Why should you care?

Joe Barton (R TX district 6) got $451,000 in contributions from the petro and utilities industries in his 2004 bid for election. That's one of every five dollars he raised.

So why should you care?

The Energy bill Passed by Congress a few months back had an amendment submitted which would exempt those industries from paying to clean up their own mess. Specifically any MTBE (fuel additive) spill. MTBE contaminates drinking water and is a carcinogen. Joe Barton authored and sponsored that amendment.

The cost of MTBE cleanup over the next 30 years is estimated as high as $3 billion. Exxon/Mobile earned that much in profits LAST QUARTER! Yet Joe Barton felt it important to shift the $300,000,000 annual cost to you, the tax payer.

Did the amendment pass? Thankfully no, in spite of all the arm twisting that Lil' Joe and his buddy Tom DeLay could do. It failed by a vote of 219 to 213. Of the 107 Representatives who actually have contamination in their districts 21 voted for the amendment, 19 Republicans and 2 Democrats.

What these people do affects you. It affects your everyday life. It costs you in taxes and it costs you in your quality of life and it costs you in health care expenses and it could cost you your very life.

Joe doesn't care, he drinks bottled water . . .