For over a century, our governments failed to regulate lead as it entered almost every facet of our consumer market and infrastructure. Despite long-standing knowledge of the risk of lead poisoning, lead was used for its versatility and low-cost. New studies estimate that at least half of the United States population was exposed to adverse lead levels during early childhood. While statutes and regulations have been put in place to prevent the continued use of lead in infrastructure and some products, few hold anyone responsible for affirmatively removing lead hazards.
On October 23, 2019 I arrived in downtown Pittsburgh. Just down the street, at the same moment, many of my clients were arriving too. I parked my car and walked into the David L. Lawrence Convention Center, a beautiful building with riverfront window that gives you a perfect view of the headwaters of the Ohio River, where my clients gathered.
Tom Smith has lived by the Mahoning River his entire life, but it wasn’t until 2011, when his good friend invited him on a kayaking trip, that he had ever considered getting near the river a recreational activity. Today he is a member of the Freshwater Accountability Project (FWAP), our client, and the key standing witness in their successful case involving oil and gas waste polluting one section of the river he has never paddled.
On Jan 9, 2019 the Pennsylvania Environmental Hearing Board (EHB) ruled in favor of the Clean Air Council saying that the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) broke the law when it issued Sunoco permits to build a Natural Gas Liquids facility at Marcus Hook. But what we, at Fair Shake, find most interesting is the language that they used in this decision, which sends a clear message: No more egg-slicer permitting.
