Posted on 08/16/2015 8:03:45 AM PDT by Rusty0604
The Environmental Protection Agency isn’t responding to claims by Todd Hennis, owner of the Gold King mine in Colorado that the agency coerced him to grant access to his property. Once taking over, of course, EPA’s incompetent attempts to remove debris created a massive 3 million gallon toxic waste spill from the mine.
Hennis told the CBS Denver affiliate that unless he allowed the EPA to have access and authority to conduct operations on the site the agency had threatened him with daily fines of $35,000.
“When you’re a small guy and you’re having a $35,000-a-day fine accrue against you, you have to run up the white flag,” Hennis explained.
Breitbart News asked the EPA on Friday to confirm or deny Hennis’s claim, but has received no reply.
It is not clear if Hennis complied with the request based solely on the threat of fines, or if he complied after the agency actually levied at least one day of the $35,000 per day fine.
Using the threat of huge daily fines against individuals and small business owners who lack the financial resources to fight back against such intrusions is nothing new for the EPA.
(Excerpt) Read more at breitbart.com ...
The Fed DOT does the same thing with the 5 figure fines. If your paperwork isn’t up to snuff, say, the biannual review, they send threatening letters in volving fines that would obliterate my business and family financially.
You got that right.
I believe that.
I also said don't look at who actually did the deed....but who was prodding the actions which led to the disaster.
I have had government worshiping leftist friends actually defend the EPA on this mess. All I can do is shake my head slowly.
They are pretty aggressive with private property owners too. People have been run out of their homes over a puddle.
OH you have that right! I am giving them hell on Re Paul Gosars facebook page as he is going to try and eliminate the EPA.
You wouldnt believe how many are defending and trying to divert the issue.
ping
This mine was already stopped up and didn’t have any problems from what I’ve read.
bump
Most of your post was sarcasm, right?
The mainstream media does what Big Government wants. Ok, if Bush or another republican was in, they would be blaming him, but the EPA would magically be innocent.
At my last job, we switched solvent systems for our cleaning operation. My boss told me to ask the EPA if we needed permits because we only used 2 or 3 gallons of paint thinner per year. I called them and they sent their team of piranhas to investigate. We had 6 exhaust fume vents in our building to get rid of the smell when we were working with the solvent. Four of the vents hadn’t been used in 4 or 5 years. The EPA asked us for our vent permits. We didn’t have any. Result: New permits for 6 vents at $2500 per vent ($15000). Fine of yearly permit fees for the previous 12 years ($180000). Total $195000.
We wound up having to layoff six workers to pay the fines.
The EPA is nothing more than a group of bandits with authority. My boss told me “Never never never call those people with a question again”.
Yes, I am being sarcastic and flippant. I think we all know what is going on. And the media will shape the story as they see fit.
Over eight billion budget and seventeen thousand employees so they need to justify their existence.
Hennis said...
“I had initial hesitation on going public with this with visions of mobs and pitchforks and torches,” Hennis said.
Really...pitchforks and torches? Just who is he trying to muddy here?
Never mind that mining is necessary to build the transmitters, cameras, microphones, printing presses and distribution networks that they rely on. They truly are idiots.
Now, we force all American business that can be regulated and observed and even humiliated into doing things right by an open press and by public opinion, into closing so that much filthier and destructive mining and industry gets opened in slave operating communist nations. The leftist disgust me.
Don’t forget all the efforts to slow or block oil cleanup during the BP gulf incident.
Also, the failed oversight leading up to the incident and the over hype by the media.
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