Chicago Residents Rebel Against Koch Brothers and Rahm Emanuel Over Petroleum Coke Hazard

Chicago Residents Rebel Against Koch Brothers and Rahm Emanuel Over Petroleum Coke Hazard
MARK KARLIN, EDITOR OF BUZZFLASH AT TRUTHOUT


The Koch brothers are benefitting from the Alberta tar sands operation big time as they amass mountains of a byproduct -- petroleum coke -- to sell overseas.

As with many toxic industries, the Koch brothers are locating storage large storage piles of “petcoke” in poor down-on-their-heels neighborhoods. This first came to notice in Detroit, where the Kochs were storing the hazardous material -- in open air -- along the Detroit River until ships could transport it overseas (particularly to China).

As EcoNews reported last year:

The New York Times is reporting about a growing, dirty side effect of refining tar sands bitumen from Canada. The evidence is on clear display as a black mountain piles up alongside the Detroit River, thanks in part to Charles and David Koch.

“Assumption Park gives residents of this city lovely views of the Ambassador Bridge and the Detroit skyline. Lately they’ve been treated to another sight: a three-story pile of petroleum coke covering an entire city block on the other side of the Detroit River. Detroit’s ever-growing black mountain is the unloved, unwanted and long overlooked byproduct of Canada’s oil sands boom,” says the article, “A Black Mound of Canadian Oil Waste Is Rising Over Detroit.”

The toxic mountain of petroleum coke, or petcoke, is like coal but dirtier, and is being sold by Koch Carbon to fuel the coal plants of countries like China. “The coke (in Detroit) comes from a refinery alongside the river owned by Marathon Petroleum, which has been there since 1930. But it began refining exports from the Canadian oil sands—and producing the waste that is sold to Koch—only in November."

A study from Oil Change International earlier this year details just how dangerous petcoke is to the environment.

A similar storage hazard exists on Chicago's struggling Southwest Side, along the Calumet River. Many residents are revolting against Mayor Rahm Emanuel's proposed industry friendly regulations and support a ban on open storage of petroleum coke (a move opposed by Emanuel). .........................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.truth-out.org/buzzflash/commentary/item/18435-chicago-residents-rebel-against-koch-brothers-and-rahm-emanuel-over-petroleum-coke-hazard