Tire Fire Snuffed Out

In today's BFP: IP abandons tire-burn plan.

Jessica Edgerly, a community organizer with the Montpelier-based Toxics Action Center, an organization that had campaigned against the burn, called Tuesday "a great day for both public health and the environment."

She termed the outcome "a testament to the hard work of so many Vermonters, proving that health triumphs over profit."

Uh-huh, nice spin Ms Edgerly. As much as I'm pleased with the halt, the Freeps article quotes the IP shill:

"Throughout this process, our goal has been to balance the economic benefits of the project with our commitment to manage our environmental footprint in a responsible manner," said Donna Wadsworth, the mill's communications and environmental manager, in announcing the end of the trial. "This trial has allowed us to assess the economics without compromising our pledge to operate in compliance."

Ms Wadsworth uses the acceptable enviro-speak, but you can bet the decision was profit-motivated. Environmental footprint, indeed, as Flyfisher has written here.

Performance as employers: 1992 - In sworn testimony before a Senate Subcommittee on Labor, Stephen Perry, representing the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and the United Paperworkers International Union, said, "At Ticonderoga, New York, chlorine and chlorine dioxide spills were so commonplace that even the complaint officer was gassed during the inspection." ("Senate Subcommittee on Labor Hearing on: OSHA Reform: Fulfilling the Promise of a Safe and Healthy Workplace," Federal News Service, 17 March 1992)

Screw the employees, right? Who cares what toxic shit their exposed to. They'll get over it, expendable peons that they are.

Performance as environmental stewards: 1991 - International Paper Co. pleads guilty to five felony counts and pays $2.2 million in federal fines for illegally storing and treating hazardous waste and making false statements to regulators. The infractions occurred at the company's Androscoggin mill in Jay, Maine. According to a release by the U.S. Department of Justice, IP pleaded guilty to three violations of hazardous waste laws under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) involving the generating, storing, and treating of hazardous waste without a federal or state permit.

Well there you have it, what can I say. Their fucking white-collar criminals.

Not a very admirable record, when clearly the scientific evidence was against it and the environmental impact for Vermonters was reprehensible.