Whistleblowers expose corruption in EPA Chemical Safety Office

Post by destitude » Sat, Aug 07, 2021, 4:29 AM UTC

kingsloi wrote: post #16

voisin wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am sorry to hear about the personal impact to your family. I think things like the air quality sensor you run are the actual solution here. In the absence of government officials doing their job properly, it is up to individuals to do it for themselves. I wonder if there would be an open source solution for water quality testing and air quality testing, and if enough could be built by citizen hackers to create a di…

Thank you, I appreciate it. I can only bring awareness to it, one man vs mega polluters is an impossible fight. I live a stone's throw from the Lake Michigan shoreline, and would happily go out there daily to get a water sample, before my normal 9-5. If anyone is interested in hacking something together. The air sensor I run is open source, for anyone interested.

Post by diordiderot » Sat, Aug 07, 2021, 5:01 AM UTC

jrockway wrote: post #41

ClumsyPilot wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>"In the absence of government officials doing their job properly, it is up to individuals to do it for themselves." Does 'it' include seizing the means of pollution and dismantling them brick by brick? Otherwise you'll be in same situation as my town in Russia, where everyone knowns about a polluting zink refunery upwind, and it's still giving thousands of people cancer.

I feel like in the US, public pressure can result in action against corporations that are killing people. The government has the legal framework to bring these types of cases, but may not always find every case on its own. The squeaky wheel gets the grease and all that.

Post by hypersoar » Sat, Aug 07, 2021, 6:48 AM UTC

wbl wrote: post #17

voisin wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Probably trying to avoid libel since nothing has been proven in court.

Truth is an absolute defense to libel in the US. Furthermore because this is the sort of reporting on a matter of public concern that society benefits from the standard gets tighter: it's not enough to show something was false, you have to show the publication should have known or acted maliciously in publishing. Incredibly high bar.

Post by jpgvm » Sat, Aug 07, 2021, 8:04 AM UTC

mandmandam wrote: post #31

hanniabu wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not sure why you're getting so heavily voted for something so blatantly obvious.

Probably because the article expressly states: > “The problems in OCSPP are not due solely to the Trump administration and its appointees,” said Bennett. “The issues faced by our clients occurred before Trump took office, during the Trump years, and continue now.”

Post by yunohn » Sat, Aug 07, 2021, 9:50 AM UTC

zug_zug wrote: post #42

I try not to get emotional, but part of me thinks if death penalty were applicable to such crimes it would be an extraordinarily pragmatic decision. The history of chemicals damaging American lives due to corruption is long and sordid. Many of these chemicals, if improperly classified, can ruin an order of magnitude more lives than any serial killer. It can be rather shocking and disturbing to remind oneself exactly…