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Decisions Decisions

3/2/2019

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I am not sure who sits in on all Governor Stitt's Oklahoma's Turnaround decisions. Plenty are being made there while other decisions are made in boardrooms we will never be allowed to enter. Corporations with message-makers and attorneys to protect them like we could never afford ourselves. Corporations are untouchable, we don't always know where they are in real time.

But all 77 Oklahoma counties have a non-profit fb, not Facebook, but Farm Bureau office for members  with for-profit companies which provide a full range of insurance products sold by agents who are associated with county Farm Bureaus.

FB members have a 100% club and state legislators were recognized Feb. 21 for voting 100% for FB promoted policies in 2018. I recognized some of the names on the list: Senator Michael Bergstrom, Speaker of the House Charles McCall, Rep. Josh West, Rep. Dell Kerbs, the head of the House Ag Committee that failed to let HB 2534 out of his committee for a hearing. We banked on legislative help resolving corporate poultry operating facilities issues when the Dept. of Agriculture, Food and Forestry failed to pass protective regulations. But with the 100% club, we may never have a fair chance. These folks got a coin for voting to promote FB policies and the public has to question what they received.

We need water for life and we know what protecting water could look like, we have embedded in our memories images of the people standing for water at Standing Rock in the heat, in the cold, standing in water or roads facing corporation protectors wearing uniforms and carrying weapons. We won't get to find a PLACE to stand up for water like that around here, but we have to stand somehow. Deal making is happening right now in boardrooms and in state agency boardrooms that will result in rules that will be become our new Oklahoma reality and later in federal agencies.

Maybe you haven't made a phone call, sent an email, signed a petition or attended a meeting, but even if you had, the protections you have counted on to protect our water will diminish anyway with rules you will not like even in those corporate ad masters whip it into a motto like "Clean Coal" a term that is totally ridiculous, just try picking up a hunk of coal with a white glove!

WOTUS, abbreviation used by EPA for "Waters of the United States" in the Clean Water Act ensures us to have clean drinking water. We know water is life. and water that is not clean will not be healthy. I missed a trip to Kansas City to speak out for WOTUS because icy road warnings get my attention and when Kansas City school buses shut down so do I. I will send my comments before April 15 and you can too (https://www.epa.gov/wotus-rule).

WOTUS has been attacked by AFBF President Zippy Duval using "Ditch the Rule" and "Clean Water Clean Rules," falsely believing WOTUS will harm farmers, when agriculture is exempt from the rule. We need a 100% club for the environment, for water and air quality. Why didn't we think of that? We need to meet in a board room the size of a stadium and yell loud for water, for air. We haven't done it and everytime we lose, we just get quieter and go sit in our corner and fester. But we don't have to.

We can look hard at that list of 100%ers and we can find some folks to replace them. Elections matter and you get the results THE elected ones STAND UP FOR. I am not sure what kind of COIN our new 100%ers  for the environment should get but boy we could shine it up and be ready for them. Elections have consequences and that's our ticket to make this all better. RUN for water, and run for air, and good common sense, we will have a coin waiting for you.

I got shuffled out of a board room this week, out of a meeting of people I know and respect because it was private. There are times I know this is expected and in fact needed, but it was a new feeling to be rather shunned.

You won't be shunned March 11 from 4 to 7 pm at NEO in the Calcagno Ballroom where you will be able to meet the agencies charged with the Tar Creek Superfund Site Cleanup. You will be free to meet people representing all the agencies working at this site. It is one of the largest superfund sites in the country, tackling our issues for decades, plodding along trying to figure it all out. Come out and meet them, ask your questions, give suggestions. There will be other organizations represented as well who are environmental stewards, you will want to meet.

The public is welcome for this short meet and greet type experience. Consider it a crash course to get you ready for the fall event LEAD Agency's 21st National Tar Creek Conference which will be held in the same place September 24-25. There you will be able to hear more in-depth information about the projects, the research about the site as well as other environmental issues, because, boy do we have them in spades.

Respectfully Submitted  ~ Rebecca Jim

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    Rebecca Jim

    Rebecca is the Executive Director of LEAD Agency and one of its founding members. She also serves as the Tar Creekkeeper with the Waterkeeper Alliance.

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Local Environmental Action Demanded Agency, Inc.
Miami Office:                                Vinita Office:
223 A Street SE                             19289 South 4403 Drive
Miami, Oklahoma 74354             Vinita, Oklahoma 74301
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