Ladies and gentlemen,

Those who attended the SWTO Meeting 001, THANK YOU kindly for your interest and your support.  You are our charter members, and from you, our organization will live or die.

Thank you graciously to our presenters, Fritz Boettner of Downstream Strategies, Lewis Baker from the WV Rural Water Association, Dale McCutcheon and Laurine Yates, educated and concerned MoCo citizens.  Thank you as well to all attendees who offered their thoughts, opinions, and research – or even just silent support.

I believe we had a productive information sharing session, and that was truly what we needed as a first collective step.  We now must assume that despite minor [even major] idiosyncrasies in our perspectives or approaches or fields of expertise – everyone that was in the room last night is fundamentally on the same page:

We agree.  And we agree that the consequences of not acting now are profoundly unlovely and long-lasting.

And so we will now set out to accomplish the impossible – to ban the use of hydraulic fracturing in Monroe County (that is, unless it conforms to the Clean Water Act).  Now we will set our powerful collective human resources into motion; we will organize and we will strategize – and then we will get moving.

It begins by forming the ranks and structure of our organization, and by defining its intentions, processes, and timeline.

All this and more, to discuss:

Next Tuesday, 7pm, Senior Citizen Center.

We hope you will join us.

~SWTO Team

Source : MoveOn.org

The below is taken from a recent email from MoveOn.org. Please note number TWO – the Halliburton Loophole.

1. Exxon Mobil made billions in profits, and yet paid not one dime in federal income taxes in 2009.2

3. Massey Energy was cited more than 2400 times for safety violations in its mines, but chose not to fix potentially lethal problems because low penalties meant it was cheaper to simply keep paying the fines. This spring, 29 miners were killed in an underground explosion at a Massey mine in West Virginia.4

4. Michael Taylor was the FDA official who approved the use of Monsanto’s Bovine Growth Hormone in dairy cows (even though it’s banned in most countries and linked to cancer). After approving it, he left the FDA—to work for Monsanto. Until last year, when he moved back to the government—as President Obama’s “Food Safety Czar.” No joke.5

5. Internal Toyota documents outline how the company was successful in limiting regulators actions in the recalls last year —saving hundreds of millions while the death toll continued to climb.6

6. GE and its lobbyists—including 33 former government employees—have successfully lobbied Congress to override Defense Department requests to cancel a GE contract to work on a new engine for the Joint Strike Fighter jet. GE will need $2.9 billion to finish the project.7

7. Top executives at 9 top banks including Citibank, Bank of America, Goldman Sachs, and Morgan Stanley paid themselves over $20 billion dollars in bonuses just weeks after taxpayers bailed them out to the tune of 700 billion dollars.8

8. During the waning days of the Bush administration, officials responded to a long-term lobbying campain by pre-empting product liability lawsuits for dozens of whole industries. They bypassed Congress entirely and rewrote rules ranging from seatbelt manufacturing regulations to prescription drug safety.9

9. Sunscreen manufacturers including Johnson & Johnson and Schering-Plough, in the interest of profits, are opposing an FDA proposal requiring full reporting on sunscreen labels. The New York Times just confirmed that current SPF ratings don’t even measure sun rays that cause cancer.10

10. BP— – a company with a record of 760 drilling safety and environmental violations—was granted safety waivers in order to operate the deepwater drilling rig that ultimately created the worst environmental disaster in US history.1

Mad yet? Sign the pledge here and we’ll pass your name on to your member of Congress, and ask them to Fight Washington Corruption too.

http://www.fightwashingtoncorruption.org/?id=21534-6328747-fXftqPx

Thanks for all you do,

–Ilyse, Robin, Milan, Amy and the rest of the team

1. “BP’s latest plan succeeding, but may make spill worse,” Newsweek, June 2, 2010. http://www.moveon.org/r?r=88880&id=21534-6328747-fXftqPx&t=2

2. “GE, Exxon Paid No U.S. Income Taxes in 2009,” ABC News, April 6, 2010 http://www.moveon.org/r?r=89262&id=&id=21534-6328747-fXftqPx&t=3

3. “Why is Dick Cheney Silent on the Oil Spill?,” Newsweek, June 10, 2010 http://www.moveon.org/r?r=89263&id=21534-6328747-fXftqPx&t=4

4. “Other Massey Mines Showed A Pattern Of Violations,” NPR, April 13, 2010 http://www.moveon.org/r?r=89264&id=21534-6328747-fXftqPx&t=5

5. “Monsanto’s man Taylor returns to FDA in food-czar role,” Grist, July 8, 2009 http://www.grist.org/article/2009-07-08-monsanto-FDA-taylor/

6. “Toyota tried to cut costs on recalls,” Los Angeles Times, February 22, 2010 http://www.moveon.org/r?r=89265&id=21534-6328747-fXftqPx&t=6

7. “GE vice chairman openly challenges Gates over F-35 fighter jet engine,” The Hill, June 17, 2010 http://www.moveon.org/r?r=89266&id=21534-6328747-fXftqPx&t=7

8. “Bankers Reaped Lavish Bonuses During Bailouts,” The New York Times, July 30, 2009 http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/31/business/31pay.html

9. “Bush Rule Changes Curtail Rights of States, Consumers,” Wall Street Journal, October 15, 2008 http://www.moveon.org/r?r=89267&id=21534-6328747-fXftqPx&t=8

10. “UVA Reform: It’s Not PDQ,” The New York Times, June 23, 2010 http://www.moveon.org/r?r=89268&id=21534-6328747-fXftqPx&t=9