As most of you who read this blog already know, I live in rural West Virginia.
It is a fact that West Virginia has been plundered for our rich natural resources -particularly coal and natural gas- for generations.
It is also a fact that most of the income from these resources are funneled out of our state because, among other reasons, the people who can afford to extract these minerals do not live here and do not care diddly-squat about what happens in (or to) these beautiful mountains once they've made their monetary gains. This was, in large part, true with the hardwoodraping clear cutting that decimated our forests around the turn of the 20th century. It has been, and continues to be, true -repeatedly- with coal mining and natural gas exploration.
I will spare you my tirade of sick and disgustingly true facts related to mineral right acquisition, coal camp living conditions, environmental destruction, and political thievery. If I were to go in that direction we could be here all day just to harangue the injustices of the past.
That was not my intent.
My intent is to point out that the rape continues.
Here in Taylor County, a large coal mine is slated to start production as soon as next year. This is an entirely new endeavor and it's huge. The mine entrance will be less than 5 miles away from our home and the underground long-wall mining will come as close as a quarter mile from us. We are lucky. Many, many of our friends and neighbors will be undermined. Historically, coal mines have not been found to be financially liable (or liable at all, for that matter) for property destruction - including homes, businesses, water wells, acid mine drainage and resulting contamination, etc.
This time it's supposed to be different. At least that's what they're (politicians and coal company) saying. And although everyone WANTS to believe the sincerity of this assurance, it's impossible to prove their legitimacy until after the damage has already been done, documented, and compensation requested. Only then will we know for sure if the coal company will (or will be forced to) take responsibility for whatever destruction that has resulted from their activities. There are a whole slew of legal issues that come into account here and, though I drift even further from the intent of this post, I will add that our state representatives have passed laws that make it easy for out-of-state companies to come in, destroy, pay off politicians, take the money and run.
Money talks and bullshit walks.
There's a gazillion things wrong with this whole set-up (but don't label me as anti-mine, because I'm not -though that belongs to a different discussion altogether), but -again- I need to steer back towards my point:
Because the mine is so close, the new activity is hard to miss: the logging, the road improvements, the bridge building, survey crews, etc. As a part of the increased activity, I've been seeing dozens of large red trucks. Some are tankers, some are cargo haulers, some are drilling rigs, some are unidentifiable. But the one thing that all these large red trucks have in common is the 'Halliburton' logo (that, and they all drive too fast on these winding one-and-a-half-lane country roads, but that, too, belongs to a different discussion).
It is a fact that West Virginia has been plundered for our rich natural resources -particularly coal and natural gas- for generations.
It is also a fact that most of the income from these resources are funneled out of our state because, among other reasons, the people who can afford to extract these minerals do not live here and do not care diddly-squat about what happens in (or to) these beautiful mountains once they've made their monetary gains. This was, in large part, true with the hardwood
I will spare you my tirade of sick and disgustingly true facts related to mineral right acquisition, coal camp living conditions, environmental destruction, and political thievery. If I were to go in that direction we could be here all day just to harangue the injustices of the past.
That was not my intent.
My intent is to point out that the rape continues.
Here in Taylor County, a large coal mine is slated to start production as soon as next year. This is an entirely new endeavor and it's huge. The mine entrance will be less than 5 miles away from our home and the underground long-wall mining will come as close as a quarter mile from us. We are lucky. Many, many of our friends and neighbors will be undermined. Historically, coal mines have not been found to be financially liable (or liable at all, for that matter) for property destruction - including homes, businesses, water wells, acid mine drainage and resulting contamination, etc.
This time it's supposed to be different. At least that's what they're (politicians and coal company) saying. And although everyone WANTS to believe the sincerity of this assurance, it's impossible to prove their legitimacy until after the damage has already been done, documented, and compensation requested. Only then will we know for sure if the coal company will (or will be forced to) take responsibility for whatever destruction that has resulted from their activities. There are a whole slew of legal issues that come into account here and, though I drift even further from the intent of this post, I will add that our state representatives have passed laws that make it easy for out-of-state companies to come in, destroy, pay off politicians, take the money and run.
Money talks and bullshit walks.
There's a gazillion things wrong with this whole set-up (but don't label me as anti-mine, because I'm not -though that belongs to a different discussion altogether), but -again- I need to steer back towards my point:
Because the mine is so close, the new activity is hard to miss: the logging, the road improvements, the bridge building, survey crews, etc. As a part of the increased activity, I've been seeing dozens of large red trucks. Some are tankers, some are cargo haulers, some are drilling rigs, some are unidentifiable. But the one thing that all these large red trucks have in common is the 'Halliburton' logo (that, and they all drive too fast on these winding one-and-a-half-lane country roads, but that, too, belongs to a different discussion).
Being nosy inquisitive like I am, and having a high-speed internet addiction like I do, I googled it.
Halliburton is a multi-national corporation that specializes in "Oilfield Technologies and Services." So, yeah, that makes sense, but I didn't have the sense to stop at that reassurance.
I kept looking:
"As a public company with more than 45,000 employees and operations in more than 70 countries,our No. 1 priority is to offer competitive, safe and superior quality products and services. And as global corporate citizens we understand that the sustainability of our business also depends on how we interact with our world. As the search for new sources of energy takes us to many different places around the world, every action is guided by our vision:
"To be welcomed as a good corporate neighbor in our communities; to do no harm to the environment; to provide demonstrable social and economic benefits through sustainable relationships, sustainable technology and sustainable sourcing; and to validate our progress through transparency and reporting."
"To be welcomed as a good corporate neighbor in our communities; to do no harm to the environment; to provide demonstrable social and economic benefits through sustainable relationships, sustainable technology and sustainable sourcing; and to validate our progress through transparency and reporting."
Oh, good. It's a good company that believes in safety, protection of the environment, and maintaining good relationships through disclosure and, I'm assuming, integrity.
Well, that sounds good, right?
Right. And sometimes I'm a gullible idiot.
This is information taken from the Halliburton Wikipedia entry:
During the 2000 Presidential election, Dick Cheney retired from the company with a severance package worth $34 -get this!- MILLION dollars.
WTF?
A severance package for retiring? That's only one of many, many things wrong with that statement. And I suppose if you already know that you'll end up as vice president even before the election you can afford to retire. Oh, yeah, with that kind of jack-pot, it wouldn't really matter, would it?
And $34 MILLION? Doesn't that imply some sort of really deep connection? Or maybe it was just a friendly gesture with absolutely no implication of anything -then OR in the future.
It gets worse.
Here's a short list; just a beginning, really:
- The War Tapes: a documentary of the war in Iraq with film footage shot by US soldiers. Halliburton is notable here because, according to Wikipedia, they are mentioned to be charging the US $28 for each disposable plate that is used to serve meals to our soldiers.
- There were hearings on Halliburton and clean water supplies for our troops (failure to provide) by the Democratic Policy Committee. Here's the same thing, but another hearing from another date.
- Iraq for Sale: The War Profiteers. A documentary film detailing the screwed-up-ness of private companies profiting from the war effort. Details the notorious security firm Blackwater, but touches also on Halliburton. I'm sure that any relationship between these decisions to privatize many of these services and the contracts that are awarded to companies with ties to some of our most powerful political figures are pure coincidence.
- Here's a news item from CBS from today, "Halliburton Under Fire Over Rape Charge."
- And from here's a quote from a Halliburton article over at CorpWatch: "This company truly has a guardian angel: former Halliburton CEO and now Vice President Dick Cheney who looks out for its interests from the White House. The result? $8 billion in contracts “rebuilding” Iraq in 2004." BILLION? Did you say $8 BILLION (I'm yelling louder here than I did for 'Million.' Can you tell?)
- Halliburton has been so dirty and crooked that they have their very own Watchdog group: Halliburton Watch.
This picture came from the Halliburtonwatch.org site. I think it speaks for itself.
Now why do you suppose the federal government has been pushing for petroleum and natural gas exploration? The gullible idiot part of me wants to believe in the fairy tale of political and personal altruism, but the rest of me knows better.
West Virginians, beware!
We have rapists in our backyard.
Again.
