Federal Agents & PA. Attyn. Gen. Raid Fracking Waste Hauler Than Had Been Praised by Corbett

[JPZenger]

http://blog.shaleshockmedia.org/2013/05/30/natural-gas-waste-hauler-raided/

"Federal and State agents from the IRS, FBI, PA Attorney General’s office and Pennsylvania’s Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) raided Minuteman Environmental Services (MES) around 9am on Wednesday (May 29, 2013).

MES is located in Milton, PA, and has contracts to haul gas drilling waste. Gov. Tom Corbett visited the Milton facility on Feb. 8, 2012, calling the Minuteman operation an “American success story.”

The Lewisburg home of Brian Bolus, Minuteman’s CEO, was also raided. Bolus donated $10,000 to Corbett’s campaign between 2009-2010.

Agents were at the plant for more than 9 hours and seen carrying out boxes and boxes of presumably files, documents and other records. Reports also stated agents were combing over every inch of the plant. Meanwhile, outside, workers from the Milton Regional
Sewer Authority and agents were seen opening up and inspecting sewers near the MES facility."

[grntuscarora]

1. Why did the DEP even bother showing up?

Talk about a premature statement:

"David Spandoni, DEP Spokesperson, would not comment on whether DEP had the authority to shut down businesses which have these types of violations. Spandoni did say 'We have no intention of shutting this [MES] business down.'" My italics.


This smells like something big.

[Frack Glop]

2. spandoni quote

spandoni said that back in 2011 in reference to MES's violations at that time, not regarding the current stuff going on with the raid

DEP does have authority to revoke permits for waste hauling, levy large fines etc.

In PA DEP is known as: Don't Expect Protection and/or Department of Energy Protection.

and yes, this is going to be really big if the agencies involved don't develop weak knees or succumb to corporate/political pressures.

PA ranks 20th out of 50 for Corruption Risk, earning it an overall C-
Grade / Specific category ranking:
F Political Financing
F State Budget Process
D- Lobbying Disclosure
F Redistricting
F Judicial Accountability
http://www.stateintegrity.org/pennsylvania

[Frack Glop]

5. MINUTEMAN ENVIRONMENTAL SERVICES RAID – TIP OF THE DRILL BIT?

May 31 UPDATE: MINUTEMAN ENVIRONMENTAL SERVICES RAID – TIP OF THE DRILL BIT?
http://blog.shaleshockmedia.org/2013/05/31/minuteman-environmental-services-raid-tip-of-the-drill-bit/

[blue neen]

6. Oh my...

"At the end of that day, stunned and angry neighbors counted 27 large dump trucks on their small residential street, filled with the debris from gas-drilling rigs in the Marcellus Shale. Some of the trucks were leaking liquids, said the neighbors, including Cora Campbell, who recalled that “it smelled like a combination of diesel fuel and dirt.”

"For months, Campbell and others in the history-rich town of 10,000, an hour north of Harrisburg, and environmental activists pressed the new owner of the site, the logistics firm Moran Industries, and regulators from the state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), to find out what was happening at the property and how it could handle so much fracking waste without environmental permits."

"But there was something else that Sunbury residents didn’t find out until long after DEP sided with Moran Industries: Its subsidiary’s contract with an interstate railroad, signed three months after the waste-transfer station opened, now meant that it was exempt from Pennsylvania permitting laws."

Corbett and his buddies left no crookery stone unturned.

[blue neen]

3. "An American success story?" Only if you are a Robber Baron.

Who knows where the fracking waste REALLY landed.

The same story is probably happening all over Pennsylvania. With Corbett and the Republican enablers at the helm, the frackers have had free rein.

[JPZenger]

4. How many times do you have to get caught before you get shut down?

One person said that the Department of Environmental Protection is not properly named, under Corbett. Instead, the Environment needs protection from DEP.