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Welcome to www.dante7.com. The personal web site of Dante Picciano and friends.
Reform Candidate Tells the Residents of Pennsylvania's 29th Senate District -- Don't Be Fooled!
WAM-MY
WAM-MY's tour will begin at 8:00 am outside the Pocono Record, 511 Lenox St., Stroudsburg, and proceed as follows: 9:00 am Rep. Argall's District office, West Broad Street Tamaqua 10:00 am Senator Jim Rhoades' 1 West Centre Street Mahanoy City 11:00 am Pottsville, at the corner of Routes 209 and 61 12:00 noon 61 North 3rd Street Hamburg 2:30 pm 5th and Penn Streets Reading
Note: All times are approximate, and the event is subject to cancellation should the weather be unsuitable. Press Release DAVE ARGALL'S CAMPAIGN CONTRIBUTORS
Posted - April 2, 2008  Dave "PAC-Man" ArgallThe 124th legislative district consists of parts of Berks and Schuylkill counties and State Representative Dave Argall has represented the people of the district in the Pennsylvania General Assembly since 1985. We doubt if many people have ever analyzed Mr. Argall's campaign contribution records. A review of the 2007 Campaign Finance Report for Volunteers for Argall, Dave Argall's campaign committee, showed the following. In 2007, approximately 93% of all contributions to Mr. Argall's campaign came from outside the 124th district. Mr. Argall received $118,064.08 in campaign contributions, including $72,175 from 75 different political action committees (PACs) or lobbyists. Mr. Argall received $2,500 from the Waste Management PAC alone. Ask yourself these questions... Why would 75 different PACs donate $72,175 to the political campaign of a state legislator from Tamaqua? What did these PACs expect from Mr. Argall? What did Mr. Argall do for these PACs? Mr. Argall also received $41,500 in other contributions, including the following: $10,000 from James W. Greenlee, Philadelphia; These are some examples of contributors who do not live in the 124th legislative district. James W. Greenlee is listed as an attorney from Philadelphia. Why would an attorney in Philadelphia donate $10,000 to the political campaign of a state legislator from Tamaqua? What did Mr. Greenlee expect from Mr. Argall? What did Mr. Argall do for Mr. Greenlee? R. Mike Ward is listed as the President/CEO of Double Diamond in Dallas, Texas. Why would the President/CEO of a company in Dallas, Texas donate $1,000 to the political campaign of a state legislator from Tamaqua? What did Mr. Ward expect from Mr. Argall? What did Mr. Argall do for Mr. Ward? One thing is very obvious. Mr. Argall is heavily supported by special interest groups and lobbyists. Ask yourself this question: Are Mr. Argall's legislative votes influenced by the acceptance of these PAC contributions? A more important question to ask is: What has Mr. Argall done for any of the REAL problems facing the people in his district? The answer to this question is NOTHING. Mr. Argall appears to be too busy having his picture taken giving away our tax money with cardboard checks than with understanding and dealing with the REAL problems in his district. If you are satisfied with the 50.7 cents tax on a gallon of gasoline, property taxes, the condition of our bridges and highways, the cost of health care, the cancer epidemic and the cardboard checks, please vote for Mr. Argall in the next election. Remember without your VOTE, all the PAC money in the world would mean NOTHING for Mr. Argall. Finally, ask yourself this question… Are you better off now than you were two years ago? If your answer is NO, it is time for a change. This letter was paid for by Dante Picciano, private citizen – it was NOT paid for with taxpayers' money. FROM DEP TO ACTIVIST
Posted - April 6, 2008  Bob GadinskiBob Gadinski never dreamed of becoming an environmental activist after retiring from the state Department of Environmental Protection a few years back. But he couldn't ignore plans that could impact water quality near his home in Mowry, Schuylkill County, and in other communities throughout the anthracite coal region, he said. "I had no intention of doing any environmental work," Gadinski said. A newspaper article, though, changed his mind, he said. The story detailed a mine-reclamation project that he felt had the potential to poison wells in the Lavelle area, including a number of new homes. Gadinski did his homework and shared his concerns with PPL, the company planning the project, hoping for an alternative plan for the Locust Summit pit. "I was told that no matter what I said the project was going through, and that's what made me very, very intense in this, if you want to call it, crusade or campaign," he said. "People have the right to help determine what is acceptable where they live," Gadinski said. "They shouldn't be told." Lived above a fire Gadinski, at 59, didn't start his career with the state agency. He actually began as a science teacher and football coach in Shenandoah, where he grew up. After marrying, he and his wife moved to Centralia, where he learned about environmental hazards and government intervention firsthand. "We moved to Centralia in 1977. We were told by the Bureau of Mines that there were no problems," he recalled. But carbon monoxide seeped into homes from the mine fire burning beneath the small town. Gadinski remembers all too well basement alarms sounding in the middle of the night alerting them to the presence of the gas. He and his wife wanted to "get out of Dodge" and opted for a voluntary program to relocate, taking a serious loss on their home, he said. Others who left before and after the Gadinskis got full market value for their homes under federal relocation programs, he said. "We got screwed big time," Gadinski said. Five years later, he found himself working in the government – for the state Department of Environmental Resources, DEP's predecessor, but not in its mining office. He started as a geologist, and then became a hydrogeologist, for DER's Northeast Regional Office in Wilkes-Barre, where he worked on scores of projects involving groundwater contamination over the next 18 years, he said. Gadinski's bosses there liked him, too. Larry Pawlush, who heads the department's Water Quality division, described Gadinski as brilliant and "one of the finest people who worked for me. His work was outstanding. His conclusions were right on the money." Pawlush also remembers the department's demanding workload and how Gadinski tenaciously tackled each new environmental problem. "Bob does his own research and comes up with the best decisions," he said. "If you have Bob on your side, you've got a winner." Gadinski also always had strong opinions about protecting the environment and often went above and beyond what was expected of him, doing scientific research papers outside of the office, said Ed Schoener, another former boss at the department. His work was "technically, very complete" and he was always enthusiastic, said Schoener, who now has an environmental consulting business. Schoener said he believes Gadinski's passion for the environment stems from his own experiences growing up and living in the anthracite region and seeing scars left on the land by the coal industry. "He's passionate about it because of the consequences to people's lives," he said. "He's lived and breathed the coal dust. He's a hard-headed son of the coal region." Fly ash fears Anthracite mining did leave its mark on the region. Culm banks tower over many small towns and villages, often sitting next to deep pits where coal was stripped from the earth. Gadinski lives near the Mowry bank and Locust Summit pit, which PPL plans to reclaim using fly ash from its cogeneration plants. The plants burn culm or waste coal, such as that in the Mowry bank, for energy. The reclamation plan doesn't sit well with Gadinski, though. Not long after talking with PPL, he said, the electric power company had a release from its Martin's Creek plant – 100 million gallons of fly ash-contaminated water went into the Delaware River, causing concerns about high levels of arsenic that could get into drinking water systems. The company spent $47 million at the insistence of DEP to remove the fly ash from the river, he said. "They actually vacuumed the fly ash from the bottom of the Delaware River," Gadinski said. "Here (in northeastern Pennsylvania), they want to bring the same material and they want to dump it in the strip pits. They're telling the people in this area that it's beneficial. "How could it be beneficial here, but harmful in the Delaware River?" he asked. Studies have shown that fly ash, or coal combustion waste, should be managed as a waste, monitored and placed where it can't contaminate surface or groundwater, Gadinski said. But managing fly ash as a waste costs too much money, he said. And stoker ash is not the same as fly ash, Gadinski noted, countering past claims. "Coal is primarily 99 percent carbon, especially anthracite," he said. "You burn it and you get a complete burn. Cogeneration plants burn primarily rock." That rock, or carbonation shale, has a lot of inorganics, specifically heavy metals, Gadinski said. When that rock is burned in a cogeneration plant, the metals are concentrated, he explained. "You're increasing the concentration by 10 times," Gadinski said. "Technically, you're creating an industrial waste, and it is not the coal ash that you would get out of your stove." Plus, many cogeneration plants burn other materials with the shale, including cement kiln dust or limekiln dust, he said. One Lehigh Valley plant was permitted to burn 200 tons of tires an hour, he added. "There are going to be some contaminants in that ash," Gadinski said, "and that ash is going to be dumped in the stripping pits here in northeastern Pennsylvania." There are also proposals to bring in fly ash from other states, such as Kentucky, Tennessee and Georgia, to reclaim the strip pits in this region, he said. "People should be aware of this," Gadinski said. "It's not just the local waste that's being brought in, but waste that's proposed to be brought in from all around the United States and dumped into our strippings." No written regulations exist on fly ash, he said. In fact, the federal Office of Surface Mining wants voluntary regulations for fly ash, Gadinski said. "Voluntary regulations simply will not work," he said. "The fox cannot watch the chicken coop, if you want any chickens. And that's one of the reasons I became involved." Gadinski twice took his concerns to Washington, D.C., talking to Environmental Protection Agency and Office of Surface Mining officials and requesting "mandatory and forceful regulations be put in place so that the public health and the environment is adequately protected. "But they just want to fill up the holes …fill up the holes, cover them up and say, 'Now, this is beneficial,' because there are no holes," he continued. "They're not worrying about what's happening in the subsurface, like in Ellengowen." Citizens' causes Dante Picciano got to know Gadinski after the Delaware River fly ash spill. Picciano, of Army for a Clean Environment, said he wrote a letter criticizing DEP's beneficial use of fly ash policy. He, too, couldn't understand why the fly ash was a contaminant in the Delaware River, but 30 miles west, the same fly ash dumped in a strip pit was beneficial. "How could this be?" Picciano asked. DEP's response was dismissive, he said. Then, Gadinski called him. He was no longer with the department; the long-time hydrogeologist explained that he reviewed the data and disagreed with the references used, Picciano recalled. He asked Gadinski to testify as an expert on his group's behalf, coming up with his own conclusions, in their action against Lehigh Coal and Navigation. "He was an expert in our case," Picciano said. Two weeks before the trial, Lehigh gave back the permit to dump fly ash in the enormous Springdale pit, which runs along three communities. "I think we won," Picciano said. The use of fly ash in strip pits like Springdale is not about a beneficial use but economics, he said. The owners of the mines get paid to take the fly ash, he added. In the years since meeting Gadinski, Picciano said he has gotten to know a man he calls "a bright, intelligent scientist." "I rely on him quite heavily for his expertise," he said. Citizens Advocates United to Safeguard the Environment (CAUSE) also called on Gadinski's expertise in the group's opposition to dredged material being used by Hazleton Creek Properties. He had testified before the state Environmental Hearing Board last year and planned to do so again this year. Hazleton's use of river dredge is one of the issues Picciano and Gadinski have discussed, along with other potential health hazards in the region, including a number of Superfund sites, or those deemed by the EPA as some of the most hazardous in the nation. They also discussed the Ellengowen pit, where changes underground can't be easily explained, Picciano said. Ellengowen Gadinski reviewed DEP's file on the reclamation project at Ellengowen and said he couldn't believe what he found. The heavy metal concentrations caught his attention first, especially the iron, manganese and lead levels. Plus, the temperature of the mine pool ranged from 70 to 75 degrees – 20 degrees higher than the normal groundwater temperature in northeastern Pennsylvania, he said. "This totally amazed me and nobody can explain why the temperatures are so high," Gadinski said. "Are we experiencing an exothermic reaction with the ash that's in place? Is it a result of the cooling water that is being dumped back into the mine pool? Nobody knows." As for the lead levels, Gadinski asked DEP for its split samples, or samples verifying the high levels. There were none; the rules don't require them, he said. "I know when I worked with the state, if we got a high lead level that approached or exceeded the drinking water standard, we were out there with buckets collecting samples to verify the numbers," he said. "This was never done at any of the sites." The lead levels aren't at the safe drinking water standard – they're 40 to 50 times the level consider safe for drinking, Gadinski said."They're trying to tell me that those lead levels are background," he said. "This is what you expect to find in the anthracite coal region." Yet, from his time as a DEP employee, Gadinski said he can't remember one lead level approaching the numbers at the Ellengowen pit, including the numerous Superfund sites – Margill Battery, C&D Recycling and McAdoo Associates – he worked on. Plus, the water's pH jumped from 5 to 10 due to alkalinity of the ash, Gadinski said. DEP sees it as an improvement, but he isn't sure because water from the mine pool discharges to the surface, specifically Mahanoy Creek, he said. "They're saying we're improving water quality," Gadinski said. "Yeah, you are increasing the pH. The problem is that fish can live in water with a pH of 5 and 6. "Nothing is going to live in water with a pH of 8 or 10," he said. "It's just like putting fish into Clorox. They're not going to live." But it was the high lead levels that sparked an EPA Superfund evaluation to determine if 12 million tons of ash could be the source of the contamination at the site, Gadinski said. That same fly ash going into Ellengowen may soon be placed in the mine above Gadinski's home, he said. "They want to dump it in the pits right behind me that discharge into the valley," Gadinski said. "When you have a drinking water standard of 15 and you're seeing levels in the mine pool at 400 to 500 parts per billion, if you have any knowledge of groundwater quality then that is a major concern. "Not only for me, but all of my neighbors that live here along the base of the mountain," he said. Protecting resources Gadinski felt he and his colleagues at DEP were doing good work – protecting the state's natural resources and the people who rely upon them. "It's not like it is today," he said. "The public health isn't going to be protected." DEP changed in 1995 with the passage of Act 2, the land recycling and remediation act, Gadinski said. Prior to 1995, under the Clean Streams Law, contamination had to be cleaned up to background – to zero, he said. Under Act 2, contamination could remain on a property but couldn't leave, he said. Also, groundwater could be contaminated and leave the site as long as people aren't drinking it, he said. "Prior to 1995, that was not the case. Groundwater was protected," Gadinski said. The cleanup levels are so lax in Pennsylvania now, he said, that other states can bring in what they deem waste and dump it here as clean fill. He pointed to dredged material coming into Hazleton in trucks with signs saying, "Residual waste." "As soon as they dump it on the ground, it becomes beneficial," Gadinski said. "How does it magically go from waste to beneficial?" He blames what he calls a too-friendly relationship between the department and industry for the looser regulations. "You can't have an environmental agency that is industry-friendly and that's what we have. Everything is supposed to be for jobs in Pennsylvania. They're not concerned with the health of the people in Pennsylvania." That's why he started helping environmental groups, such as Picciano's, CAUSE and Save Us From Future Environmental Risk (SUFFER), he said. Gadinski has spent hundreds of hours studying potential environmental hazards or risks for these groups, doing most of the work pro bono, he said. "A lot of this is being done from an ethical and moral standpoint more than a financial standpoint," he said. "I'm not getting rich on this. I don't intend to get rich." What he's found is that most people don't know what's happening in their communities. "People are only being told the glossy points of these projects," Gadinski said. "It's sad what they're doing. The coal region is going to be a dumping ground." By KELLY MONITZ
How Much Is David G. Argall Worth?
Posted - April 8, 2008 Article by, House Reform Committee Member Socks Taxpayers Dave "Per Diem" Argall(Harrisburg, Pa) - State House Minority Whip David Argall's (R-Schuylkill & Berks Counties) expense records reveal that the incumbent is collecting an exorbitant amount of supplemental, tax-free income in the form of "per diems." A thorough review of Rep. Argall's expenses for the period 2005 through 2007 indicates he routinely collected the maximum per diem allowable even as he assumed his duties on the Speaker's Commission on Legislative Reform. Eric Epstein, Coordinator of the RockTheCapital.org stated, "Mr. Argall has a history of abusing per diems. Unfortunately for the taxpayer, there is absolutely no accountability built into the system. With all the money spent and all the miles traveled by Mr. Argall, Pennsylvania's bridges and roads continue to crumble beneath our feet. " "Per diems" are extra cash that House and Senate members receive for every day they are in session or attend official meetings more than 50 miles from home. This "per diem" income is in addition to a legislators' base salary and the money representatives bill for mileage while traveling to Harrisburg. Mr. Epstein added, "Elected officials are allowed to make a living, but they are not entitled to make a killing. The amount pocketed by Rep. Argall should raise questions from his constituents as to whether or not he is bilking taxpayers." According to the Internal Revenue Service, "per diems" are reimbursements for expenses related to business travel, food, and lodging. In the real world, "per diems" are reported as income, and employees must provide their employers with vouchers or receipts that prove what the employee spent. However, on "Planet Harrisburg," legislators are not required to submit receipts or verification of the actual amount of expenses they incur for food and lodging. Many legislators routinely take the maximum per diem amount allowed – currently $152 - as set by the U.S. General Services Administration.
2005Mr. Argall collected a "per diem" for 129 separate days in 2005, totaling $15,009 in cash. Argall took the maximum per diem 85% of the time, and his average was $116. The per diem rate for most of 2005 was $129 before climbing to $141. The U.S. Census Bureau reported the per capita income for Berks County was $21,232, and Schuylkill County recorded a per capita income of $17,230. While many working people in Argall's district face the prospect of a 35% electric rate increase, Mr. Argall zapped the taxpayers for $15,009 just for food and lodging for 129 days. Mr. Argall said he donated all of his unvouchered cash to the United Way (Morning Call, Harrisburg Bureau, November 17, 2005), and he told the Republican Herald that he reported the $7,000 as income and took a deduction on his federal tax for the charitable donation. 2007Mr. Argall's appetite for "per diems" actually increased in the post-pay raise era. Rep. Argall collected a per diem for 149 separate days in 2007, (including Reform Commission meetings), totaling $16,794. Argall's average per diem was $113. The per diem rate in 2007 rose by 5% and was set at $148. Taxpayers should ask Mr. Argall why he is charging them $113 a day for food and lodging. The average resident in Schuylkill County lives on $41.93 per day, and the average resident in Berks County lives on $49.43 per day for rent/ mortgage payments, health care, food, electric, gas, water, and taxes. (United States Census Bureau) Mr. Argall resides in Lake Hauto, Schuylkill County. According to MapQuest.com, it is only 78 miles from Argall's home to the Capitol (a drive of 1 hour and 28 minutes). Rep. Argall is often able to drive home from the Capitol after a session day or nonvoting business day. On many occasions, Mr. Argall (like many regional legislators) is pocketing a $152 per diem and either spending it all on the finest cuisine at the taxpayers' expense, or dining modestly and pocketing the remainder of the per diem, tax-free – which is good ole-fashioned "double-dipping." During "busy session days" representatives are usually provided with catered meals out of leadership accounts or lobbyists simply pick up the tab. The fundamental question confronting Rep. Argall is: "Are you collecting – and pocketing tax-free – per diem money that significantly exceeds what is actually necessary to cover his true expenses for food and lodging?" Next week: RockTheCapital.org is nonpartisan voter education organization formed after the Pennsylvania legislative, judicial and executive branches conspired to enact a compensation package in violation of a state constitutional provision which bans seated lawmakers from granting themselves a pay raise. * Copies of Argall's expense report are available in PDF format upon request at RockTheCapital.org and the document will also be posted at RockTheCapital.org. More on Dave "Pac-Man" Argall
Posted - April 12, 2008  Dave "Pac-Man" ArgallThe Campaign Finance Reporting Law requires candidates to report any contributions of $500 or more received after April 7, 2008. The contributions are posted on the Pennsylvania Department of State web site:www.dos.state.pa.us/campaignfinance State Representative David Argall's campaign committee, Volunteers for Argall, has reported eight contributions totaling $7,000 and not one was from constituents within the 124th District. It appears that Mr. Argall is calling in the chits from his lobbyist and political action committee friends – more money from R. Mike Ward in Texas, more money from Greenlee Partners PAC in Harrisburg, and on and on. We have the best representative that money can buy.
Sewage Sludge Experiment on the Poor
Posted April 15, 2008 Sludge Fertilizer Program Spurs Concerns - Examiner.com  Chris Peot shows biosolids, applied to a farm, in Mitchells, Va., Wednesday, June 6, 2007. No one can say exactly what is in sludge. It's a constantly changing brew of human, commercial, hospital and industrial wastes. The primary organic ingredient is human excrement, which proponents say makes sludge a useful fertilizer. Critics worry about the metals and pathogens that remain. BALTIMORE - Scientists using federal grants spread fertilizer made from human and industrial wastes on yards in poor, black neighborhoods to test whether it might protect children from lead poisoning in the soil. Families were assured the sludge was safe and were never told about any harmful ingredients. Nine low-income families in Baltimore row houses agreed to let researchers till the sewage sludge into their yards and plant new grass. In exchange, they were given food coupons as well as the free lawns as part of a study published in 2005 and funded by the Housing and Urban Development Department. The Associated Press reviewed grant documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act and interviewed researchers. No one involved with the $446,231 grant for the two-year study would identify the participants, citing privacy concerns. There is no evidence there was ever any medical follow-up. Comparable research was conducted by the Agriculture Department and Environmental Protection Agency in a similarly poor, black neighborhood in East St. Louis, Ill. The sludge, researchers said, put the children at less risk of brain or nerve damage from lead, a highly toxic element once widely used in gasoline and paint. Other studies have shown brain damage among children, often in poor neighborhoods, who ate paint lead-based based that had flaked off their homes. The idea that sludge - the leftover semisolid wastes filtered from water pollution at 16,500 treatment plants - can be turned into something harmless, even if swallowed, has been a tenet of federal policy for three decades. In a 1978 memo, the EPA said sludge "contains nutrients and organic matter which have considerable benefit for land and crops" despite the presence of "low levels of toxic substances." But in the late 1990s the government began underwriting studies such as those in Baltimore and East St. Louis using poor neighborhoods as laboratories to make a case that sludge may also directly benefit human health. Meanwhile, there has been a paucity of research into the possible harmful effects of heavy metals, pharmaceuticals, other chemicals and disease-causing microorganisms often found in sludge. A series of reports by the EPA's inspector general and the National Academy of Sciences< between 1996 and 2002 faulted the adequacy of the science behind the EPA's 1993 regulations on sludge. The chairman of the 2002 academy panel, Thomas Burke, a professor at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, says epidemiological studies have never been done to show whether spreading sludge on land is safe. "There are potential pathogens and chemicals that are not in the realm of safe," Burke told the AP. "What's needed are more studies on what's going on with the pathogens in sludge - are we actually removing them? The commitment to connecting the dots hasn't been there." That's not what the subjects of the Baltimore and East St. Louis research were told. Rufus Chaney, an Agriculture Department research agronomist who co-wrote the Baltimore study, said the researchers provided the families with brochures about lead hazards, tested the soil in their yards and gave assurances that the Orgro fertilizer was store-bought and perfectly safe. "They were told that their lawn, as it stood, before it was treated, was a lead danger to their children," said Chaney. "So that even if they ate some of the soil, there would not be as much of a risk as there was before. And that's what the science shows." Chaney said the Baltimore neighborhoods were chosen because they were within an economically depressed area qualifying for tax incentives. He acknowledged the families were not told there have been some safety disputes and health complaints over sludge. "They were told that it was composted biosolids that are available for sale commercially in the state of Maryland. I don't think there's any other further disclosure required," Chaney said. "There was danger before. There wasn't danger because of the biosolids compost. Composting, of course, kills pathogens." The Baltimore study concluded that phosphate and iron in sludge can increase the ability of soil to trap more harmful metals including lead, cadmium and zinc, causing the combination to pass safely through a child's body if eaten. It called the fertilizer "a simple low-cost" technology for parents and communities "to reduce risk to their children" who are in danger of lead contamination. The results were published in Science of the Total Environment, an international research journal, in 2005. Another study investigating whether sludge might inhibit the "bioavailability" of lead - the rate it enters the bloodstream and circulates to organs and tissues - was conducted on a vacant lot in East St. Louis next to an elementary school, all of whose 300 students were black and almost entirely from low-income families. In a newsletter, the EPA-funded Community Environmental Resource Program assured local residents it was all safe. "Though the lot will be closed off to the public, if people - particularly children - get some of the lead contaminated dirt in their mouths, the lead will just pass through their bodies and not be absorbed," the newsletter said. "Without this iron-phosphorus mix, lead poisoning would occur." Soil chemist Murray McBride, director of the Cornell Waste Management Institute, said he doesn't doubt that sludge can bind lead in soil. But when eaten, "it's not at all clear that the sludge binding the lead will be preserved in the acidity of the stomach," he said. "Actually thinking about a child ingesting this, there's a very good chance that it's not safe." McBride and others also questioned the choice of neighborhoods for the studies and why residents were not told about other, possibly harmful ingredients in sludge. "If you're not telling them what kinds of chemicals could be in there, how could they even make an informed decision. If you're telling them it's absolutely safe, then it's not ethical," McBride said. "In many relatively wealthy people's neighborhoods, I would think that people would research this a little and see a problem and raise a red flag." The Baltimore study used a compost of sludge mixed with sawdust and wood chips packaged as "biosolids," the term for sludge preferred by government and the waste industry. "What we did was make the yards greener," said Pat Tracey, a Johns Hopkins University community relations coordinator who recalled helping with the lawn work. "They were bald, bad yards. It was considered sterile fertilizer." Baltimore environmental activist Glenn Ross says choosing poor neighborhoods destined for demolition makes it hard to track a study's participants. "If you wanted to do something very questionable, you would do it in a neighborhood that's not going to be there in a few years," he said. HUD documents show the study's lead author, Mark Farfel, has pursued several other studies of lead contamination including the risks of exposure from urban housing demolitions and the vacant lots left behind. Farfel has since moved to New York, where he directs the World Trade Center Health Registry surveying tens of thousands of victims of the Sept. 11 attacks. He denied repeated requests for interviews and referred questions to Baltimore's Kennedy Krieger Institute, the children's research facility that was the recipient of HUD grants with Farfel as project manager. The institute referred questions to Joann Rodgers, a spokeswoman for Johns Hopkins. She said a review board within its medical school approved the study and the consent forms provided to families that participated. "The study did not test children or other family members living in the homes," she said. Some of Farfel's previous research has been controversial. In 2001, Maryland's highest court chastised him, Kennedy Krieger and Johns Hopkins over a study bankrolled by EPA in which researchers testing low-cost ways to control lead hazards exposed more than 75 poor children to lead-based paint in partially renovated houses. Families of two children alleged to have suffered elevated blood-lead levels and brain damage sued the institute and later settled for an undisclosed amount. The Maryland Court of Appeals likened the study to Nazi medical research on concentration camp prisoners, the U.S. government's 40-year Tuskegee study that denied treatment for syphilis to black men in order to study the illness and Japan's use of "plague bombs" in World War II to infect and study entire villages. "These programs were somewhat alike in the vulnerability of the subjects: uneducated African-American men, debilitated patients in a charity hospital, prisoners of war, inmates of concentration camps and others falling within the custody and control of the agencies conducting or approving the experiments," the court said. SEWAGE SLUDGE THREATENS DRINKING WATER SUPPLY
Posted - April 17, 2008  Piles of sewage sludge Cathy Miorelli is a councilwoman on the Tamaqua Borough Council. Recently, she was contacted by a resident who was concerned about potential discharges of sewage sludge in the Still Creek Reservoir, the drinking water source for the Borough of Tamaqua. Mrs. Miorelli was told that a farmer in Packer Township, Carbon County, was piling sewage sludge on his property and when it rained, the sewage sludge was discharging into a feeder creek that emptied into the Still Creek Reservoir, in Rush Township, Schuylkill County. The first thing that Mrs. Miorelli did was to examine the situation herself. She observed piles of sewage sludge on the farm and discoloration of the feeder stream. She took photographs of the sewage sludge piles and the discoloration of the feeder stream. Mrs. Miorelli then did what she thought was the right thing to do; she notified the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (PA DEP) about the problem. On March 20, 2008, she telephoned the PA DEP Wilkes-Barre office and spoke with Tim Craven. Mr. Craven apparently was too busy to actually visit the farm to investigate the complaint. Instead, he conducted a telephone "investigation." On March 31st, he informed Mrs. Miorelli that the piles were lime! Here is Mr. Craven's email to Mrs. Miorelli.
From: "Craven, Timothy" Cathy, After I discovered that lime was being stored in the fields and I told you over the phone that we do not regulated the application of lime. So, I have not found out anything new since I found out the material is lime (that was the end of my investigation). It is a good thing that he has in the nutrient management program and I would think that he would spread the lime as soon has he can get on his fields. Tim Unbelievable! Mr. Craven "found out the material is lime (that was the end of my investigation)" without leaving his office. I would like to meet the man who can tell the composition of a substance on a field without leaving his office. Subsequently, the PA DEP "discovered" that there were actually 30+ piles of Class A biosolids or sewage sludge on the farm - so much for Mr. Craven's lime determination. Now, the investigation was turned over to Jerry Pillus of the Pottsville Office of the PA DEP. As expected, Mr. Pillus did not find any problem with the sewage sludge on the farm. It is our understanding that Mr. Pillus said that he is tired of the frivolous complaints about Tamaqua's water and the crying of the activists. Perhaps, Mr. Pillus is unfamiliar with the laws of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania or the meaning of the word "frivolous." Title 35 Pennsylvania Statutes ~ 691.1 - 691.1001 is known as the Clean Streams Law. Section ~691.401 states: It shall be unlawful for any person or municipality to put or place into any of the waters of the Commonwealth, or allow or permit to be discharged from property owned or occupied by such person or municipality into any of the waters of the Commonwealth, any substance of any kind or character resulting in pollution as herein defined. Any such discharge is hereby declared to be a nuisance. The Lehighton Times News www.tnonline.com reported that Tamaqua Councilman Brian Connely asked, "What are you going to do? It's in another county. It's permitted, what are we going to do about it?" Mr. Connely, it is unlawful for a farmer to allow sewage sludge (substance of any kind or character resulting in pollution) to be discharged into the feeder stream (waters of the Commonwealth) emptying into the Still Creek Reservoir. What do you do when anyone violates the law? You report the violation to the proper authorities. In 2006, the Borough of Tamaqua adopted an ordinance barring corporations, but not individuals, from application of sewage sludge within borough limits. The Allentown Morning Call www.mcall.com reported Council President Micah Gursky pointed out Tamaqua has its own sewage treatment plant, and that the biosolids it generates are spread in western Schuylkill County. "What do we do if the township where we dump our biosolids passes such an ordinance?" Gursky said. "What would we do with ours?" Mr. Gursky, the Borough of Tamaqua should consider disposing of its sewage sludge in a proper manner. We would be glad to put you in touch with leading scientists at Harvard and Cornell on the proper methods for sewage sludge disposal. It is time for the PA DEP to start doing its job and to stop protecting polluters. Stop dismissing legitimate complaints as frivolous. Get off of your chairs, go to the site and investigate the complaint. FLYING PINK PIG BUS VISITS TAMAQUA
Posted - April 21, 2008  The Flying Pink Pig Bus made a visit to Tamaqua on Sunday, April 20, 2008. The bus is the work of Gene Stilp, Dauphin County. Gene is the Director of Tax Payers and Rate Payers United. The group is active against Pennsylvania legislators, such as Dave Argall, who have acted irresponsibly by voting for wasteful government spending such as the illegal pay raise. The side of the bus reads, "The Pink Pig Says: THROW ARGALL OUT, HE IS NOT A REFORMER." The bus is parked on Railroad Street, at the Five Points Intersection, in Tamaqua and is expected to remain there until Election Day. POST-ELECTION REPORT
Posted - April 24, 2008 On April 23, 2008, the Lehighton Times-News reported that a Schuylkill County Democratic party member, who wished to remain anonymous, commented as the results were coming in at the election center Tuesday evening that the Democrats will seek to have Republican John Schickram support Democrat Bill Mackey in the November general election. Apparently, the Democrats aren't wasting any time getting in contact with Mr. Schickram. A reliable source informs us that a very prominent Democrat from Mahanoy City was recently spotted visiting with Mr. Schickram at his home in Rush Township. PENNSYLVANIA CREATION
Posted - April 24, 2008  Once upon a time in the kingdom of Heaven, God was missing for six days. Eventually, Michael the Archangel found him, resting on the seventh day. He inquired of God. "Where have you been?" God sighed a deep sigh of satisfaction and proudly pointed downwards through the clouds, "Look, Michael. Look what I've made." Archangel Michael looked puzzled and said, "What is it?" "It's a planet," replied God, "and I've put life on it. I'm going to call it Earth and it's going to be a great place of balance." "Balance?" inquired Michael, still confused. God explained, pointing to different parts of earth. "For example, northern Europe will be a place of great opportunity and wealth but cold and harsh, while southern Europe is going to be poor but sunny and pleasant. "I have made some lands abundant in water and other lands parched deserts. This one will be extremely hot and while that one will be very cold and covered in ice." The Archangel, impressed by God's work, then pointed to a land mass and said, "What's that one?" "Ah," said God. "That's Pennsylvania -- the most glorious place on earth. "There are beautiful mountains, streams, hills, and forests. The people from Pennsylvania are going to be handsome, modest, intelligent and humorous and they are going to be found traveling the world. They will be extremely sociable, hardworking and high achieving and they will be known throughout the world as diplomats and carriers of peace." Michael gasped in wonder and admiration but then proclaimed, "What about balance, God? You said there would be balance!" God replied wisely, "Wait until you see the idiots I put in Harrisburg." WHERE ARE SPECTER, THE ATSDR AND
THE PENNSYLVANIA DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH? Posted - April 28, 2008 As most people in northeastern Pennsylvania know, we have a highly significant polycythemia vera cancer problem in this area. A 2007 investigation by the federal Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) indicated that our rate of polycythemia vera is at least 4.5 times the national average www.washingtonindependent.com...ATSDR.pdf! On October 6, 2006, U.S. Senator Arlen Specter and representatives from the ATSDR and the Pennsylvania Department of Health (PA DOH) first announced a study of our polycythemia vera epidemic www.tnonline.com. At the time of the announcement, Senator Specter stated, "This area has been a dumping ground. We understand your concerns and we share your concerns. When I hear about cancer, I'm especially concerned." Senator Specter emphasized, "We'll do everything that can be done."  U.S. Senator Arlen SpecterOn October 24, 2007, officials from the ATSDR and the PA DOH reported the results of their preliminary study confirming the elevated rates of the rare cancer in this area. Dr. Steve Dearwent, Chief of the Health Investigation Bureau, Division of Health Studies, represented the ATSDR.  Dr. Steve Dearwent, ATSDRThe Lehighton Times News reported, "Dearwent stressed that ATSDR will continue to follow up by studying spacial distribution of the cancer within the area" www.tnonline.com. In addition, Dr. Michael Huff, Deputy Secretary, PA DOH, stated, "We are committed to doing additional work and study."  Dr. Michael Huff, PA DOHIt has been between six and 18 months since "We'll do everything that can be done," "ATSDR will continue to follow up " and "We are committed to doing additional work and study." Where are the officials from the ATSDR and the PA DOH? Representatives from these government agencies are nowhere to been seen. Where is Senator Specter? When last seen, he was trying to figure out whether the New England Patriots filmed the defensive signals of their opponents! Where are U.S. Representative Tim Holden, State Senator Jim Rhoades and State Representative David Argall? When last seen they were passing out cardboard checks and telling us what they will do for us when reelected. Please contact your elected representatives and demand that they do their jobs by getting officials at the ATSDR and the PA DOH to do their jobs. |
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(Tilden Township, PA) – Today, citizen activist Dennis Baylor announced that he will tour the 29th district dressed as WAM-MY, (an oversize cardboard check, on roller-skates), to urge Pennsylvania's taxpayers not to be fooled by the costliest legislature in the nation's claims that there is a less agonizing way to fund their reckless spending. Mr. Baylor said "Harrisburg has got to wake up to the fact that the ‘gilded-age' of state government is long past, and has got to quit trying to hoodwink the public into believing that there is some less painful way to pay for the most extravagant state government in America."