Thomas P. Healy

Ellsberg speaks against 'a lawless regime'

editor — Sun, 06 Apr 2008 00:00:00 -0500

Former Pentagon and State Department analyst Daniel Ellsberg knows a lot about the lies politicians from both major parties use to generate support for unpopular and costly wars.

He also knows something about warrantless wiretapping, having been a victim of the Nixon administration's efforts to intimidate and silence the outspoken critic of Vietnam War.

Though it felt awkward asking him for permission to tape our recent phone conversation, he readily agreed. Since the host of his upcoming will be ACLU-Indiana, we began our conversation with that topic.

TPH: The theme of the ACLU-Indiana banquet that you will address is: "Restore American Democracy: A Call for Change." What kind of changes will you be calling for?

Biofuels: Cure or crime?

editor — Sun, 13 Jan 2008 00:00:00 -0600

In 1970, while heading President Richard Nixon’s National Security Council, Henry Kissinger said, “Control oil and you control nations; control food and you control people.”

So what happens in an era when fuel is made from food instead of oil?

According to Jean Ziegler, United Nations special rapporteur on the right to food, you get a “crime against humanity.” In a report to the U.N. General Assembly in August 2007, Ziegler called for a five-year moratorium on the use of food crops for fuel, saying the practice would increase the cost of food, spur food shortages and lead to a “catastrophe” for the poor. He called for production of biofuel and biodiesel from agricultural waste rather than from food crops like wheat, corn and sugar cane.

Mercury pollution: More is less?

editor — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 00:00:00 -0500

Once again the Daniels administration has opted to protect the financial interests of polluters at the expense of public health. The most recent evidence was the Indiana Air Pollution Control Board’s (APCB) 11-1 vote at its Oct. 3 meeting to adopt the minimum federal Clean Air Mercury Rule (CAMR).

Under terms of the rule, Indiana-based coal-fired power plants might cut mercury emissions by 66 percent by 2018. The key word is “might” because a provision known as “cap-and-trade” allows plant operators to bank and/or sell emission credits, which would stretch out actual compliance to 2025 or even beyond.

That wasn’t good enough for the board’s lone holdout, Philip S. Stevens. “It’s not that I’m against controlling mercury emissions,” Stevens said by phone from his Bloomington office, where he serves on the faculty of Indiana University’s School of Public and Environmental Affairs. “I didn’t want the public record to show unanimous support of the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) rule because I felt it was not strong enough to protect human health.

Dump environmental commissioner, not toxins

editor — Wed, 01 Aug 2007 00:00:00 -0500

Indiana’s “Dump Easterly” movement may not be a formal organization, but a growing number of Hoosiers throughout the state are agitating for a change at the Indiana Department of Environmental Management (IDEM).

Participants at the July 28 Hoosier Environmental Council Northwest Region Community Forum in Chesterton passed a resolution calling on the HEC board of directors to demand the resignation of IDEM’s commissioner, Thomas Easterly, “so that IDEM can resume its mission of environmental stewardship for the state of Indiana.”

Indiana made national news after IDEM granted a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit to BP’s Whiting refinery that would allow the plant to discharge 1,584 pounds of ammonia and 4,925 pounds of suspended solids daily into Lake Michigan. The Chicago Tribune reported that the permit also allows BP to continue adding 2 pounds of the potent neurotoxin mercury to Lake Michigan until 2012.

CAFOs benefit the few

editor — Wed, 18 Jul 2007 00:00:00 -0500

Rural Indiana has been sacrificed to financial interests in Indianapolis, according to economist Bill Weida, director of the GRACE Factory Farm Project.

"The money, which could have created jobs throughout the state, has been centralized in Indianapolis, and the rest of the state is being treated like a sacrifice zone," he said.

Weida made his comments June 30 at a Hartford City gathering of citizens concerned about Gov. Mitch Daniels' plan to double pork production in the state. The previously unnamed group announced the establishment of www.indianacafowatch.com to help activists stay informed about the issue.

Characterizing the situation as "predatory," Weida said, "They're dumping pollution in one part of the state, and the economic benefit from it goes to another part of the state - in particular Indianapolis."

His remarks were greeted with enthusiastic applause from an audience that included few capital city residents.

Indiana’s inconvenient truth

editor — Wed, 23 May 2007 21:56:54 -0500

On May 9, 31 states announced the creation of the Climate Registry - a voluntary, collaborative program to track greenhouse gas emissions and establish methods for verifying and reporting heat-trapping gases that contribute to global warming.

The fact that Indiana chose not to participate doesn't surprise John Blair, head of Valley Watch, the Evansville-based environmental group he founded in 1981 and still heads. But he asserts that the situation wouldn't be any different if Mitch Daniels weren't governor.

"The Democrats in this state are just as responsible as the Republicans for global warming, pollution and utility friendliness," he said.

Blair is a Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer with a history of engaging in civil disobedience when appeals to reason and fact fail. Since January, he has exchanged his bullhorn for the microphone, giving presentations about global warming based on training he received from Al Gore's Climate Project.

He recently gave The Bloomington Alternative insight into his Bloomington presentation, scheduled for May 23 at the Monroe County Public Library.

The year of the pig

editor — Wed, 09 May 2007 00:00:00 -0500

Since the Indiana General Assembly adjourned without passing legislation to regulate Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs) in the state, I propose a Hoosier variant to the Chinese calendar, which declares 2007 the Year of the Pig.

Let's call 2007 the Year of the CAFO.

Celebrations could take many forms. Jubilant agribusinessmen, unhampered by annoying rules and inspections, will spray plumes of untreated manure on saturated soils and expedite the flow of hormone- and antibiotic-laden waste into drainage tiles, where it can augment the abundant pollution in our state's waterways.

Sheehan comes to Indy

publisher — Wed, 28 Mar 2007 08:54:57 -0500

Since the death of her son Casey in Iraq, Cindy Sheehan has traveled the globe as a citizen diplomat and peace activist in search for justice.

"I want justice for my son," she tells audiences. "I want justice for the others who have been killed and for the troops that have been wounded physically and mentally. I want justice for Iraq, and I don't want it to happen again."

Sheehan will bring her passionate message to Indiana when she delivers the Plowshares keynote address at 8 p.m. Friday, April 13, as part of the third annual Midwest Peace and Justice Summit on the IUPUI campus in Indianapolis.

Recyclers mobilize against Daniels

publisher — Sun, 14 Jan 2007 07:48:56 -0600

Hoosiers are being threatened by radical legislation and administrative proposals that would strengthen their status as one of the country's most polluted states and set bad precedents for nationwide efforts to curb pollution by increasing recycling.

Proposed Senate Bill 154 would require the Environmental Quality Service Council (EQSC) to study and make findings and recommendations regarding the meaning of recycling, with an eye toward including so-called "waste-to-energy definitions."

As reported in the last issue of The Bloomington Alternative, the expanded definition would allow burning of discarded automobile tires to create an industrial energy source.

Environmental fire

publisher — Sun, 31 Dec 2006 08:26:13 -0600

In an unprecedented move, the Indiana Department of Environmental Management (IDEM) is seeking to alter the definition of what constitutes recycling by including incineration — specifically waste-to-energy projects.

Additionally, IDEM's Office of Pollution Prevention and Technical Assistance is establishing an integrated recycling plan with new guidelines that could undermine local government recycling programs, encourage more polluting industries in Indiana and divert limited funds from legitimate recycling operations.

The state's environmental community — especially members of the Indiana Recycling Coalition (IRC), a statewide nonprofit advocate for waste reduction and recycling — is concerned that such initiatives threaten existing recycling projects and send plans to expand them up in smoke.

At a mid-December Business Summit on Recycling Issues called by the IRC, stakeholders in resource reduction and reuse activities learned about these policy changes and heard about legislative initiatives that may be introduced in the upcoming session of the General Assembly.