The Toledo City Paper printed a good article this week by Jessica Luther on the proposed coking plant. This project is a disaster in the making, and though there is a certain amount of public outrage, it seems that the issue isn't being treated with the gravity it deserves in much of the media. In a city already suffering from the effects of two oil refineries filling the air with poison, there needs to be a serious effort to keep polluters like FDS from moving in.
David Mann, speaking on behalf of the Lucas County commissioners, stated that the project would have the approval of the commissioners so long as there was a "balance between economic and environmental factors". We would hope that our current board of commissioners, who portray themselves as quite green in front of the camera, would be more concerned about the health of our community than to support a project like this that threatens to add millions of pounds of toxic waste into our city each year.
The only supposed benefit of the plant would be the employment of around 150 new workers. Even for those who consider the chance to work in such a toxic workplace a good thing, it seems a rather greed driven trade off for the cancer, birth defects and environmental degradation it would cause.
The wealthy corporations trying to push this into our community have smart, experienced public relations people that will try very hard to convince us that the project is safe and clean, already having gone so far as to call it "green" because the toxins being churned out can be used to fuel electric generators. But releasing mercury, lead, and sulfur dioxide into our air and water isn't "green" no matter how you dress it up.
If we succeed in keeping this disaster out of our community, those behind it say they will simply put it in another state. Wherever they go, let's hope the people there fight it as well.
2 comments:
I'm still waiting for someone to do some digging on Frank D. Stella himself. Let's just say that it is well known around Detroit Stella is a "well-connected" man.
I had some business dealings with Stella when he was "only" a restaurant equipment dealer a long time ago, and it was clear even to my 20-something eyes that Mr. Stella played by a different set of rules than middle-management nobodies like I was at the time.
I'm reminded of a quote from a certain movie about some New York businessmen:
"...They did whatever they wanted. They double-parked in front of a hydrant and nobody ever gave them a ticket. In the summer when they played cards all night, nobody ever called the cops."
I'm just saying, that's all; certain coincidences made in the mind, nothing concrete...
:-}
Yeah, we've been doing some looking.
So far the only thing we've come up with is that a Frank Stella apparently was presenent in support of famous Detroit crime boss Jack Tocco during his sentencing.
Still looking for something more substantial though, not that mafia ties are necessary to criticize his involvement in this project.
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