Note from Wes: This is especially sad for me, because they’re talking about the place I live and breathe as I type this. Here in this Illinois refinery area, we have a collection of towns and villages that are very close together: Hartford (my home town), Wood River, East Alton, Roxana, and South Roxana.
These towns are very closely knit, and as I child, I can remember a lot of lawsuits against the oil companies because they just don’t care what they do to the land.
The particular refinery this article mentions was built after a plethora of ancient Cahokian burial mounds were torn out, thereby trashing centuries of ancient history in the name of oil and money. The refineries are responsible for these towns’ establishment, but they continue to pollute the environment with practically no accountability.
I remember being six years old and seeing our entire street flooded with mucky oil. Nobody was happy about that, and it’s probably happened since. Now, being an adult, I “feel” that this area possesses much ancient beauty and spiritual energy that a precious few people know about or understand. Of course, this doesn’t matter to the men in the suits (and apparently the judge who ruled that Shell doesn’t have to be accountable for a catastrophic amount of benzene under our ground).
As sad as it is, bogus things like this happen all of the time around here. I pray that the massive pollution of this ancient place ceases to be and that the people responsible are held accountable, because it makes me very sad to see that such a brimming spiritual land with so much to teach us is being trashed by people who don’t even live here. As for the photo at the top there – I see this every day. Billowing smoke and all. It’s ugly to say the least, but the refineries (yes, there’s more than one) are an unfortunate part of life around here.
Thanks to Lucas2012infos for this article.
Federal Judge Excuses Shell’s Pollution Of Illinois Town With Chemical Benzene
Written by L.J. Devon, Natural News, http://www.naturalnews.com/043681_Shell_Oil_benzene_pollution_Illinois.html
(NaturalNews) Roxana, a village of 1,550 people in southern Illinois, now sits on many acres of benzene-contaminated soil, including toxic groundwater that contains benzene levels 26,000 times greater than allowed by state law. Thanks to multiple chemical spills from a Shell refinery in the last two decades, this area contains levels of benzene hazardous to human health.
Woman cites how benzene traveled through her basement cinder block walls and through an open drain
One woman, Betty Cox, filed suit last October against Shell Oil Company and all companies involved, including ConocoPhillips Company, WRB Refining, Cenovus GPCO and BP Products North America. (These companies took over the refineries when Shell left the area 10 years prior.) She alleges that the refineries spilled large amounts of benzene into the area, which contaminated the surrounding soil, water and air, ultimately causing her to develop cancer years later.
In the suit, Mrs. Cox alleges that the refineries were operated “in a manner that allowed for the release of benzene,” including storage procedures that “allowed its release onto surrounding properties,” and benzene was allowed to remain underground where it leaked into groundwater supply, including pumping procedures that moved benzene in an unnatural manner, ultimately contaminating her property.
Furthermore, she accused the defendants of trespassing on her property and being a private nuisance, stating that volatile, cancer-causing products such as benzene were allowed to seep into her home through an open drain in her basement and through cracks in her cinder block basement walls.
Judge equates benzene invasion to slug or ant invasion
According to Judge Posner from the 7th Circuit Court in Chicago, Mrs. Cox and others like her cannot sue Shell Oil for chemical pollution and invasion of their property. Why?
The statement, issued by Judge Richard Posner, concludes, “There are many things commonly found in soil beneath rural or suburban houses that homeowners would very much like not to enter their home (such as earthworms, fungi, ants, beetles, slugs, radon, chemical residues, thousands of different types of microbe – and groundwater), but as long as there is no danger of such unwanted visitors, their underground presence should not affect property values.”
According to Judge Posner, there is no valid case presented, because carcinogens like benzene pose no more risk than earthworms, ants and slugs. This decision sets a sad, vague precedent, allowing carcinogens like benzene to be dumped freely into the groundwater of entire villages without any accountability.
The judge backs up his ruling, stating, “Benzene in the water supply is one thing; benzene in groundwater that does not feed into the water supply is quite another.”
Chemical spills, home invasions and human poisoning now allowed as Shell gets off the hook
Judge Posner’s ruling is the final hammer to a 2012 lawsuit filed by the village of Roxana. In the suit, Shell Oil was accused of polluting the town’s groundwater and soil with benzene levels as much as 26,000 times greater than allowed by state law. The suit cited 18 documented spills during a 25-year tenure.
According to Judge Posner, state benzene limits do not apply when the benzene levels are not affecting a town’s water source – in this case, the town’s aquifer.
The town, concerned about the health of its residents, cited the International Agency for Research on Cancer. The agency reports that long-term exposure to benzene can cause leukemia. Moreover, exposure to small amounts of ethyl-benzene can cause cancer and damage the inner ears and kidneys.
But according to the judge’s ruling, the health of the residents doesn’t matter unless a connection can be made. The ruling dismisses the chemical spills as barely affecting property values, that they are no more important than slug or ant invasions. Accountability dies, and Shell gets off the hook.
The judge states, “The plaintiffs in this case have presented no theory, let alone credible evidence, of a connection between the leaks [and] property values, or between specific defendants and the leaks and property values, that would justify a class action on behalf of all the property owners whose properties sit above groundwater that contains an amount of benzene considered dangerous to human health by regulatory authorities (more than 5 micrograms per liter) – if drunk,” Posner wrote. “But, to repeat, there is, as yet anyway, no evidence that any of it is ever drunk.”
Sources for this article include:
Replies
If I may ; Fracking is now going on all over Mother Gaia and more so in the lower 48 states . So , the question is why ? I side with this thought ; We as a whole economic world have reached our peak . Which leads to what drives the economy ? The answer is energy and water . That results into demand for energy . That demand for energy to keep producing more and more has also peaked . What is left for the world economy to do ? Fracking ; as a last cause to try and keep up with demand . This is the tip of an economic iceberg . Not enough energy to keep the economic wheel turning at a pace that can not and will not sustain . Something has to break and that break will be affected by all the consumers of energy , be it for private or corporate consumption . And , whom has the most money to pay and keep that energy flowing toward there everyday needs to maintain ? The world economic machine will falter and energy will be scarce . Then there will be a priority to that energy and those on "The Hill" will probably institute more laws concerning who can now get that needed energy to sustain . "We the People" will have to again suffer while Corporates buy there way into retaining energy for their needs . Welcome to the 21st Century . Not what any thought would be . We as a whole are out of sustainable fossil fuels . A result that most thought would never happen . Well, with fracking , it is an indicator this is the last step before the complete break down of a system that raped Mother Gaia and now raping her again in a more disastrous way because it is effecting ground , water and air in a way that will poison all living things .
Fracking could very well be a last ditch attempt to grab up as much oil as possible. It's time for us to peacefully but assertively arise and make a change!
Benzene is a highly carcenagenic solvent and not something to be exposed to, in such large quantities, over so many years..
That judge has been bought up by the oil company, no doubts...He's wicked and corrupt, through and through...
Shame on the fossil fuels economy....May it take a well deserve nose-dive, shortly..
Couldn't agree more, Drekx. Bring on the greater technology so we can cut our ridiculous reliance on fossil fuels and clean up our immense mess.
Oil and chemocals (and drugs) are strongly related to the sign of Pisces (NOTE: J.D. Rockefeller was a Pisces). There will be a day whereby advanced technologies ill replace petrochemicals as the age of Pisces ends.
The big problem with a lot of alternative technologies (and I heard this a lot when I studied chemistry) is the low amount of Delta G (i.e. Gibb's Energy Output (or energy output per volume of substance utilized)) that is produced, whereby the Delta G produced by petrochemicals is huge in comparison. This is why nobody wants to buy an electrical Volt automobile; going from zero to fifty miles per hour in twelve seconds can get you killed if you decide to enter a fast moving freeway.
There are alternative energy applications (and some may be courtesy of our space brothers) that are usable and probably kept under lock and key by the hydrocarbon-based and nuclear-based energy businesses. Just as Snowden let the "genie out of the bottle" with the NSA secrets, it's a matter of time before someone from the hydrocarbon or nuclear energy businesses reveals these alternative energies kept secret from the public. We will have to be patient; good things come to those who wait.
We're gonna win this.
It's only a matter of time, Malcolm. The secrets can't be kept for much longer, and I have a feeling we'll be able to work around any initial flaws with the alternative technology.
Good things do indeed come to those who wait!
Much Love,
Wes :)
Agreed, Feather. It's time for change!
ABSOLUTELY. Also note that while some judges are money-chasers (especially the ones who are now ex-judges and now work for Monsanto), there are some judges who have vices in their private lives that are exploited by the NSA and the CIA for their bosses in political power. I am convinced that Supreme Court Justice Roberts changed his mind about voting against the Affordable Care Act due to possible blackmail via the NSA.
Note that Governor Eliot Spitzer of New York is an example of such blackmail used, as information about his affair with a prostitute was revealed after he was addressing some "eye-brow raising" aspects of fraud committed by insurance companies during an interview by a Washington D.C. based newspaper.