I had a few minutes to kill so I threw this together.
Look at Gimleteye’s comments under the post today "When the future becomes the present":
“On August 11, 2006, 7 of 15 drinking water production wells in Miami Dade county were shut down because of benzene contamination.
Is that enough, before voters hold the county commission accountable? or do readers want to wait until 8 of 15 drinking water production wells are shut down?”
By the way, no specific antidote exists for benzene poisoning.
What the Hell are we doing? We in Florida are poisoning our drinking and swimming water and destroying our fish. That is what we are doing.
I found this article out of Japan written in 2004, it said:
"Ovaries were found in some of the male fish. A high concentration of vitellogenin, a female protein, was also found in the bloodstream of another male fish," said a spokesman for the Tokyo Metropolitan Government.
The article goes on to say: "When a species loses the balance between its sexes, its survival is threatened."
Why am I telling you this about Japan? Because vitellogenin has been found in male fish in the St. Lucie Estuary right up our coast. There are mercury warnings for fish caught all over Florida. And, our Miami River is one of the most polluted water bodies in Florida (or was that the US?) according to a NOAA study.
In the publication Environmental Health Perspectives (Environ Health Perspect. 2001 November; 109(11): A542–A543) they said:
Hypospadias, is the arrested development of several parts of the penis, including the urethra, foreskin, and ventral surface. --and I cut boring stuff out -- A review of research on the condition points to a link between hypospadias and endocrine disrupting chemicals. Hypospadias, occurs in 1 of every 125 live male births in the United States.
By the way, we are seeing an increase of hypospadias in the U.S. Of 3.3% per year (according to Gina M. Solomon, Ted Schettlerr writing in the CMAJ • NOV. 28, 2000; 163. (11)).
There are thousands of endocrine disrupting chemicals -- a lot of them in the water we drink and swim in.
I find it amusing that everyone gathers once a year to pick up trash from our shoreline never thinking about what lurks in our drinking water and our swimming water.
Drat! I didn't write about a subject we have an index for. How about "None"? Oh, hell, vote for the strong mayor.
6 comments:
It is an important amplification, G.O.D. When Natacha Seijas and her buddies ram through zoning changes and building permits in wetlands or in the wellfield "protection zone", what they say is along the lines of, "we have to approve these changes because we already have too many regulations, or, don't worry about the environment because we have rules protecting it."
How do they get away with it?
Because they've repeated it so often, people have lost interest? The media doesn't care?
People definitely care if they are drinking poisoned water, but what people are not following are the ways that standards and regulations are NOT protective.
You would think that elected officials who have sworn to uphold the public health, safety and welfare of citizens would stand up, take notice, and do something about it.
But our elected county commissioners have repeatedly voted to protect rock miners, and lessen the cost, while our aquifer has been polluted, and voted for building and zoning changes whose cummulative effects are never counted in a way that reflects the real issues you raised.
Just wait till the rock miners, developers, lawyers get control of an imperial mayor, with that kind of power there will be no stopping them. County empolyees will know that they can go to no one on the commission to protect them. All of the wells will be closed and we will be fighting with Northern Florida's "Great Northwest" for control of their water!
ha, ha, hah and bush will bring the men home!
"No stopping them"? Here is the deal: it was THIS county commission that sat on information for YEARS about threats from rock mining to our drinking water aquifer, permitting development into the wellfield protection zone, and throttling public discussion about the issue and denying funding for science to figure out what was going on.
The only way the information was obtained by the public--scarcely reported by the mainstream media--was as a result of a public record accumulated during six years of litigation by environmental groups against the federal government and rock miners who threw millions of dollars at their efforts.
The county commission, and Natacha Seijas who is de facto chair, got away with it--because they believe the majority of county commissioners believe they can get away with anything. And so far, in regards to water supply and waste water issues, they have.
found on a bumper sticker: if voting could change anything, it would be illegal.
Well, if staff (and other educated folks)venture into OZ and visit the Wizard, what happens?
If you have ever seen how most of the commission treats county employees when they speak before the commission, then you KNOW that the county employees are treated with contempt or rudeness. The only ones ever treated with any kindness are the ones that bend with the wind coming off the dais.
Patience and kindness is not something that flows freely at the county commission. The general public doesn't get anything better than the employees when it comes to R-E-S-P-E-C-T.
So... What water problems? The commission doesn't chose to believe, or even hear the facts unless the facts go their way. Staff gets up there and dances around the truth when they know they are facing a group of people who don't want it. Why have the Commission Auditor look at the agenda and advise the commissioners of the problems (and good things) on an agenda if the facts are watered down to make it what they want to read?
Everyone in the world knew about the wells. The activists, the county employees, the state.... where was the commission? And for goodness sake.... why wasn't there any discussion in the newspapers? Doesn't the Herald Owners drink water and bathe?
Does anyone recall the Toxic Dump site in the Redland? More poison water there, too! What happened to the folks that complained about their drinking water? Intimidation, lawsuits and threats... all from the buddies of the commissioners. Yup. We have a nice bunch of folks representing our communities.
It is OZ.... there are a whole bunch of mechanics behind the curtain pushing buttons and lots fantasy in front of the curtain... Beware!
Don't forget to vote... punch #20.
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