Saturday, November 13, 2010

When The Needs Of Industry Are Weighed Against The Needs Of The Rest Of Us, Who Wins?

Revealed: Texas officials covered up dangerously radioactive tap water for years Disgusting excerpts in italics:

Texas officials charged with protecting the environment and public health have for years made arbitrary subtractions to the measured levels of radiation delivered by water utilities across the state, according to a series of investigative reports out of Houston.

Those subtractions, based on the test results' margin of error, made all the difference for the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ): without the reduction, demonstrated levels of dangerous radiation would have been in excess of federal limits for years.

This was being done in direct contravention of an order by the US Environmental Protection Agency, which told state regulators in 2000 to stop subtracting the margin of error.

This is nice..

Confronted by reporter Mark Greenblatt, TCEQ staffer Linda Brookins claimed that the radiation was "natural" and people shouldn't be concerned. She also refused to read on camera the EPA's order to stop subtracting margins of error from radiation test results.
and
Thanks to the TCEQ's under-reporting of radioactive content, one particular water provider in Harris County was able to skirt needed maintenance for years, even though uncensored tests showed radiation was almost always above legal limits.

What did we learn today? Regulation with corrupt Oversight is worse than no Regulation at all. Sleep well, my Texan friends.. It's probably not a tumor..

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