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Forum Post: Koch, Coke and the Detroit River

Posted 11 years ago on May 18, 2013, 11:39 a.m. EST by shoozTroll (17632)
This content is user submitted and not an official statement

The pile I reported on a while ago is still growing.

The refuse of tar sands mined 2,000 miles from here, is being dumped next to one of the most precious water sources in the world.

Mostly in retaliation for Moroun's loss of a new bridge contract. ( Koch front groups at one time had tacked fake eviction notices on doors in the neighborhoods, in a scare tactic).

He still lost and now cost's everyone money as he appeals.

http://www.freep.com/article/20130409/NEWS15/304090062/Matty-Moroun-s-company-sues-U-S-leaders-Canada-to-stop-competing-span

So he allowed the Koch's to dump this stuff on his property near the existing bridge.

It appears that others are beginning to notice.

And no one knows quite what to do about it, except Koch Carbon, which owns it, and Matty Moroun, who owns the property.

The company is controlled by Charles and David Koch, wealthy industrialists who back a number of conservative and libertarian causes including activist groups that challenge the science behind climate change. The company sells the high-sulfur, high-carbon waste, usually overseas, where it is burned as fuel. "

It's bring yet another slice of libe(R)topia to Michigan

The GOP usurpers of elected officials, haven't said a word, from their seats in a city in disarray.

"“What is really, really disturbing to me is how some companies treat the city of Detroit as a dumping ground,” said Rashida Tlaib, the Michigan state representative for that part of Detroit. “Nobody knew this was going to happen.” Almost 56 percent of Canada’s oil production is from the petroleum-soaked oil sands of northern Alberta, more than 2,000 miles north. "

The states former Democratic governor, put an end to Canadian trash imports to Michigan trash dumps.

But our new GOP governor, being in the pocket of the Koch's has allowed this to continue.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/18/business/energy-environment/mountain-of-petroleum-coke-from-oil-sands-rises-in-detroit.html?_r=0

59 Comments

59 Comments


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[-] 4 points by jph (2652) 11 years ago

I was just down there, on the Canadian side of the river, where you can see the huge piles clearly. We where wondering what that sht was, and why anyone would pile it so close to the river that feeds the rest of the great lakes. You can smell it all the way across the river and dust/tar is building up on stuff,. it is obviously leaching into the waterway.

That moron Moroun is a real piece of work, and has some nasty friends in low places.

Why do we let the worst among us run amok?

[Removed]

[-] -1 points by shoozTroll (17632) 11 years ago

Matty is mad at us for voting his bridge down.

It's a retaliatory effort.

[-] 1 points by Nevada1 (5843) 11 years ago

Greedy and Hateful. Corporate War Of Aggression.

[-] 1 points by DKAtoday (33802) from Coon Rapids, MN 11 years ago

Yes it is and so a repeat of a basic truth:

GREED THE #1 CAUSE OF DISEASE/DEATH/DESTRUCTION IN THE WORLD.

Along with a term everyone should get to know: ( concerns Governments whole hearted support of corp(se)oRATions )

Democide http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democide

[-] 0 points by shoozTroll (17632) 11 years ago

These in particular have names.

Charles Koch

David Koch

Matty Moroun

William I. Koch

That's a lot of Koch.

[-] 2 points by Nevada1 (5843) 11 years ago

Everyone needs to know.

[-] 0 points by DKAtoday (33802) from Coon Rapids, MN 11 years ago

They sure as hell do.

[-] 0 points by shoozTroll (17632) 11 years ago

An update.

Although the Koch's have claimed they have been selling some of it off, ostensibly to pollute the World elsewhere.

It's still very much here and growing.

After drying in the sun for a while, eventually.........

the wind blows.

http://www.eclectablog.com/2013/07/nothing-to-see-here-just-a-giant-cloud-of-detroit-petcoke-dust-blowing-into-canada.html

[-] 1 points by GirlFriday (17435) 11 years ago

The only real question is whether Payne is actually paid by Koch Industries or the Mackinac Center for what he writes or if he just peddles their malignant corporatist, profits-at-any-cost message for them for free.


That is a good question.

[-] 0 points by shoozTroll (17632) 11 years ago

They funnel tax payers dollars to pay him through their various charities?

http://www.eclectablog.com/2013/03/destroying-the-top-two-corporatecorporatist-lies-about-the-keystone-xl-pipeline.html

Lying liars, lying about the lies they've already lied about.

[-] 0 points by GirlFriday (17435) 11 years ago

And all of this was kicked out in a study.

[-] 0 points by shoozTroll (17632) 11 years ago

Just what America needs, higher fuel and energy prices...................:)

[-] 0 points by GirlFriday (17435) 11 years ago

That, too, was included in the study. The Midwest specifically is set to pay more.

[-] 0 points by GirlFriday (17435) 11 years ago

Ceres estimates that the practice is costing shareholders $100 million a month in lost gas sales. Why would companies be willing to just burn away that potential revenue? Perhaps because the figure pales in comparison with the $2.2 billion they’re earning each month from crude oil production.


Damn, they just don't quit.

[-] 1 points by shoozTroll (17632) 11 years ago

That's $100,000,000 wasted in one State alone..............

Texas, Louisiana, etc., probably don't bother to compile such data.

[-] 0 points by GirlFriday (17435) 11 years ago

Louisiana spends a great deal of time not compiling. That might lead to transparency.

[-] 0 points by shoozTroll (17632) 11 years ago

Transparency???

Isn't that unconstitutional, when applied to industry?

Industrial excrement is a trade secret.

[-] 0 points by GirlFriday (17435) 11 years ago

Well, it's excrement. I'll agree to that.

[-] 0 points by GirlFriday (17435) 11 years ago

That was pretty good.

[-] 2 points by shoozTroll (17632) 11 years ago

The largest inland pipeline oil spill in history (so far), and almost no one's even heard of it.

Isn't the Koch media machine great at burying news?

[-] 0 points by shoozTroll (17632) 11 years ago

Don't worry, it's OK, the Koc............er.......the State said so.

http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20130418/METRO01/304180492

[-] 0 points by GirlFriday (17435) 11 years ago

A 1973 law is unconstitutional. They are grasping.

[-] 0 points by shoozTroll (17632) 11 years ago

I'm not sure what you are getting at here.

What law are you referring to and how does it apply to the pile?

[-] 0 points by GirlFriday (17435) 11 years ago

1972 Act (I knew better than to post before coffee): A 1972 act giving the State Department authority to approve international bridges is unconstitutional because Congress never spelled out, as Hume says it needed to, what principle to use in making its decisions.

They are in mid tantrum in which everyone pays unless they get their way.

[-] -1 points by shoozTroll (17632) 11 years ago

I guess that's why Canada is going to pay for it.......................:)

Congress hasn't used principles for over 12 years now.

[-] 0 points by GirlFriday (17435) 11 years ago

Sure they did.....oh no wait...that was principals. My bad.

[-] 0 points by DKAtoday (33802) from Coon Rapids, MN 11 years ago

So much needs attention it is a story of pluses and minuses - if we could just find a way to keep the minuses from cropping back-up - over and over again - we would be making progress.

[-] 0 points by shoozTroll (17632) 11 years ago

These guys are probably in the background somewhere.

http://www.addictinginfo.org/2013/05/19/ceo-nestle-water-privatized-corporate-control/

They are currently bottling mid State.

[-] 1 points by DKAtoday (33802) from Coon Rapids, MN 11 years ago

So MUCH TO DO - so LITTLE TIME - Attacks on all life - SO WIDE SPREAD AND NUMEROUS.

[-] -1 points by shoozTroll (17632) 11 years ago
[-] 0 points by DKAtoday (33802) from Coon Rapids, MN 11 years ago

Exploiting oil and gas trapped in tar sands and shale threatens to make climate change “unsolvable,” said James Hansen, the former NASA scientist who raised concerns about global warming in the 1980s.

Not off topic at all - pollution and greed - rampant.

Global Warming chain reaction? How Soon?

[-] 0 points by DKAtoday (33802) from Coon Rapids, MN 11 years ago

I am not looking forward to this summer - I do believe quite a few of us are in for a really hot one and others a really stormy one.

[-] 0 points by shoozTroll (17632) 11 years ago

The stormy weather is already coming to bear on the plains.

I think the tornado's will be making up for lost time.

[-] 1 points by DKAtoday (33802) from Coon Rapids, MN 11 years ago

EDIT: There were really early tornadoes already. Hell even Japan has had a tornado ( extremely rare - tornadoes in that part of the world ) Yet - They throw shit like this out for the public to digest:

Obama administration approves natural gas export site, hears praise from energy industry

“We find that the exports proposed in this application are likely to yield net economic benefits to the United States,” the Energy Department said in its announcement.


The wrong thinking insane Fucks.

[-] -1 points by OTP (-203) from Tampa, FL 11 years ago

Nestle funds ALEC.

And here are some people that accepted their money like the dirty little bastards they truly are:

http://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/summary.php?id=D000042332

3 million spend on lobbying. Holy shit. You better believe they have a hand in the GMO business that Congress loves so much too.

[-] -1 points by shoozTroll (17632) 11 years ago

I get tired of connecting the dots for you.

I really do.

You're link is generic, overly broad and useless for these purposes.

Here's some dots to connect.

http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/2157:koch-brothers-alec-and-their-corporate-allies-plan-to-privatize-government#13689845055451&action=collapse_widget&id=1230593

[-] 0 points by OTP (-203) from Tampa, FL 11 years ago

From the article you just posted "....While the organization refuses to make a complete list of these private members available to the public, some known members include Exxon Mobil, the Corrections Corporation of America, AT&T, Pfizer Pharmaceuticals, Time Warner Cable, Comcast, Verizon, Wal-Mart, Phillip Morris International and Koch Industries, along with a host of right-wing think tanks and foundations...."

So who are these corporations funding in the elections?

Connect the dots dude. You can do it. You wont like the results you will get, but at least then you can realize why occupy came about.

[-] -1 points by shoozTroll (17632) 11 years ago

SPN.

Know it.

You just scattered the dots all over the place, and failed to pick them back up and put them back in order..

[-] 0 points by OTP (-203) from Tampa, FL 11 years ago

" “Other people don’t seem to have a problem, which is why it is going to Mexico, which is why it is going to China.”

Gotta love the corporatists/globalists/elites.

[-] 0 points by shoozTroll (17632) 11 years ago

Names ARE named, in this case.

Corporations are pointed out too.

"The company is controlled by Charles and David Koch, wealthy industrialists who back a number of conservative and libertarian causes including activist groups that challenge the science behind climate change."

[-] 0 points by DKAtoday (33802) from Coon Rapids, MN 11 years ago

Spread the word People - TWEET

DKAtoday ‏@DKAtoday

A Black Mound of Canadian Oil Waste Is Rising Over Detroit http://nyti.ms/108pYz6

Koch anyone?

Just say NO

Fight G.W.

& Pollution

View summary

[-] 0 points by shoozTroll (17632) 11 years ago

You have to wonder?

What do they do with the rest of it?

What will they do with all of it, if the XL goes through?

[-] 0 points by DKAtoday (33802) from Coon Rapids, MN 11 years ago

They are exporting some of the shit to be burned as fuel.

Yeah - we got a real handle on pollution. ASSHOLES

[-] 0 points by shoozTroll (17632) 11 years ago

Not necessarily.

" Coke, which is mainly carbon, is an essential ingredient in steelmaking as well as producing the electrical anodes used to make aluminum.

While there is high demand from both those industries, the small grains and high sulfur content of this petroleum coke make it largely unusable for those purposes, said Kerry Satterthwaite, a petroleum coke analyst at Roskill Information Services, a commodities analysis company based in London.

“It is worse than a byproduct,” Ms. Satterthwaite said.“It’s a waste byproduct that is costly and inconvenient to store, but effectively costs nothing to produce.” "

It seems no one wants it.

[-] 0 points by DKAtoday (33802) from Coon Rapids, MN 11 years ago

It seems no one wants it.

Huh - imagine that.

How often does that river flood?

[-] 0 points by shoozTroll (17632) 11 years ago

It doesn't, but the pile will still be leaching and there will be run off whenever it rains.

[-] 3 points by Builder (4202) 11 years ago

Is it possible that the pile could ignite?

[-] 0 points by shoozTroll (17632) 11 years ago

I have no idea what the flash point is, although it's obviously flammable, it would likely take a lightening strike to get it going.

[-] 3 points by Builder (4202) 11 years ago

Hmm, massive piles of pine-bark often burst into flames through microbial breakdown and methane buildup.

Would be a real shame if this pile of shite "self" ignited. snickers

[-] 1 points by shoozTroll (17632) 11 years ago

Just what Detroit needs, an out of control fire that stinks to high heaven.

I'd have to wonder if the fire department would have the equipment and chemicals to put it out, if it did ignite.

They ran them out of toilet paper over the winter.

[-] 3 points by Builder (4202) 11 years ago

It's not really funny, but I got a chuckle.

National disgrace, really, isn't it?

I remember reading about a tyre fire that got out of control, and burned for some years. I also saw over a million Citroen sedans in a field in France, due to over-optimistic sales predictions. Just the shells of cars, but a clear reminder of the waste endemic to our consumer existence.

I drive past some of our coal mines here in Australia, and wonder what will ever become of these mountain ranges of "overburden" the open-cut mining process creates.

Nothing will grow on them.

[-] 1 points by Builder (4202) 11 years ago

We have a few of those. Open-cut mining strips the soil and rock from on top of the ore, which produces mountain ranges of bland grey stretching for miles. Most of our coal mines are done this way.

[-] 0 points by shoozTroll (17632) 11 years ago

They just blow the tops off mountains to get to the coal these days.

http://www.google.com/search?q=photos+of+mountaintop+mining&client=opera&hs=vnV&channel=suggest&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=8y2ZUcO_MJStyAH6hIDIBQ&ved=0CDEQsAQ&biw=1920&bih=996

Pretty, eh?

Who needs beautiful landscape when there's coal in them there hills.

[-] 0 points by DKAtoday (33802) from Coon Rapids, MN 11 years ago

will still be leaching and there will be run off whenever it rains.

True - ya know(?) it's damn clever how these dumps get located where they can do no harm.

[-] 0 points by shoozTroll (17632) 11 years ago

This is Maroun's retaliation.

The Koch's tried to help him in his original bid to build a new bridge.

Since it was a win for them either way. I tend to think they just fucking with people, and everybody HATES Detroit.