not being held accountable for criminality that would put blood-and-flesh people in jail. Score one for unfettered capitalism run amok in a right-wing-soused trickle-down society.

company that did this, Freedom Industries, while going along with defunding the government, talking against regulation, and blaming Obama for not stopping the leak, after his sponsors lobbied to be allowed to self-regulate. It's a win-win!

Shows the absurdity of the idea that corporations are people. It lets business owners off the hook. I hope this isn't the case this time but there are a lot of really bad people running companies in WV.

But that's an apples and oranges comparison. If we gave a few $100,000 to our state's politicians, we'd be fine too.

How long has this outfit been around?
About two weeks, in its current form. Freedom Industries is the product of a merger effective Dec. 31, 2013, that combined Etowah River Terminal, the facility where the leak occurred, Crete Technologies, and Poca Blending, located in nearby Nitro. A predecessor company called Freedom Industries was formed in 1986, according to our colleagues at Bloomberg News. How the pieces of the newly formed mini-conglomerate fit together merits urgent inquiry, as does the question of whether there’s any connection between the corporate mash-up and the fateful opening of a one-inch hole that allowed a noxious chemical to escape.

Who’s behind Freedom Industries?
Gary Southern, company president, has been speaking on behalf of Freedom. Legal filings show that Southern is also the president of a company called Enviromine Inc., which supplies “environmental chemistries and services” to coal companies.

. . . .

Anybody else interesting behind Freedom Industries?
Well, yes. State records in West Virginia show that a man named Carl L. Kennedy II joined Gary Southern in forming the company years ago. A well-known restaurant owner and man-about-town in Charleston, according to the Gazette, Kennedy is a twice-convicted felon. The paper reported on Sunday that he pleaded guilty in federal court in West Virginia in 2005 to tax evasion and was sentenced to three years in prison, a penalty that was reduced after he agreed to wear a wire and make controlled cocaine buys in a separate investigation. Kennedy had some background in the cocaine field; in 1987 he “pleaded guilty to selling between 10 and 12 ounces of cocaine in connection with a scandal that toppled then-Charleston Mayor Mike Roark,” the Gazette explained. Kennedy apparently no longer works at Freedom Industries. In another twist, Stover-Kennedy, Farrell’s friend and the Facebook defender of Freedom Industries, is Kennedy’s ex-wife, according to Gazette archives.

What exactly does Freedom Industries do and why was its chemical facility so close to the river that feeds into the Charleston water supply?
According to its website, the company is “a full-service producer of specialty chemicals for the mining, steel, and cement industries.” The Etowah River Terminal, where the company’s corporate office is located, sits along the Elk River near the intake facilities for the West Virginia division of American Water Works (AWK), the largest publicly traded water utility in the U.S. The Freedom website notes that its location makes the Etowah terminal accessible by barge and truck; barges travel on rivers. One imagines that the lawyers who are already filing damage lawsuits may have some interest in the terminal’s proximity to the water supply, an issue that could come back to haunt not only Freedom Industries but also American Water Works, a corporation with far deeper pockets and, presumably, more extensive liability insurance policies.

http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-01-13/meet-freedom-industries-the-company-behind-the-west-virginia-spill

We already have probable cause because we have the tank and the CEO of FI has spoken on the incident. So, who do we put direct pressure on? Who do we call and ask what is being done to prosecute FI?

Would someone be kind enough to post a link to the petition? I'd gladly sign and have a lot of friends who would, as well. I'm not great at remembering web addresses!

On a more optimistic front, the EPA has come out, solidly, against the Pebble Mine (copper and gold) in Bristol Bay:

Went there and signed up; emailed to entire address book except my brother who is a wingnut.