Maxheader
Maxheader's JournalKansans drank contaminated water for years. The state didn't tell them.
Don't know how to approach this article..reprehensible,
and irresponsible non-action? Criminal non-action?
This will keep people from coming to kansaas..Whether
just visiting or relocating for a job..If the safety of
water is questionable..?
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August 26, 2018 05:50 AM
Updated August 28, 2018 03:21 PM
Editor’s note: The Hufmans’ well was contaminated with two chemicals that can form as dry cleaning fluid breaks down. An earlier version of the article incorrectly stated the type and level of the contamination.
The state allowed hundreds of residents in two Wichita-area neighborhoods to drink contaminated water for years without telling them, despite warning signs of contamination close to water wells used for drinking, washing and bathing.
In 2011, while investigating the possible expansion of a Kwik Shop, the state discovered dry cleaning chemicals had contaminated groundwater at 412 W. Grand in Haysville.
The Kansas Department of Health and Environment didn’t act for more than six years.
It didn’t test private wells less than a mile away. Nor did it notify residents that their drinking wells could be contaminated with dry cleaning chemicals, known as perchloroethylene, so they could test the water themselves.
“We didn’t find out for 7 years,” said Joe Hufman, whose well was contaminated by a Haysville dry cleaner. “Haysville knew it. KDHE knew it. Kwik Shop knew it.”
Leo Henning, who is the director of environment for the KDHE, said the state acted as soon as it found out that the contamination had reached the drinking water wells.
“The Kansas Department of Health and Environment takes seriously its obligation to protect Kansans from environmental contamination. It’s important to note that as soon as the agency learned that water contamination found in the Haysville area was in the path of privately-used water wells, on July 17, 2017, affected residents were immediately notified, and alternate water supplies were offered,” he said in a written statement. “We want residents to feel confident in the safety of the water they drink but should those who utilize well water question their supply, we encourage them to have their wells tested. And if contamination is detected, please notify us right away, so that we can address the issue.”
A similar delay had happened at least once before, at a dry cleaning site near Central and Tyler in Wichita, where the state waited more than four years between discovering contamination nearby and notifying residents of more than 200 homes.
Some fear it could happen again at 22 contaminated sites where the state has not checked for people on well water — or that it could happen at a yet unknown site of contamination.
Kansans aren’t required to use city water if they already have a well, and some Wichita neighborhoods still rely on private well water.
The delays stem from a 1995 state law that places more emphasis on protecting the dry cleaning industry than protecting public health.
The Kansas Drycleaner Environmental Response Act was passed at the request of the dry cleaning industry to protect the small businesses from the potentially crippling cost of federal involvement. The Environmental Protection Agency, through its Superfund program, can pay to clean up water pollution and then bill any and all companies ever associated with the property to recover its money. Cleaning up pollution can easily cost millions of dollars; state law limits the liability of a dry cleaning shop to $5,000.
To raise money to investigate and clean up pollution, the state passed a tax on dry cleaning chemicals. While the KDHE supported the bill, one KDHE official warned the Legislature that a tax on cleaning solvent “would not be sufficient funding.”
The Legislature passed the law, including a line that directed the KDHE not to look for contamination from dry cleaners. The Legislature also directed the KDHE to “make every reasonable effort” to keep sites off the federal Superfund list.
It was a 2011 investigation in Haysville for Kwik Shop that discovered the dry cleaning chemical perchloroethylene (usually abbreviated PCE and also known as tetrachloroethylene) in groundwater higher than the level the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency deems safe to drink.
The Kansas Department of Health and Environment says it initially gave the Haysville site a low priority, assuming the contaminated groundwater was traveling southwest — away from private wells and in a different direction than Cowskin Creek.
It wasn’t until 2017 that KDHE realized groundwater was actually flowing to the southeast: directly along the creek and directly toward a cluster of private drinking wells. For the most part, the underground contamination follows Cowskin Creek, trailing down from a former dry cleaner on West Grand Avenue until past 83rd Street and into the cul-de-sac that Hufman calls home.
For the 25 years they lived in that house, Hufman, his wife and daughter drank the well water. They don’t know when the contamination reached them.
The Hufmans’ well was found to be contaminated with two chemicals formed when dry cleaning fluid breaks down.
When consumed, PCE can build up over time, potentially harming a person’s nervous system, liver, kidneys and reproductive system.
Exposure for long periods may cause changes in mood, memory, attention, reaction time and vision. Studies have suggested that the chemical might lead to a higher risk of bladder cancer, multiple myeloma or non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.
The City of Haysville completed hooking up around 200 homes to city water in July.
Hufman says he doesn’t know why people on his cul-de-sac outside of Haysville weren’t notified about the contamination years ago, even if officials thought it was moving in a different direction. They now know their street was hit the worst of any — at least three of the street’s wells are contaminated over the EPA limit.
“You think they would have notified everybody, taken some precautions until something was done,” Hufman said. “Instead, they all kept quiet. They didn’t let anybody know about the contamination, so we all continued to drink the water.”
Read more here: https://www.kansas.com/news/politics-government/article216625720.html#storylink=cpy
Only number 7?
Goodness gracious....And here I thought kansaas had no peers
screwing the states citizens...Wanna bet kohack is salivating over
the possibilities? Lord we need a liberal governor in the worst way..
https://www.cheatsheet.com/culture/15-states-ranked-the-most-corrupt-in-america-for-2017.html/
7. Kansas
Sam Brownback, governor of Kansas
In many ways, Kansas (an obvious F) provides an examples on how not to run a government. Governor Sam Brownback has presided over one of the most corrupt administrations in memory, with lobbyists spilling out of his office and ex-employees landing fat jobs once their time in government ended. Kansas is worst (50th) in internal audits. Meanwhile, its policy on making and passing laws — as well as hiding information — stands as a disgrace to democracy.
It hasn't even been two years since the editorial board of the Topeka Capital-Journal ...
But on Thursday, the paper will publish a very different editorial, as it joins nearly 350 other publications across the country in standing up to Trump's anti-press rhetoric.
"It's an acknowledgment that we're part of this community," Capital-Journal publisher Stephen Wade told CNN. "The people who work for me here, my teammates, they live here, they play here. We're just normal people, too. To make us out to be enemies is just not right."
Trump has routinely used the phrase "enemies of the people" to rail against the media, calling unfavorable coverage of his administration "fake news." The paper's editorial will zero in on these attacks.
"We're sitting here in Topeka, the capital city of Kansas, and we're in the middle of a heated election year," Wade said. "It's one of those deals where if someone doesn't like what's being asked, if they think we're not being favorable to their candidate of choice, then it gets to be very contentious. The cry of of 'fake news' starts to get yelled across the room. It's a difficult environment."
Too damn bad it took so many profanities from cheetoz before the newsy did something like this..
https://money.cnn.com/2018/08/15/media/topeka-capital-journal-trump/index.html?iid=EL
Wichita is being hit hardest by tariffs on China, according to analysis
Aircraft and agriculture...
jobs supported directly by exports
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August 14, 2018 04:58 PM
Updated 6 hours 57 minutes ago
No city in America is being impacted more by the tariffs on China than Wichita, according to a Washington-based research center.
Analysis by the Brookings Institution indicates Wichita has the largest share of export jobs affected by President Trump’s China tariffs: Nearly 9 percent of its export-supported employment — or about 2,900 jobs.
“We’re No. 1 in the nation” in terms of impacts from the tariffs, said Karyn Page, president and CEO of Kansas Global Trade Services. “That’s not a ranking we particularly like.”
Page alerted the Wichita City Council to the city’s vulnerability to the tariffs on Tuesday as the council approved $200,000 for the agency to help pay for the fourth year of a five-year export plan.
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The plan was developed to increase exports from businesses in and near Wichita, and “it’s working,” Page said.
Through the first two years of the plan, local companies — most of them small businesses — have generated $28.6 million in exports.
“That’s just the tip of the iceberg,” Page said.
While some officials haven’t been impressed by that $28 million figure, she said, her response has been “invest more” in export efforts. The agency has a return-on-investment average of 20:1 over the past 15 years.
But the tariffs - a tax on imported or exported goods - are bad news for many local manufacturers.
The Trump administration has implemented tariffs on $34 billion of Chinese goods, as well as on imported steel and aluminum. Trump has threatened to place penalty taxes on up to $500 billion worth of products imported from China.
The European Union, Canada, Mexico, China and other countries have responded to his tariffs by imposing taxes of their own on agriculture products such as soybeans and pork.
Economists have warned that the tariffs could lead to trade wars that will raise prices for consumers worldwide and directly hurt farmers in Missouri, Kansas and other Midwestern states.
The Trump administration called the tariffs on imported steel and aluminum a matter of U.S. national security. The tariffs on Chinese goods come as part of a broader complaint of unfair trade practices by China, including theft of U.S. technology and intellectual property.
“Tariffs are not a good thing for Wichita companies and Kansas products,” Page said Tuesday. “Historically, there’s nothing that tells us tariffs are going to be helpful to us.”
In its 2018 Export Monitor released in June, Brookings Institution — a nonprofit, left-leaning public policy organization — reported “Metropolitan areas that specialize in agriculture, aerospace, and automotive manufacturing are most exposed to the Chinese tariffs.”
Wichita’s two largest industries with jobs supported directly by exports are aircraft and agriculture, according to Brookings.
Most local companies so far are absorbing the costs, Page said, but that can’t continue for long.
“This is not a good thing for our bottom line,” she said. “Eventually, if this is not going to abate, companies are not going to be able to weather this storm forever.”
Kim Martinez, purchasing agent for J.R. Custom Metal, said she has seen the prices for steel soar once the tariffs were announced. Prices have climbed and lead times have stretched out for when materials can arrive.
“This year we have seen some very large increases,” Martinez said, and they’ve had to pass those increases on to their customers. “This makes it difficult to be more competitive.”
Many companies that used to buy from China or elsewhere overseas are now buying U.S. steel, she said, straining the industry’s capacity and driving those prices up as well.
Even though prices have skyrocketed, she said, “business is booming. I’m hearing that from everybody.
“It’s not slowing people down. It’ll be interesting to see how long that continues.”
Wichita is followed in the rankings of most vulnerable cities to the tariffs by Bakersfield, Calif.; Jackson, Miss., and Stockton, Calif.
No city has more total jobs at risk than Seattle, according to Brookings, with more than 16,000 jobs impacted by the tariffs.
Page is urging officials and residents to contact their elected representatives in Washington to let them know how the tariffs are hurting them.
“What they need is personal stories,” she said. “They don’t need for me to tell them rankings and stats.”
The contract approved Tuesday by the City Council covers the 2018 calendar year. Future funding decisions about how much the city will contribute to the export plan will be made by the Greater Wichita Partnership, as part of a restructuring of economic development administration.
Read more here: https://www.kansas.com/news/business/article216660110.html#storylink=cpy
Two Kansas environmentalists claim retaliation by KCC attorney at root of legal inquiry
http://www.cjonline.com/news/20180814/two-kansas-environmentalists-claim-retaliation-by-kcc-attorney-at-root-of-legal-inquiryHow screwed up can kansaas govt be? First accusations of practicing law without a license against environmentally concerned ..citiizens..And then this person..Dustin Kirk, is fired? Why are these nujobs hired? What is the real story
here? Did the oil companys push to get Kirk into place within the KCC for their own benefit? Wouldn't suprise me.
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OTTAWA — Scott Yeargain’s appreciation for clean water and suspicion about injection wells designed to extract reticent oil from the ground in eastern Kansas led the retiree from simple pleasures of running a small cow-calf operation into complex regulatory cauldrons at the Kansas Corporation Commission.
To the west in the Flint Hills, journalist Cindy Hoedel’s apprehension about the onset of earthquakes in Kansas attributable to disposing of large quantities of wastewater from oil and gas production into wells deep underground pulled her into the same KCC orbit.
They participated in KCC proceedings related to oversight of injection wells and permits for new drilling. It brought both into contact with commission staff, including Dustin Kirk, who served as the KCC’s deputy general counsel.
Now, Yeargain and Hoedel stand accused by Kirk of potentially violating state statute forbidding people from practicing law without a license. The Kansas attorney general’s office officially notified them a consumer-protection inquiry would be conducted. Those guilty of this misdemeanor offense could be jailed for six months and fined $1,000.
“This is retaliation. I think they’re irritated at me,” said Yeargain, who lives outside Ottawa and serves on a regional advisory committee for the Marais des Cygnes watershed. “Typically, I do homework and share information with others. I don’t represent them. There is no contractual relationship. I’m not an attorney and don’t aspire to be one.”
In October and December 2017, Yeargain filed protests with the KCC about proposed injection wells in Franklin County. In one instance, an oil company withdrew its application. He turned his focus to a proposed injection project 6 miles from his home in March. During a recent procedural hearing, Kirk asked Yeargain if he was an attorney. His answer: “No.”
Yeargain, a retired community college philosophy professor convinced that injection wells pose a hazard to surface and underground water supplies, said a representative of Attorney General Derek Schmidt informed him last month about his alleged unauthorized practice of law. No complaint document was attached to that email, however, and attempts by Yeargain to obtain a copy have failed, he said.
Jennifer Montgomery, spokeswoman for the attorney general, confirmed Tuesday the KCC referral related to the purported illegal practice of law. The attorney general’s office sent identical notification letters July 12 to Yeargain and Hoedel.
“The matter remains under review,” Montgomery said.
Linda Berry, public affairs director at the KCC, said Tuesday that Kirk wasn’t employed at the KCC. She said the commission wasn’t in possession of a complaint authored by Kirk that targeted Hoedel and Yeargain nor was the commission “aware of the details of that complaint.” She said individual lawyers in Kansas had the authority to report alleged malfeasance on their own.
“Mr. Kirk is no longer employed at the KCC as deputy general counsel,” Berry said. “His resignation was effective last Friday, Aug. 10.”
Attempts to locate Kirk, who also worked in 2015 as a staff attorney with the Kansas bank commissioner, weren’t successful.
Hoedel, who moved to Matfield Green as her career at The Kansas City Star wound down, didn’t experience earthquakes in that region of the Flint Hills as recently as five years ago. Seismic activity since then became common in south-central Kansas with escalation in the amount of salty water pumped into wells. Hoedel said her effort to convince government officials to grapple with the issue placed her in conflict with the oil and gas industry and KCC regulators.
She was among activists who disclosed last year that more than 2,000 injection wells hadn’t been properly permitted by the KCC. Those wells spanned nearly 300 operators and were located in 79 of the state’s 105 counties.
A subsequent KCC review indicated more than 1,000 permit applications for 2,111 injection wells were approved by the agency based on a 15-day public notice period. The legal standard in Kansas remains 30 days.
Twenty-one state legislators urged the KCC to revoke all the permits and require each to reapply. That approach was opposed by dozens of oil companies, and the legislative effort fizzled, Hoedel said.
In late July, Hoedel was told Kirk spawned the attorney general’s investigation into her alleged unauthorized practice of law. Kirk forwarded emails to the attorney general that had been written by Hoedel to other activists considering whether to write the KCC.
Hoedel said her involvement didn’t equate to impersonation of an attorney. The response by Kirk smacked of “retaliation, intimidation and abuse of power,” she said.
“I do feel like they’re trying to silence us,” Hoedel said. “To me, the First Amendment is not an abstract thing. I hope the attorney general does the right thing and that this doesn’t happen to anybody else.”
Shawna Meyer, an investigator for the attorney general, sent the original email notice to Hoedel about the inquiry. For nearly a week, Hoedel said, she was led to believe Kirk submitted a formal complaint against her. Lynette Bakker, an assistant attorney general, clarified that no written complaint was submitted. Instead, the investigation was based on Kirk’s interpretation of Hoedel’s emails.
She said a fair reading of the emails shouldn’t lead a person to believe she engaged in the practice of law. The investigation by the attorney general prompted her to hire an attorney, she said.
“I’m really disappointed,” Hoedel said. “It’s really harmful to try to block citizens from participating in this process.”
In Yeargain’s case, he allegedly violated state law by suggesting in an email that he and his wife, Polly Shteamer, and “any other protestants” could represent others in their group during a preliminary date-setting conference with KCC staff. The role of Shteamer, Yeargain and others wouldn’t extend beyond expressing preferences for a hearing date in 2018.
Kenneth and Sue Petersen, of Ottawa, liked Yeargain’s idea and sent an email to Kirk explaining they would be out of town for much of the summer and didn’t want to complicate scheduling of the pending complaint about an injection well application.
Kirk, who served as chief administrative counsel to the KCC, informed the Petersens that Yeargain couldn’t stand in for them because he wasn’t a licensed attorney.
Yeargain said Kirk’s decision to view his communication with the Petersens as the work of someone illegally practicing law reflected negatively on the KCC. In addition, he said, Kirk appeared uninterested in the federal Safe Drinking Water Act, which urged government to create greater “opportunity for public education and participation” in preservation of water supply.
“It is my strongest conviction that they are antithetical to that finding,” Yeargain said.
How available are "hackers?"
Been reading a few incidences of politicians, and the common
person getting hacked..democrat running against pro-russian
and pro-trumph republican..In wichita ks. a prominent attorney ie.,
runs lots of ads on tv...hired a hacker to go after people that
were critical of him...Just wondering if these 'hackers' are easy
to find...or what?
Kobach and Colyer won't know a winner for days. We all know which county was Tuesday's loser
Source: Wichita Eagle
There is a small bit of deliciousness in the process by which Kansas chose its Republican gubernatorial nominee on Tuesday night. And Wednesday morning. (Are the results final yet? Are we sure?)
The state’s governor and secretary of state, roundly criticized in areas of their job performances, were made to wait overnight for final results because of voting tabulation problems in the state’s most affluent county — one where both men thought they had solid pockets of support.
We will forever remember Tuesday and Wednesday as “The Johnson County Primary,” the time when Republicans tentatively picked Secretary of State Kris Kobach over Gov. Jeff Colyer — a 191-vote margin with thousands of provisional ballots to be counted.
The final, excruciatingly slow tallies came from a county with new voting machines and a new county commissioner — hired by Kobach. That’s all the more embarrassing for Kobach and his office, though we’re not sure he cares at this point.
Read more: https://www.kansas.com/opinion/editorials/article216292870.html
Controversy...kohacks preferred mode of operation. If this handjob does
get the win, Kansas may be in bigger trouble than when sam brownbutt
was the guv. All we can hope for is that Laura will pull some female votes
from gop voters...We know how misogyny the men are...little help there
I'm afraid..
Big day...Oh geese..cheetox indorsed kohack
https://www.google.com/search?source=hp&ei=D8BpW9HQJcOp_QbJxZPwDQ&q=trump+indorses+koback&oq=trump+indorses+koback&gs_l=psy-ab.3...318.16616.0.16698.21.21.0.0.0.0.784.3584.2-8j1j1j0j1.11.0....0...1c.1.64.psy-ab..10.9.3105...0j0i131k1j0i10k1j35i39k1j0i67k1j0i131i20i263i264k1j0i131i67k1j0i131i20i263k1j0i20i263k1j0i20i263i264k1j0i8i13i30k1.0.jDRmDHk25NANo suprises..kohack was going to head up an illegal voting combat team for dementia boy...never happened, but
the little turd got to shake the traitors hand..
Lets hope kansas doesn't get saddled with another moron like brownback
or worse...
Anti-Kobach activists declare 'grave concern' ahead of primary election
http://www.cjonline.com/news/20180731/anti-kobach-activists-declare-grave-concern-ahead-of-primary-electionThese guys ain't messin around now!
-a candidate who stokes fear..
-I believe he is dangerous..
-Kobach adds to a “greater macrocosm of fear"
Certainly glad to hear this...I was afraid people would just go "Oh well, he has experience"
and not dig into the handjobs past..Although I've been disappointed before with kansaas
voters going with proven losers...tRump...brownbutt, twice...same with the bushes and
reagon...Will this time people here use their heads and not vote for these mental cripples?
Hope so...been seeing a lot of kohack posters in farmers fields...
Enemies of Kris Kobach’s politics gathered Tuesday at the Statehouse to summon opposition ahead of next week’s primary race, in which Kobach is considered a frontrunner for the GOP nomination for governor.
Activists, immigrants and attorneys implored Kansans to vote for anybody other than Kobach, describing him as a candidate who stokes fear, attacks voter rights, lacks respect for equality and costs taxpayers millions with model legislation that doesn’t withstand court scrutiny.
“The thought of Kris Kobach leading our state fills me with grave concern,” said Rabbi Debbie Stiel, of Topeka’s Temple Beth Sholom. “I believe he is dangerous. As a Jew, I am part of a people who have seen over the centuries the very real danger of bad political leaders.”
The news conference was organized by the Kobach is Wrong for Kansas political action committee, which has produced reports that detail Kobach’s involvement with anti-immigration and voting laws, militia promoters, and what the PAC describes as Islamophobic initiatives.
Zachery Mueller, the author of those reports, said the PAC has given presentations at 35 house parties in recent months in an effort to ignite grassroots opposition to Kobach.
Shaffaa Mansour, a Muslim woman, medical student and first-generation American who was raised in the Kansas City area, said she first learned about Kobach at one of those house parties. Mueller’s report criticizes Kobach — who worked under former Attorney General John Ashcroft after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks — for formulating a costly, intrusive and unproductive federal tracking system for non-residents from Muslim countries. The report also notes Kobach’s support for President Donald Trump’s ban on Muslim refugees.
Mansour, 21, said Kobach adds to a “greater macrocosm of fear” that has affected her and other Muslims in her life. When people look at her, she said, they don’t know if she is an American or a terrorist.
“The reality is really scary when you realize that people around you see you as less of an American simply for one part of me that contributes to the many different layers of my entire identity,” she said. “I noticed how growing up I felt guilty and ashamed to openly admit I was Muslim.”
Other speakers lambasted Kobach’s performance during the recent federal trial over the state’s proof of citizenship law, which was ruled unconstitutional. In the process, the judge lashed out at Kobach for failing to follow court rules. She also held him in contempt of court and ordered the state to pay legal fees for the American Civil Liberties Union.
Stiel wondered how Kobach could show his face in public, let alone run for governor. After “years of unsubstantiated sound bites,” she said, he couldn’t demonstrate that voter fraud exists in Kansas.
Mildred Schroeder, a Manhattan attorney, said she has never been held in contempt of court despite having a big mouth.
“We can’t afford his mistakes,” Schroeder said. “How many will he make when he’s governor?”
Denise Ramoz, of Kansas People’s Action, lamented the cost of legislation Kobach produced as an “anti-immigration crusader.” The laws were crafted to hold landlords and employers liable for providing housing or jobs to undocumented immigrants. Ramoz said Kobach’s work “blew up in his face” in the Dallas suburb of Farmers Branch, where legal fees have cost the town of 29,000 people more than $6 million, according to one of Mueller’s reports.
His report said Kobach also wrote and defended ordinances in Valley Park, Mo., Hazleton, Penn., and Fremont, Neb. While Kobach made “a small fortune in legal fees,” the report said, courts largely rebuked his laws and in some cases issued fines. The legislation led to protests in the streets, lingering division among community members and damage to local economies.
“People’s lives are affected by these issues,” Mueller said. “Who knows what he will do if he is the governor of our state?”
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Name: RickGender: Do not display
Hometown: Kansas
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