Dinero meant to stop pollution, goes to build, tada, mega dairies

[Guest guest]

Millions in California anti-pollution money went to, uh, pollution

 

Almost $70 million in California state bond money designated to fund

industry pollution-reducing measures has gone to fund the expansion

of polluting mega-dairies in the San Joaquin Valley, the nation's

most polluted air basin. In each case, the Pollution Control

Financing Authority approved tax-exempt, low-interest loans on the

basis of dairies' pledges that expanding would help them divert waste

from landfills. Well, funny story ... Turns out dairies never dumped

their waste in landfills in the first place. " That's a staff error, "

said State Treasurer Phil Angelides, who oversees the loan program.

Meanwhile, dairies do divert cow poop into massive open-air lagoons

where it emits millions of pounds of smog-forming gases a year, a

process that none of the dairies were required to change. Angelides,

who has made genuine improvements in the loan program since taking it

over in 1999, was clearly embarrassed by the fiasco. " If we decide

to finance dairies in the future, the pollution controls will be

real, " he said.

 

straight to the source: Los Angeles Times, Mark Arax, 11 Oct 2004

<http://grist.org/cgi-bin/forward.pl?forward_id=3317>

[Guest guest]

Well, isn't that just sweet. It's great to see my tax dollars go to

such a good cause!

 

, fraggle <EBbrewpunx@e...> wrote:

> Millions in California anti-pollution money went to, uh, pollution

>

> Almost $70 million in California state bond money designated to

fund

> industry pollution-reducing measures has gone to fund the expansion

> of polluting mega-dairies in the San Joaquin Valley, the nation's

> most polluted air basin. In each case, the Pollution Control

> Financing Authority approved tax-exempt, low-interest loans on the

> basis of dairies' pledges that expanding would help them divert

waste

> from landfills. Well, funny story ... Turns out dairies never

dumped

> their waste in landfills in the first place. " That's a staff

error, "

> said State Treasurer Phil Angelides, who oversees the loan program.

> Meanwhile, dairies do divert cow poop into massive open-air lagoons

> where it emits millions of pounds of smog-forming gases a year, a

> process that none of the dairies were required to change.

Angelides,

> who has made genuine improvements in the loan program since taking

it

> over in 1999, was clearly embarrassed by the fiasco. " If we decide

> to finance dairies in the future, the pollution controls will be

> real, " he said.

>

> straight to the source: Los Angeles Times, Mark Arax, 11 Oct 2004

> <http://grist.org/cgi-bin/forward.pl?forward_id=3317>