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The Lexington Herald Leader (Kentucky)
March 30, 2006 Thursday
EDITORIAL; Pg. a12
Stop throwing mud at environmentalists
Dave Cooper, CONTRIBUTING COLUMNIST
Several years ago, Kentuckians were concerned about a proposal to truck nuclear waste through the commonwealth on Interstate 64 to Nevada's Yucca Mountain.
Lexington residents might be even more concerned to learn that radioactive materials are being transported through our city.
For years, I have seen flatbed trucks with huge cylindrical containers of uranium hexafluoride on Versailles Road near Keeneland. Recently, I saw two of these enormous trucks stopped at the traffic light at New Circle and Bryan Station roads.
No police escort. No flashing lights. Nothing to inform passing motorists or nearby shoppers of the danger, except a small yellow-and-black "Radioactive" sign on the side of the container.
When you live halfway between uranium enrichment plants in Piketon, Ohio, and Paducah, you have to expect some radioactive materials coming through the region, I guess. But New Circle Road? Who made that decision?
Maybe we're not really all that important. We're just little people undeserving of any real government protection. A police escort would cost money. But I'm sure that if one of these trucks wrecked on northwest New Circle and leaked radioactive material, Wal-Mart and Lexmark would be evacuated before you could say Hurricane Katrina.
A greater danger to Lexington residents may come from the railroad line that parallels Nicholasville Road and runs through the center of the city: 4,000 or more railroad cars carrying chemicals such as sulfuric acid and hydrochloric acid.
A derailment involving one 90-ton freight car carrying chlorine could kill 100,000 people in a densely populated area within 30 minutes, according to a recent study by the Naval Research Laboratory.
The University of Kentucky and four of Lexington's hospitals are within 2 miles of the railroad crossing on Waller Avenue next to the Central Kentucky Blood Center. An accident or derailment there could cause a monumental human catastrophe.
It has happened elsewhere:
On Jan. 6, 2005, chlorine gas leaking from a derailed train in Graniteville, S.C., killed eight people; 200 were injured by the fumes.
On June 28, 2004, when two freight trains collided near San Antonio, Texas, the leaking chlorine gas killed a resident 1 mile away. Others suffered severely damaged lungs.
A horrific train accident and explosion in North Korea in April 2004 killed at least 154 people and leveled buildings.
But, hey, when it comes to public safety, we've got our priorities straight.
Radioactive tanker trucks on our busiest road during orange terror alerts: no problem. Four thousand rail cars daily through the heart of town: no worries. But animal-rights activists, well, they're something to worry about. According to the FBI, the single greatest domestic terrorism threat in America today comes from animal-rights and environmental activists.
I'm a member of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. I've been a Sierra Club member for more than 20 years. And I participated in Mountain Justice Summer. Gosh, it's amazing that they still allow me to walk the streets of Lexington.
The claim that environmental or animal-rights groups are a threat to Kentuckians' public safety is absurd and insulting to some of the most caring and dedicated volunteers you will find anywhere.
The Sierra Club is trying to get poisons out of our air, food and water, but corporate leaders, law enforcement officials and politicians are lining up to solemnly proclaim the ever-present danger from tree- and bunny-huggers.
Lt. Col. Herb Lattimore of the West Virginia Department of Emergency Services warned that potential "eco-terrorists" are everywhere: "We all know of a few fruit loops -- he's walking around with his aluminum foil over his head to keep the messages out."
KFC President Gregg Dedrick of Louisville stated that animal-rights activists who videotaped animal abuse at the plant of a KFC chicken supplier had engaged in "corporate terrorism against our company."
Give me a break.
Sadly, the national media are fanning the flames of fear with breathless reports of eco-vandalism out West, while ignoring the real danger of the chemical tanker cars in our communities.
One thing I have learned from 20 years of activism is to think for myself. It's time that our leaders start to do the same.
Dave Cooper of Lexington is a community and environmental activist. Reach him at mtrroadshow@yahoo.com.
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Date: Thu Mar 30 10:25:13 2006
