Friday, May 14, 2021

Flint, Michigan gives a reason for losts of comments about water quality and water treatment.

Rick Snyder is still trying to place the fault for Flint's water poisoning on the current AG. Attorney General Dana Nessel was nowhere near the State of Michigan when the poisoning occurred and yet there is a TECHNICALITY that can impose restrictions on Snyder's prosecution.

Snyder's invoking Emergency Manager restrictions on the democracy of elected officials in Flint killing people living in Flint and maiming innumerable children of that city is HIS CRIME, NO ONE ELSE'S.

Somehow, supposed documents were leaked in regard to the Detroit bankruptcy that involved the water shut off to Flint. Imagine that. I would expect the documents of the Detroit bankruptcy that includes the shut down of water supply to Flint would be very important to this case. Snyder wants to squelch all that to end his trial.

I will never understand why Snyder wasn't charged with minimally criminally negligent homicide.

...Manslaughter charges (click here) or criminally negligent homicide charges fall into different legal categories because of the role of intent. This article focuses on the significant differences between manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide....

People died. Children were maimed for the rest of their lives. Women lost their pregnancies. If that isn't negligence in putting people before profit. 

There he is all masked up and protecting his health. Interesting.
 
May 12, 2021
By Craig Mauger

...Snyder's attorneys filed a motion (click here) Wednesday in Michigan's Eastern District, asking a judge to impose sanctions "appropriate to coerce" the office's compliance with 2013 court orders that required secrecy about the Detroit bankruptcy mediation.The filing points to concerns that privileged documents related to the bankruptcy have been shared with other defendants and legal teams involved in the Flint prosecution cases.

The mediation occurred at a time when Flint officials were on course to end their service with the Detroit water system in 2014 over concerns that rates were too high. The Eastern District oversaw the mediation that led to the so-called "Grand Bargain" resolving the bankruptcy of Michigan's largest city while Snyder was governor....

...Courtney Covington Watkins, spokeswoman for the Attorney General's office said the filing appeared "to be part of an ongoing strategy of distraction by the defense."

"We look forward to addressing these concerns in court so that we can move forward with the prosecution of those responsible for the Flint Water Crisis," she said....

It is amazing at times the amount of corruption occurring in a single city in the USA. There is a right way of doing things and a wrong way. If Robert Massey was having a difficult time handling the expense of the landfill, he could have petitioned the courts for an increase in fees and/or filed bankruptcy. The bankruptcy of a landfill operator would have gotten everyone's attention.

May 14, 2021

Flint - The owner of a Flint chemical company (click here) was sentenced to a year behind bars for discharging landfill leachate into the city’s sewer system.

Robert Massey, who owns Oil Chem Inc. on 12th Street, pleaded guilty in January to a Clean Water Act violation for discharging nearly 48 million gallons of heavily contaminated landfill leachate into the sewer over 8.5 years from January 2007 to October 2015.

A federal judge ordered Massey to spend 12 months in prison during a sentencing hearing on Friday.

Leachate is the water that collects in the bottom of a landfill. Landfill operators have to pump leachate from landfills, truck it to a waste facility and dispose of it properly....

The USA EPA sets regulations for water quality in this country. The current Administrator of the USA EPA is Michael S. Regan. He should address the issues of landfills and aquifer water contamination. There are some very interesting solutions in the era of the computer. It would create better outcomes for less money.

Holistic approach (click here) for evaluation of landfill leachate pollution potential - From the waste to the aquifer 

The article below talks about a "green" solution for landfill leachate (click here)

A large portion of landfill operational budgets (click here) is consumed by the cost of handling leachate, the liquid that drains from a landfill. Leachate management accounts for approximately 35% of a landfill’s annual non-labor operating expenses, and can amount to hundreds of thousands of dollars for an individual landfill.

Leachate often contains elevated levels of contaminants.  By federal law, it requires extensive and expensive treatment and disposal throughout the landfill’s active life, and for at least 30 years after it has been closed.  Historically, leachate disposal has been limited to costly options such as hauling to a wastewater treatment plant or operating an on-site treatment system.

LMS provides their clients with alternative, GREEN technologies that can greatly reduce leachate volume and management costs, while at the same time lowering their carbon footprint.  Our systems can operate at open and closed landfills across the country, including pre-Subtitle D, interim areas of open facilities, and closed Subtitle D landfills.  We have collaborated with some of the largest solid waste companies in the USA, including Republic Services, WCA Waste Corporation, and Waste Management. 

Every year, millions of dollars are spent and millions of miles are driven to dispose of leachate. Natural Systems change that....