A developer in
Amherst wants to re-mediate the former Westwood Golf Course of
chemical contaminants at the taxpayers' expense. Or at least 50% of
it. (That will be $3 million of a projected $6 million job.
Provided it is approved.)
The former golf
course is contaminated with lead, arsenic, mercury, and zinc from the
excessive use of chemical pesticides, fungicides, and herbicides.
And all that ran off
the course and into our water supply.
And we wonder about
the cancer rates in our communities.
How many golf
courses are there in Western New York?
In urban and
suburban areas?
And people walk all
over these places and leave a path of those chemicals wherever they
go.
And now they -the
private corporations- want us to pay for the mess that they made.
How?
Brownfield clean up
laws and legislation.
The company
contaminates the land, walks away claiming bankruptcy (but shielding
their profits in creative ways) and pass the buck of clean up to
whoever follows in their footsteps.
Honestly, I don't
want to walk in lead contaminated (or any of those other chemicals)
footsteps.
Socialists and
Environmentalists demand a change to Limited Liability Incorporation
laws that pass the cost of environmental clean-up onto taxpayers.
Former owners of the property must be required to contribute towards
the cleanup of the property that they contaminated.
Bankruptcy laws for
LLCs need to be amended so that it really means bankrupt – no
money. Nothing hidden in offshore or shielded accounts.
Socialists and
Environmentalists also demand the end to the use of deadly
herbicides, fungicides, and fertilizers that contaminate our
environment. There are much more ecologically friendly ways to deal
with the issues that those deadly chemicals are designed to address.
And they (long term) cost less than the current methods.
We need to stop
poisoning our environment like this.
Worse part is –
the new owners want to build condos on that land.
And guess how they
are going to keep the grass green?
No comments:
Post a Comment