Why does this story remind us of the opening scene from Steve Martin’s “The Jerk.”
The EPA announced today:
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is providing a $25,000 grant to the Onondaga Environmental Institute to teach high school students in Syracuse, New York about the serious affects of water pollution on people’s health and the environment and the importance of protecting rivers, lakes and streams in central New York. Syracuse is located on Onondaga Lake, one of the country’s most contaminated lakes. The lake is polluted by a range of contaminants, from mercury to PCBs to untreated sewage that can lead to health problems and degrade water quality. Water pollution in low income areas of Syracuse has made the city a focus of EPA efforts to reduce pollution in low income communities…
The lake, however, is not used for drinking water by anyone.
So we went to the Onondaga Environmental Institute web page. Here is a picture of the poor oppressed white upstaters that need “environmental justice”:
Mention of “superfund sites”-reminds me of my old pet peave. Dioxin never caused any death and the only disease was chloracne.
it’s also helpful if you post the whole article. Selective reporting is dangerous. http://yosemite.epa.gov/opa/admpress.nsf/0/1b22bb88a3cc9eb28525798e0063fefa?OpenDocument
The press release doesn’t mention minorities, just “low income”. And the “poor oppressed white upstaters” are either volunteers or citizens interested in learning about the local environment. If an eagerness to learn or volunteer is sign of poor oppression (or based on your sarcasm, rich elitists) than Syracuse is certainly guilty. Your paranoia that all environment based government spending is a scam to line the pockets of the rich or squander away your hard earned tax dollars is terrifying. And just because the lake is not used for drinking water doesn’t mean it can’t be used as an educational tool. Busing kids 30 mins to Skaneateles seems like a waste of money. Pollution is bad, everyone can agree on that. Educating people to prevent pollution is therefore a good thing.
I know some poor white people who nearly subsist on fish for food. A poisoned lake would discriminate against them, if it was in their neighborhood. But then, they’re white. In the end, though, the real question is, what is educating high school students going to do about this lake? Maybe to encourage them to firebomb the alleged polluters in some ‘direct action’ campaign? Stupid waste of money.
Most Superfund sites have been transferred to one of the big oil conglomerates or, if it was sold off, they have inherited the responsibilities by buying the company that did the pollution. The biggest water polluters nowadays are actually cities with poor treatment and lots of bypass events. Untreated sewage has a nasty effect on dissolved oxygen
It is a known fact that most poor people in the U.S. are white. The quote you cited never used the word “minority.” As a scientist, why would you make such a leap in logic to assume that poor means minority?
This is as bad as the race mongers who claim anyone saying, “poor” is actually saying, “black.”
Really poor reasoning here.
Who is the lake owned by? I’ll bet it isn’t private property. Who is the owner of record for most of the Superfund sites?
I guess I missed the part about “mindless(ly) polluting water” relative to a drainage basin for an urban area. Was that a criticism of the folks in Syracuse? What does Gil mean?
Gee, you’re free to mindless pollute water as long as it’s not used for drinking water. Brilliant.
Goober,
The press release specifically references race as well as income. Not only are there no “racial minorities” shown, the people they do show seem to be doing reasonably well financially. The implication is that this is just another enviro-social-justice scam.
Big surprise there.
Sooooo, what’s your point? That white people can’t be poor? That you have to have brown skin in order for efforts to clean up your polluted lake can be called “social justice?” I’m not sure I understand what your point is.