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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsLac Megantic update: U.S. Railway Co. refuses to pay $4 million dollar clean up bill
Railways refusal to pay for cleanup is another wound for Lac-Mégantic:
As the horror of the Lac-Mégantic train crash fully sinks in, another travesty has emerged from MM&A, the U.S.-owned railway that was responsible for the crash. And in some ways its almost as unsettling as the original incident.
According to the Stars Allan Woods, the mayor of the once-charming Quebec town says the rail company, Montreal, Maine & Atlantic, is refusing to pay the $4-million cleanup bill for the train accident that destroyed a huge swath of the towns centre and leaked 5.7 million litres of crude oil into the soil, lake and nearby river. Thats a shocking lack of moral and corporate responsibility.
While MM&As troubles continue, with a Quebec police raid on its Montreal offices late this week, the companys tawdry refusal to pay the cleanup crews has created a furor among citizens who should be left to grieve without distractions the loss of so many friends and relatives. Already so deeply wounded, they should not be subjected to further outrage from the company that is behind the desolation of their town.
If MM&A refuses to pay its way, then perhaps the public shaming it is experiencing will finally provide the incentive to honour its debt. Sadly, the company has not issued any statements to that effect. In any case, MM&A must step up, take care of its responsibility to the people of Lac-Mégantic and pay the cleanup crews.
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http://www.thestar.com/opinion/editorials/2013/07/27/railways_refusal_to_pay_for_cleanup_is_another_wound_for_lacmgantic_editorial.html
Nevernose
(13,081 posts)That has no shame or concept of morality.
cali
(114,904 posts)this is a guy that joked that he'd have to wear a bullet proof vest when he went to Lac Megantic- and that was two days after the derailment.
Egalitarian Thug
(12,448 posts)cali
(114,904 posts)Egalitarian Thug
(12,448 posts)Brickbat
(19,339 posts)And the public shaming won't work. If it pays, that's as good as an admission of liability.
K&R
cali
(114,904 posts)How easy it would be to lay the blame for the tragedy in Lac-Mégantic on the engineer who ran the train. But the real responsibility lies with the governments on both sides of the border who have deregulated their transport sectors, gutted freshwater protections and promoted the spectacular growth and transport of new and unsustainable fossil fuels.
Starting back in the 1970s, the US government deregulated rail transport, allowing deep staff reductions, the removal of brakemen from trains and lower safety standards for shipping hazardous materials. Canadian governments followed suit and allowed the railways to self-regulate safety standards and continue to ship oil in the older, accident-prone tanker cars of the kind that crashed into Lac-Mégantic.
Just last year, Transport Canada gave Montreal, Maine and Atlantic Railways the green light to run each train with just one engineer, which explains how one man came to be in charge of 72 cars and five locomotives carrying combustible energy through inhabited communities.
The Harper government, meanwhile, has gutted environmental regulation and freshwater protection in order to speed up the development of the Alberta tar sands
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http://rabble.ca/blogs/bloggers/maude-barlow/2013/07/lac-m%C3%A9gantic-collision-water-oil-and-transport-deregulation
kartski
(14 posts)What do they have him pissing in a bottle all day?
Downwinder
(12,869 posts)Worked with Bank of America in Florida.
http://tbo.com/news/business/florida-couple-threatens-bank-with-asset-seizure-finally-gets-check-235412
cali
(114,904 posts)It's a U.S. Company. I'm not sure how the Canadian government could enforce that.
Downwinder
(12,869 posts)Take the assets in Canada. then go to US courts. Or file initially in US.
cali
(114,904 posts)t might take weeks before the extent of the damage from the July 6 train derailment in Lac-Mégantic is known, but 16 days after a train carrying crude oil crashed into the heart of Lac-Mégantic, the provincial government has revealed just how much oil appears to have been spilled.
There were 7.2 million litres of light crude oil aboard the ill-fated Montreal Main & Atlantic Railway train, but Quebecs Department of Sustainable Development, Environment and Parks says about 5.63 million litres were released into the air, water and soil during the derailment.
Of the 72 tankers, which were carrying 100,000 litres each, only nine withstood the impact. Twenty tankers were completely emptied, and an additional 43 with an estimated 670,000 residual litres of crude oil among them were drained and moved in the cleanup efforts following the deadly explosion.
Earlier reports indicate it took first responders roughly 72 hours after the crash to plug the spilling crude and minimize damage to the nearby Chaudière River, which has its source in Lac Mégantic. Using a dam between the lake and the river, as well as a system of downstream dikes, cleanup crews slowed the flow of contaminated water and were able to pump it out.
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http://www.edmontonjournal.com/news/million+litres+spilled+M%C3%A9gantic/8693863/story.html
Stonepounder
(4,033 posts)My wife and I used to enjoy traveling to other countries. Now I would be too embarrassed to go outside of the US. We have the Attorney General of the US having to promise, in writing, that we won't seek the death penalty and won't torture one of our citizens if extradited (to Russia, no less!). We have state governments passing blatantly unconstitutional laws to disenfranchise minorities, and take constitutional rights away from women. We have foreign countries 'outsourcing' their jobs to the US because prison labor is so cheap (even cheaper than locating factories in Mexico!). We have a federal government that is so consumed at the thought of a black man in the White House that it is even threatening to shut down the government and let the country go bankrupt rather than negotiate with the President. I could go on, but I would feel too ashamed to show my face in Mexico, or Canada, or anywhere in Europe.
When I hear someone singing about 'Proud to be an American, because at least I know I'm free' I want to puke.
Monk06
(7,675 posts)their stock going to $0.
Downwinder
(12,869 posts)a Rail Road has. Probably about the same as a fertilizer company.
malaise
(269,208 posts)along with all those who made this accident possible.
Regulations are mandatory!!
Catherina
(35,568 posts)Mopar151
(10,002 posts)Until he's in the hands of the Mounties. He has a new toothbrush in the inside pocket of his suitcoat, even now.