not, speak with your neighbors about what is happening, write letters to the editor, and perhaps most importantly, write to the Susquehanna River Basin Commission (4423 N Front St, Harrisburg, PA 17110) and let them know what you think. |
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