Company Responsible For West Virginia Chemical Spill Skips Congressional Hearing
Source: Think Progress
Exactly one month and a day after 10,000 gallons of chemicals spilled into West Virginias water, members of the U.S. House Transportation and Infrastructure committee on Monday traveled to the states capital city, ostensibly to ask state leaders the still-unanswered questions surrounding the leak. There are many.
Perhaps the most important party that could provide answers would have been Freedom Industries, the company whose chemical storage tanks leaked a coal-cleaning chemical called crude MCHM into the water. Company president Gary Southern had been invited to testify, but in the end, did not show up.
I find that extremely telling, said Rep. Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV). Freedom Industries decision not to testify today compounds its gross misconduct, and is an absolute affront to every person impacted by its spill.
Freedom Industries decision not to show up to a hearing that otherwise housed every party that should be held accountable for the spill (Representatives from West Virginia American Water, West Virginias Department of Environmental Protection, and the U.S. Chemical Safety Board showed up, to name a few) is depressingly typical, and a painful reminder of the companys non-presence throughout the month-long ordeal.
Read more: http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2014/02/10/3273201/freedom-chemical/
Duh-uh! Congressional investigative hearings include the power to subpoena witnesses. Whomever organized this really screwed up in failing to subpoena Gary Southern. Since he insulted the House Committee by ignoring the invitation and not appearing voluntarily, I trust the Committee will now subpoena his sorry a** to Washington. It should be a subpoena duces tecum, i.e, translates to "bring with you under penalty of punishment" and obliges the recipient to appear and bring with him/her all documents or other tangible evidence for use at hearing or trial. The subpoena can spell out a description of such documents.
Subpoenas and depositions:
Most individuals respond favorably to an invitation to testify before Congress, believing it to be a valuable opportunity to communicate and publicize their views on a question of public policy. However, if a person will not come by invitation alone, a committee or subcommittee may require an appearance through the issuance of a subpoena (Rule XXVI, paragraph 1). Committees also may subpoena correspondence, books, papers, and other documents. Subpoenas are issued infrequently, and most often in the course of investigative hearings.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subpoena_duces_tecum
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_congressional_hearing
Brigid
(17,621 posts)SUBPOENA. And jail for those who do not comply in a timely manner. And do it now, before they have time to destroy evidence
Divernan
(15,480 posts)Now there is where NSA surveillance could be put to good use. Let's see all the emails to and from this company since that particular location has been in operation.
theHandpuppet
(19,964 posts)You said it. Now we'll find out if anyone is listening.
AndyTiedye
(23,500 posts)freshwest
(53,661 posts)Last edited Mon Feb 10, 2014, 11:26 PM - Edit history (1)
bankruptcy almost immediately. That will be the guy's excuse, he's no longer in charge.
I said at the time that 'Freedom' would probably reorganize under another deceptive title, like 'Purity' or something...
2naSalit
(86,565 posts)the guy who allegedly is "buying" Freedom Chem is the same guy who owned it already means they just change the name and all is well.
I have to look around to find a link to that but i think Rachel pointed that out the day they filed, either she did or Chris Hayes did... I remember watching that on one of the shows.