by William Skink
This morning I woke up with a line of poetry in my head, so despite it being 3am, I had to work it out. The video will be below.
But first, the video features shots of the Clark Fork river. Thinking about protecting water, I wanted to highlight some things the Democratic leadership in Montana are doing (and not doing) to protect water.
First, what they’re not doing. In a letter to Montana’s Department of Environmental Quality, Missoula County Commissioners expressed their frustration. Here’s a bit of that frustration:
The commissioners told the EPA that the public process has been limited to a “few public meetings” and email updates that have not provided detailed information or results. They believe that they have been kept out of providing comments on work plans for the site investigation.
“The length of time that it has taken to get the investigation initiated, results released and further work conducted to clean up the site has been disappointing,” the letter continued. “Unfortunately, the process that has unfolded at the Smurfit site is substandard compared to what we were expecting after our experience with the Milltown process.”
Commissioners also hinted that the EPA is letting the corporations that ran the mill in the past and the current owners have too much control.
“We believe that West Rock and International Paper, along with M2Green, are exerting substantial control over work at the site, with little or no public review,” their letter states.
But freshly reelected Governor Bullock isn’t happy to just let his DEQ keep commissioners in the dark while colluding with industry. Nope, the Governor has also authorized sending state troopers to join the militarized police response to water protectors at Standing Rock:
North Dakota requested help from Montana under the Emergency Management Assistance Compact, an agreement between all 50 states that requires approval by both the governor and the Montana Department of Emergency Services, according to Montana Attorney General’s Office spokesman John Barnes.
Last month, through that agreement, the state sent 10 Montana Highway Patrol troopers from across Montana to North Dakota to assist with protests, Barnes said.
Democratic leadership in Montana, folks. No wonder so many people are saying fuck ’em.
Now here’s the poem, Fog. Enjoy!