An Open Letter From Someone Who Matters About Something That Matters To Real Citizens of NEO

Submitted by Norm Roulet on Fri, 07/09/2010 - 09:12.

Broken Air Pollution Monitoring Station in Cleveland, Ohio, on an UNHEALTHY DAY
Broken Air Pollution Monitoring Station in Cleveland, Ohio, on an UNHEALTHY DAY - July 5, 2010

As highlighted in my posting on realNEO July 8, 2010 - "Texas regulators are failing to properly monitor, control and enforce federal emission standards! Like in Ohio?!" - I've concluded that "Ohio regulators are failing to properly monitor, control and enforce federal emission standards, and that I believe that political, business and environmental leadership are hiding the violations of polluters by causing ineffective and so publicly harmful and dangerous pollution control practices here, which are made possible by government failure here to really monitor, control and enforce federal emission standards."

Further, I make clear, "the Sierra Club and the Federal EPA are taking legal action AGAINST the Texas STATE REGULATORS and the world's largest corporations because they are not in fact protecting the environment, as required by the Federal government," I go on to report "I have been compiling evidence of corrupt and/or incompetent pollution control in Ohio for many years, and have now formally requested the help of the Sierra Club and their affiliates around the world to force change upon Ohio regulators who are failing to properly monitor, control and enforce federal emission standards here."

I conclude: "As I am seeking real, good outcomes for here - elimination of physical harm from Mittal and other excessive polluters in this region - like being realized through real environmentalism in Texas, my role in this community is not Mr. Nice Guy. I am the uncompromising polluter-killer who makes the Sierra Club seem like a breath of cool fresh air on an astoundingly dangerous Cleveland July afternoon, like today..."

Right on cue, like a breathe of fresh air, I recieved copies today of correspondence from the Sierra Club addressing this very issue, and I asked permission to share that on realNEO as public information and motivation for citizens to engage the government on these issues

Below is this correspondence from Mattie Reitman, Beyond Coal Field Organizer, Ohio, to AMITIC - Ambient Monitoring Technology Information Center - trying to advance research into faulty envioronmental monitoring in unreal NEO. I will post all related content and correspeondence here.

If you are concerned about these matters, please contact Mattie (contact info below) or me at norm [at] realneo [dot] us.

If these concerns don't motivate you to care about the environment in NEO, I doubt anything ever will...

from    Reitman, Mattie <mattie [dot] reitman [at] sierraclub [dot] org>
to    amtic [at] epamail [dot] epa [dot] gov
cc    Norm Roulet <norm [dot] roulet [at] gmail [dot] com>
date    Fri, Jul 9, 2010 at 9:58 AM
subject    Re: disabled monitors in northeast Ohio
mailed-by    apps.sierraclub.org
 
Hello again,
 
As it's been a week since my original message to the AMTIC hotline, I am following up to ensure it was received and is being acted upon.  Based on information that has been shared with me by a very concerned resident of East Cleveland, I think it's in everyone's interest to act on this issue as soon as possible.  In the immediate future, I would at least like to know whether this is the proper channel for these concerns, and if not then who we should talk to.
 
-thanks for your time, m!-
--
Matthew/Mattie Reitman
Beyond Coal Field Organizer, Ohio
Sierra Club, 131 N High St #605, Columbus OH 43215
mattie [dot] reitman [at] sierraclub [dot] org
614.461.0734 x316 (o)  /  315.450.6628 (c)
 
On Fri, Jul 2, 2010 at 3:22 PM, Reitman, Mattie <mattie [dot] reitman [at] sierraclub [dot] org> wrote:

Hello, this is Mattie Reitman with the Sierra Club, here in Columbus OH.  I'm not sure the best place to direct this message, but the Ambient Monitoring Technology Information Center seemed as good as any place to start.
 
While working with a volunteer on a related issue, it came to my attention that there are ambient air monitors under the jurisdiction of the Cleveland Division of Air Quality (as delegated by the Ohio EPA) that aren't functioning properly.  You can see evidence of their malfunction at the real-time Ohio Air online interface, which is currently displaying data from June 30th.
 
I spoke with Amy Wainwright, the Environmental Planner with the Northeast Ohio Areawide Coordinating Agency, and she suggested that the CDAQ folks have been having trouble with two of these monitors for three weeks now.  One of the issues is due to malfunctioning air conditioning in one of the buildings, but she said she was unsure what the trouble is with the other monitor.
 
Are you aware of these issues, and is this a situation in which the federal EPA would step in to help increase the reliability of this data?  Especially in a heavily polluted area such as Cuyahoga County, I worry that the current efforts aren't sufficient to adequately protect public health and the environment.  This is particularly concerning to me since the people that are more heavily impacted by air quality tend to be low-income and people of color residents, which is an issue of environmental justice.
 
I appreciate your attention to this issue and any steps you can take to help protect folks here in Ohio.
 
-best, m!-
--
Matthew/Mattie Reitman
Beyond Coal Field Organizer, Ohio
Sierra Club
131 N High St #605
Columbus OH 43215
mattie [dot] reitman [at] sierraclub [dot] org
614.461.0734 x316 (o)  /  315.450.6628 (c)

 

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right on cue -

as soon as I moved out of Tremont, my respiratory issues went away.

coincidence?

My middle daughter is feeling quite ill from pollution

My daughter Kylie has grown up in neighborhoods around Mittal and has the classic health consequences... I'm just waiting for a diagnosis of some rare cancer.

Her mom said she has been feeling like crap lately and she was thinking about taking her to the doctor - I said don't bother... it is the pollution and the doctors here are too incompetent, corrupt and/or detached to do anything about it... don't waste the time and money taking a healthy person to see a quack roosting in a place that is truly sick.

My prescription was to keep Kylie indoors with the A/C on and to help me sign people up to sue the fuck out of Mittal and the local environmental regulators.

She agreed, knows lots of poisoned people, and she has access to private property with a direct view of Mittal for a visibility cam - I'm about to put those MFs on 24-hour pollution surveillance... if the government won't deal with this pollution, I shall.

To those reading this who have felt like shit in Northeast Ohio lately, it is probably related to the pollution. Here are the people to blame, on their own webTV, soon to be replaced by ShutDownMittalForeverTV... 'cause It's Hot In Cleveland!

Disrupt IT

Norm

Thank you for putting up a fight!