A funny thing happened to me on the way to the Kristeen Young show Thursday night. On my way to CB's 313 Gallery, somebody drove right up my rear bumper and kept flashing his lights like a maniac. I signaled him to keep off my rear and he just kept driving up my rear bumper and flashing his brights. Finally, I flipped him the bird. He turned out to be a cop. He gave me a ticket for improper hand signal. Before I continue- Wow!!! Su'mer speaks six languages! Which ones? I learned Spanish as a second language back in the day, but every time I used it, everyone answered me in English. Very frustrating. > > The settlements stem from charges made by two > whistleblowers in a 1996 > lawsuit against 18 large oil companies. > I don't know if this is news to anyone, but a few years ago, an effort was made to repeal the Whistleblowers Act on the claim that it was unfair to businesses. I wouldn't be surprised if there was an effort made against the Whistleblowers Act again in the future. Or tie it in with the label of "government waste" or the slogan of "downsizing big government". I remember a few years ago on Nightline Sen. Al D'Amato and a few other Republicans were asked what they meant by downsizing big government. The first answers they all gave was getting rid of "unnecessary environmental regulations". They also mentioned either decreasing the role of or the getting rid of government regulatory agencies like the EPA and one or two of the Republicans in the interview made the comment that the businesses have been around long enough to know what's safe and what isn't and should be given the right to regulate themselves. When I was an environmental manager for Clean Water of New York, Inc., I used to receive newsletters that were always talking about the "oppressive Big Brother" environmental regulations that all the "little businessmen" had to abide by and was always mentioning phrases like "less government" and "more freedom". Today, whenever I hear people use terms like "government waste" and "excess regulatory measures", I become suspicious that they must be in the same league as the writers of the newsletters that were delivered to Clean Water of New York, Inc. For those who might be wondering about my scenario and stay at Clean Water of New York, Inc., I was hired to be the environmental manager of a barge facility that would clean out vessels and reclaim the oil from the sediment and sell it. They chose to do everything from a barge predominantly so that they would be regulated by the Coast Guard, which, at least at the time, had less demanding standards to abide by when compared with other regulatory agencies. The state of New York did start to include passages in their environmental law books that would make mention of docked off shore facilities in their rules and regulations to include them in the laws laid out for everyone else "on land", probably as a result of the existence of this barge facility. My stay there went sour when the Coast Guard visited the facility and asked me questions regarding the facility. It really turned out to be nothing; they were confused about the change of the names of the barges there and were wondering if a few barges had turned up overnight. What I didn't like was that my direct supervisor, who was the head of the facility, practically ducked and took cover under his desk during the coast guard visit. He had once made the comment to me that not everyone would take a position where "their neck could be on a chopping block" and after the Coast Guard visit I found out that there were things going on behind my back that I was not aware of and did not approve of, ranging from nobody performing enough or any sample testing to the facility itself running without a required permit. At that point I felt like a turkey about to be introduced to the chopping block and relations between myself and my supervisor quickly grew hostile and in the end I was no longer with the facility. This actually turned out to be a good thing. Six months after I was no longer there, the parent company, Eklof Marine, wanted one of their barges to be sent to Rhode Island. On the way to Rhode Island, the barge and the accompanying tugboat encountered a storm. Instead of waiting the storm out, they decided to go ahead and travel through the storm. The end result created the largest oil spill in the history of Rhode Island. Eklof Marine was fined seven million dollars. From what I understand, their insurance paid for the fine. If anyone was curious and wanted to know more about this incident, here's a few pages that have the story: http://www.house.gov/transportation/cgmt/03-24-99/03-24-99memo.htm Look under the criminal liability section for the story. http://www.fbi.gov/contact/fo/boston/pressrel/1997/eklofmarine.htm Yep. This attracted the FBI's attention. http://www.corporatepredators.org/top100.html It's #39 on this list. I think this list overall overlooked a few businesses that I think could rival what's been laid out in this list. http://www.dem.state.ri.us/dem_wastemgt/documents/northcape/darp/chapter2.htm If the Whistleblower Act is ever repealed or should the equivalent ever happen, that might mean that mentioning what I typed out might be against the law. I wouldn't be surprised if some sort of slander or equivalent charge can be levied against me when I discuss what I've seen during my stay in the environmental field. But what the hell? I gave an East Brunswick cop the finger the other night. Why stop there? Bryan __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! Photos - 35mm Quality Prints, Now Get 15 Free! http://photos.yahoo.com/ -------------------------- eGroups Sponsor -------------------------~-~> <FONT COLOR="#000099">eLerts It's Easy. It's Fun. Best of All, it's Free! </FONT><A HREF="http://click.egroups.com/1/9068/11/_/665758/_/970306575/"><B>Click Here!</B></A> ---------------------------------------------------------------------_-> Moderator: Jimmy Boy Dial http://www.thespike.com Community email addresses: Post message: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] List owner: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Shortcut URL to this page: http://www.onelist.com/community/The_Spike
