BREAKING they are now investigating

[nadinbrzezinski]

Governor Pat McCrory of N. Carolina (R)

Things are starting to get very interesting. Not quite tea pot dome, since it is for different things, but...

Add Duke Energy to this as well. This will get interesting. As in very interesting, they seem to be married at the hip

Listening to Rachel... yay REGULATIONS (or lack of them)

[malaise]

1. K & R

chis is huge!! The coal ash disaster! He worked with Duke coal for ages.

[nadinbrzezinski]

5. The problem is the southern states

that we are seeing this crap. WV and Freedom Industries. And now this.

From her description, am I getting hints of quid pro quo? Yes, yes I am .

[Fawke Em]

8. New Jersey isn't a Southern state and its rife with scandal right now.

No, the problem is Republican governors.

My own (Tennessee) has a family mired in fraud charges: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-04-19/pilot-corp-suspected-of-diesel-rebate-fraud-fbi-agent-says.html

It's getting to the point that nearly every Republican governor or their family and/or close associates are under investigation for something.

[nadinbrzezinski]

11. NJ is not an environmental issue

why I said regulations.

Or did I imagine Freedom Industries in WV?

It is a scandal, NJ that is. One that might very well involve heavy doses of quid pro quo (of another type). But it is not due to an environmental crisis involving Waterways. The other two, are, very much EPA, waterways, clean water act.

And if I add a certain that went kaboom in Texas, that was also lack of environmental regulations and OSHA not being enforced. In my view Governor Perry should be looked at, but probably won't

And I agree, on Republican Governors in general, why I said quite not yet Tea Pot Dome. But it might reach that level, the kind of scandal to end all scandals in recent memory. (I would be looking in the direction of the Republican Governors Association and Kock brother\ ALEC\ Lincoln Club meetings.)

[malokvale77]

15. Perry...

most certainly should be looked into. Thank you for noticing.

Texas has major problems.

[nadinbrzezinski]

16. You welcome

at this point I think, but cannot prove it, that this is much more bigger than one state. It is a whole culture of corruption, and while mostly republican, it is also bipartisan

The mostly republican is a function of the times we live in. After all Tea Pot was a democratic scandal.

[malokvale77]

18. Yes nadin...

you are right. Texas just happens to be all republican at this time.

We weren't always this way. It started when George W. stole the governorship from Ann Richards.

That shit spread to the nation afterwards. Shame on Texas.

[watoos]

28. Governor Tom Corporate

turned the keys of Pennsylvania over to the frackers.
They are fracking on our communities pristine watershed, they have approved 2 injection wells near peoples' water supply. Governor Corporate wouldn't even tax the frackers like other states, he imposed teeney weeney fees.
The thing is since Cheney gave the oil and gas industry carte blanche to do whatever they want, everything is legal.

[nadinbrzezinski]

29. And that is where the references to tea pot dome are eerily accurate

[mucifer]

19. Unless it's Illinois. Then it's republicans and democrats. Governors in general here.

[nadinbrzezinski]

20. Exactly, it is a culture of corruption that has infected the country

it is as bad as the Gilded Age I think.

[Enthusiast]

34. It's corruption from sea to shining sea.

[JDPriestly]

49. So true. Thank you.

And the bigger the bank, the more corrupt it is, the closer it is to government. It's horrific.

And a Hillary presidency will make it worse.

[1monster]

42. West Virginia isn't a southern state any more than Maryland is a southern state.

West Virginia was once part of Virginia, BUT seceeded from Virginia when that state seceeded from the Union at the beginning of the Civil War. It is not now, nor has it been since it first became a state, a southern state.

[nadinbrzezinski]

43. Culturally I beg to differ.

[1monster]

44. Well, it has been many years since I've been in West Virginia, but it didn't seem that

much different from the rural farmlands where I grew up in Pennsylvania --

[nadinbrzezinski]

45. And people would agree with you on that observation

PA is the northern range of that rural area, with the Catskills.

How dies that transfer to state policies though?

Culturally Appalachia extends, and has reach.

[1monster]

47. Can't answer you there. I moved from PA forty years ago.

[wildbilln864]

2. k & r! n/t

[dorkzilla]

3. Watching. Jaw dropping.

[SummerSnow]

4. I'm watching now. Freaking amazing .

[M0rpheus]

6. Yes! Please get rid of this grifter!

[Liberal_Dog]

7. K & R

I am watching Rachel as well.

As a former NC resident, I am beside myself right now.

[montanacowboy]

9. Add McCrory to Christie and McDonnell

and possibly Scott Walker
the night of the living dead of Repuke Gov's

[Mr.Bill]

13. Rachel is checking them off

one by one.

[sulphurdunn]

25. These assholes were

put into office by the big mob, ah, money to do the very crap the noose is slowly tightening around their necks for doing, but they're expendable and will take the fall for their Dons, ah, donors.

[sheshe2]

10. Yes! Kick!

[ProSense]

12. Feds launch criminal probe of N.C. agency after coal ash spill

Feds launch criminal probe of N.C. agency after coal ash spill

By Anne Blythe

RALEIGH — The U.S. Justice Department has opened a criminal investigation into the state environmental agency tasked with regulating Duke Energy after a coal ash spill left the Dan River so polluted that people were advised to avoid contact with the water.

The probe, environmentalists say, might also open a window into the relationship that state regulators have with the country’s largest electricity provider, a company that also was a 28-year employer of Gov. Pat McCrory.

Subpoenas were issued this week summoning officials from the N.C. Department of Environment and Natural Resources and Duke Energy to produce records before a federal grand jury scheduled to meet in Raleigh March 18-20.

The subpoenas demand that DENR provide regulatory documents, including any correspondence with Duke since January 2010.

- more -

http://www.newsobserver.com/2014/02/13/3619273/feds-launch-investigation-into.html

Federal Investigation Follows North Carolina Coal Ash Spill

Federal authorities have launched a criminal investigation into a massive coal ash spill into a North Carolina River.

The state Department of Environment and Natural Resources and Duke Energy have been ordered by the U.S. Attorney's Office in Raleigh to turn over all relevant emails, memos and reports from 2010 through the Feb. 2 spill.

More than 80,000 tons of coal ash and 27 million gallons of contaminated water spewed into the Dan River, according to the Associated Press — enough to fill 73 Olympic-sized pools. It was the third largest coal ash spill in U.S. history.

Prosecutors ordered the state environmental agency's chief lawyer to appear next month before a grand jury.

http://www.nbcnews.com/#/news/us-news/federal-investigation-follows-north-carolina-coal-ash-spill-n29651

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024496344

[pintobean]

27. Double scooped

[Mister Ed]

32. Thank you! Hard to believe I had to read this far down the thread to find out...

...just what the governor was being investigated for.

[randome]

33. I thought that was pretty amazing, too!

[hr][font color="blue"][center]A 90% chance of rain means the same thing as a 10% chance:
It might rain and it might not.[/center][/font][hr]

[Mira]

14. OH YES - thinking of Rachel as the

terrier on his pants leg is about the best visual I could get.
Happy Valentine's day to me and my state.

[malaise]

35. Happy Valentine's Day Mira

[Politicub]

17. I don't have MSNBC

But great to hear justice may be served in my home state.

[mucifer]

21. In an hour from now at 10pm central time they usually have Rachel's show posted online at:

http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show

sometimes they are a little late.

[nenagh]

31. mucifer, thank you for the link

[Politicub]

50. Thanks for the link!

I've missed Rachel's show since I cut the cable cord.

[WillyT]

22. K & R !!!

[RayStar]

23. GOP Governors

If they have committed a crime, charge and punish them. McCrory was dishonest to the people so he has earned it.

[Lint Head]

24. Also Art Pope should go to hell with him!

http://www.artpopeexposed.com/

[Warpy]

26. Good, show all those damned bible beaters how they were played as suckers again

by a rotten guy who fleeced the state because even though he spoke their code, he was never one of them.

[blue14u]

30. I am without

words... Rachel always has the scoop!

[bkanderson76]

36. Another elected shrew....vote 2014

[Liberal_in_LA]

37. kick

[marions ghost]

38. Thanks for posting!

This is going to be big I think...

------
Frank Holleman, a senior attorney with the Southern Environmental Law Center, said Thursday that he welcomed the federal investigation.

“This is as serious as it gets,” Holleman said.

Through the past year, he has seen lawsuits filed by environmental groups be blocked by the state agency and seen violation notices result in fines for the utility but no requirements for cleanup or long-term remedies.

The law center has sought documents from the state and Duke about a recent settlement. Holleman said the state had provided some of the documents and the utility had “stonewalled” the law center.

“Now it’s going to be a lot harder to stonewall a grand jury,” Holleman said.

News of the federal criminal investigation into DENR and Duke spread quickly among environmental organizations.

Amy Adams, N.C. campaign coordinator for Appalachian Voices, issued the following statement: “While Duke Energy and DENR have clearly been shirking their responsibilities to adhere to environmental practices that would have protected the Dan River, a federal investigation raises the stakes considerably. We’ll be watching the process closely and, like citizens in North Carolina and Virginia who have been impacted by the coal ash spill, we’re eager to find out what was truly going on that caused this crisis.”

Read more here: http://www.newsobserver.com/2014/02/13/3619273/feds-launch-investigation-into.html#storylink=cpy

[sadoldgirl]

39. Don't they have the same trouble

in Chicago with the hills of coal ash that the Koch brothers deposited there? And Illinois is not Republican as far as I remember.
Follow the money!

[laureloak]

40. New coal ash task force may impact NC court cases against Duke Energy

"Environmental organizations objected, saying the $99,000 fine imposed by the settlement and the call for additional monitoring were an insufficient response to the leaks. More than 5,000 individuals and organizations protested the proposal during a public comment period after the deal was announced in July."


http://www.bizjournals.com/charlotte/blog/power_city/2014/02/new-coalash-task-force-may-impact-nc-court-cases.html?page=all

[marions ghost]

41. 5000 individuals and orgs protested the Duke-NC govt settlement!

for all the environmental fighters in VA and NC (and everywhere else for that matter--but it's particularly hard in R controlled states).

So often maligned, so often stone-walled, so often silenced.

But still they fight.

[laureloak]

46. Just how cozy are Gov McCrory and Duke Energy...

http://www.southernstudies.org/2014/02/institute-index-just-how-cozy-are-gov-mccrory-and-.html

[VA_Jill]

48. Oh boy

…this is going to be fun!