[StBernard] Re Chalmette Refinery Lawsuit

[Westley Annis]

You'd do better and be certain to wash out your gutter cans and hopefully by
now you have washed down your roof, windows, shutters, house, play yard
items, etc.  Not certain what to do about gardens, trees and soil.  
 
I think there are better avenues to address the needed changes in our
community starting with re-starting the meetings for the Local Emergency
Planning Commission again and making those public meeting schedules known.
Also, making sure our local officials understand we want more information,
good information and timely information because what happened is illegal and
it has adverse effects on public health.  What happened? What was released?
What precautions should the industry take to prevent? What precautions
should we have taken?  That is the information which should have been
readily available at 2AM when this occured, instead of residents waking up
and having to find out for themselves.
 
It is offensive, to me, that our health and safety, and that of our children
and grandchildren,  would be considered, by the original poster, as
collateral for parish government revenue, with the implication that local
officials would look the other way and that people should not expect
industry to operate on a more responsible level.  One would think ExxonMobil
and local officials equally would take offense with that implication as
well.  Are we begging industry to do business here at any costs?
 
ExxonMobil has been called the richest corporation in the world.  In recent
years they were found quilty of over 2,000 violations of the clean air act
in St Bernard Parish.  The Chalmette Vista Ambient Air Monitoring station
has some of the highest readings in the State for particulate matter and
sulfur dioxide.  When the new standards go into effect, our parish will be
non-attainment for sulfur dioxide, not to mention ozone.  Even if one wants
to disregard the offsite effects on those pesky human inhabitants, think
about the cost of lost economic development because of the added cost future
businesses will have in a nonattainment area.
 
There is a big difference between being a family orientated community which
happens to have a few heavily industrialized companies and being "A Refinery
Town."  
 
 
---  SJK
 


-----Original Message-----
   Everybody jump on the lawsuit bandwagon. I'm so sick of this. Spill hot
coffee from McDonalds on yourself and make a fortune (BTW: coffee is
supposed to be hot & you are supposed to be careful). Does anyone think past
the "Free money" that may or may not result from the lawsuits. I know the
lawyers love them.
   Do any of you realize how much this refinery contributes to the
community? They are very involved in community projects and even initiated a
number of them. They put many computers in schools to help our kids. They do
the "Coats For Kids" program. They sponsor a number of charity events that
directly benefit the community. They infuse revenue into the community in
many ways. They employ hundreds of our citizens. They spend money at our
restaurants and businesses. They sponsor a float in the St Patricks day and
Mardi Gras parades and the list goes on and on.
  Our community would be much worse off if they were to close. The reality
is  that could happen. They had layoffs last month and there are more
layoffs to come. This refinery has lost money the last few years and may not
be around in the near future, especially if they have to deal with lawsuits.
   Believe me they are very much concerned with community safety. They spend
millions of dollars on safety training. They spend billions conforming to
EPA regulations (as they should). This release was caused by a power outage.
No matter how careful you are there are somethings beyond your control. 
  The cost of operating this facility is astronomical and with the present
day economy there's just not much money to be made in crude refining.
There's much more profit in plastics and chemicals which this facility does
not do. 
   So when they are gone and we have a few hundred more unemployed citizens.
When your restaurant no longer gets those large lunch and dinner "take out
orders". When the community programs sponsored by them are gone. Then you
can pocket the meager damages you will end up with from your lawsuit. The
lawyers will get most of it anyway, and it will take "YEARS". I hope it's
worth what you will be losing.