Check this out that was in the Daily Kos.
On Tue, Jan 21, 2014 at 2:39 PM, Yarnell, Karen <
Karen.Yarnell@fairmontstate.edu> wrote:
I had already received this. Here is a response from an ecologist at
Fairmont State University.
Karen,
I read the letter that Ms. Fox would like to send earlier today, and
appreciate some of her frustration. But the problem as I see it is not the
inability of the EPA et.al to communicate, but that chemicals do not have
to get any toxicity testing before they are used in the environment, unlike
medicines and the FDA. The is due to the power of the industrial complex
which controls congress and the state legislature. Having worked in
ecotoxicology for a while as a PhD student I called it bio-prostitution.
I found it very funny, but not unexpected that Manchin and Tomblin who are
in the back pocket of the extractive industry in WV are both NOW calling
for inspections. You can bet that they already talked to the buddies and
said “hey look I’ve got to say this now, but you know I’ve got your back”.
Anyway from what I know the letter would not do any good. It is congress
that has to say “before you can use this substance in the environment you
have to show it does no harm” the EPA does not have the money or the legal
right to do so, so the MSDS don’t have adequate information to protect the
public or the environment.
Phil
*From:* Paul Wilson [mailto:pjgrunt@gmail.com]
*Sent:* Tuesday, January 21, 2014 11:47 AM
*To:* Gary Nelson; Gwen Jones; Yarnell, Karen
*Subject:* Fwd: WV water situation - response requested
Thought you guys might be interested in signing on to this letter from WV
scientists and health Professionals. best, paul
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: *Danielle Fox* DFox@ucsusa.org
Date: Tue, Jan 21, 2014 at 11:15 AM
Subject: WV water situation - response requested
To: "pjgrunt@gmail.com" pjgrunt@gmail.com
Dear Mr. Wilson,
I'm writing to see if you would be willing to sign on to a letter from
scientists and health professionals regarding the current water crisis
after the Elk River chemical spill. I have a PDF here the letter for your
review:
http://www.ucsusa.org/assets/documents/center-for-science-and-democracy/lett....
To say the least, there has been significant confusion and often
contradictory information regarding the safety of the water supply. Part of
the problem is that the EPA, CDC, and other government agencies have failed
to make scientific experts available to the public and the press to share
what is known and what is not known about the chemical that leaked into the
river. My colleague Gretchen Goldman has a blog post that details some of
the concerns we have:
http://blog.ucsusa.org/is-the-water-safe-the-west-virginia-chemical-spill-an...
.
This ongoing situation allows us to demonstrate to federal officials that
their decisions limiting the ability of government scientists to share
their expertise with the public have significant real world consequences.
After we send the letter to EPA and CDC officials and make it public, we
will use it in follow-up meetings with agency staff.
It would be helpful if you could respond to this message by tomorrow
evening so that we may get the letter ready this week. When you respond,
assuming you are willing to sign the letter, please let me know how you
would like to be listed:
FULL NAME:
TITLE, IF APPLICABLE:
DEPARTMENT, IF APPLICABLE:
INSTITUTION (for identification purposes only):
CITY:
ZIP CODE:
FIELD OF STUDY:
HIGHEST DEGREE ACHIEVED:
Also, please feel free to send this letter on to colleagues. The letter is
open for signature by scientists and health professionals with or working
towards advanced degrees in their fields who live or work in West Virginia.
I look forward to hearing back from you, and am happy to answer any
questions you might have.
Best,
Danielle Fox
--
Paul Wilson
Sierra Club
504 Jefferson Ave
Charles Town, WV 25414-1130
Phone: 304-725-4360
Cell: 304-279-1361
"There is no forward until you have gone back" ~Buddha
"In all things of nature there is something of the marvelous" ~ Aristotle