The crux of the case against the Kochs, Jeb, and Scott is that they
conspired to build what appears to be "an illegally-approved pipeline"…
It is nearly impossible to keep up with the dirty tricks and
corruption being committed by Republicans on behalf of their masters the
Koch brothers. This is particularly true in Republican states where it
is not unusual for legislators, and often governors, work to assist the
Kochs avoid environmental regulations and laws in exchange for campaign
donations and electoral support. It is possible that even with America’s
population mired in apathy and ignorance, exposing Republicans’ illegal
activities, corruption, and collusion might better inform the error of
supporting Republicans.
Fortunately, there is one specific instance of scandal, corruption,
and subterfuge that allows the Kochs free rein to dump tons of toxic
waste into a Florida river that is finally getting the exposure it
warrants. After three years of legal battles, the legal battle is
going to the Supreme Court to weigh in on a
bona fide
scandal in Florida that is likely typical in Republican states working
hand-in-hand with the Kochs to sidestep environmental regulations.
After years of effort, there are finally results in an uphill battle
to expose the environmental, and political, corruption which has been
occurring in Tallahassee and Putnam County, Florida involving the Koch
brothers, pre
tender candidate and former governor Jeb, and
current Governor Scott. There are more players involved in the
scandalous affair, but part of the corruption is Scott’s
refusal to investigate the malfeasance involving his predecessor, his
own junta, and his masters the Koch brothers.
For three years the Koch brothers’ company Georgia-Pacific has been
dumping tons of toxic waste every day into St. Johns River; a river,
incidentally, that is
designated as “
Florida’s American Heritage River.” Aspects of the deal that was approved by Jeb allowing the Kochs “
to massively assault the environment”
were misleading, and illegal; as well as being kept secret from local
citizens in particular and Floridians in general. Even though Jeb Bush
has been out of the governor’s office for years, he is as culpable today
as Scott who continues a cover-up to protect the
Kochs and allow them to pollute with impunity.
This lawsuit’s origins reach back into the Jeb junta
(1999-2007) when, in 2003, then-governor Jeb and his cabinet, over the
objection of then-Attorney General Charlie Crist, gave their approval
for a Koch-owned Georgia-Pacific pipeline designed specifically to carry
and dump toxic waste from a paper mill directly into the St. Johns
River.
The crux of the case against the Kochs, Jeb, and Scott is that they conspired to build what certainly appears to be “
an illegally-approved pipeline”
that current Koch acolyte, Scott, refuses to
investigate. Since he is, after all, the chairman of Florida’s Trustees
of Internal Improvement Trust Fund as well as governor, it is
well-within Scott’s purview, and his duty, to get to the bottom of the
corruption and stop the Kochs from despoiling Florida’s American
Heritage River. One of the main reasons Scott refuses to investigate
the corruption and illegal process approving the Koch pipeline is it
will expose the gross corruption in Florida’s Department of
Environmental Protection that Scott presides over as governor.
The Kochs, Jeb, and now Scott claim that the one-man approval
process is legal and that the public had more than enough warning and
time to offer their input about the toxic pipeline. Instead of public
hearings, town halls, or meetings with environmental groups or concerned
citizens, the Kochs et al claim a legal notice buried in a newspaper
replaced any need to alert the public, demonstrate the lack of
environmental damage and cost, and get their opinions. Florida citizens
and environmental groups however, claim that the approval was “
finalized” without their knowledge according to what they say was “
a grossly misleading newspaper public notice.”
The stealthy notice’s specific goal was blocking any public input or
challenges to the toxic pipeline which the Florida Trustees’ agent, the
Florida Department of Environmental Protection, granted approval for
without dispute that the pipeline’s purpose was dumping tons of poison
into the river daily.
Besides the fact that Jeb and company gave unwarranted approval to build the pipeline, Floridians claim “
the constitutionally-defective”
notice published by the Kochs’ Georgia-Pacific Corporation failed to
give reasonable Floridians who might have glanced at that paper’s legal
ads fair warning that the notice was about not only the wetlands permit,
but also about illegally giving easement permission over private
property; something that is a blatant due process issue.
It is particularly telling that at the exact same time the public was
supposed to happen upon a legal notice buried in the local newspaper,
the FDEP issued a notice to Georgia-Pacific alerting them of its “
intent to issue an environmental resource permit and easement to use sovereign submerged land.”
The deal was already done and it demonstrates the corruption and
collusion between the Kochs’ Georgia-Pacific and Jeb; Scott
came late to the party, but he has continued the corruption and is as
culpable as Jeb and the Kochs.
One might think that despite what Jeb, Scott, and the Kochs
wanted, a department created to protect the environment would
automatically reject the pipeline, but this is, after all, Republican
Florida where corruption appears to be business as usual. This is
particularly true, as noted by the citizens and environmental groups
behind the lawsuit, because “
under Florida’s public trust doctrine,
which has constitutional status and is enunciated in the Trustees’ own
rules, the Trustees are mandated to make a careful, comprehensive, and
full-blown determination of the public interest of the entire project.”
What that rule means is the FDEP and Florida Trust are
“constitutionally” required to alert Floridians, well in advance, about
the costs and benefits to the public in approving the toxic pipeline, as
well as the money the Kochs would save by dumping tons of toxic waste
into the river every day. That certainly did not occur when Jeb
approved the pipeline in 2003, and has never occurred because the public
was not only denied receiving fair public notice, they were never
afforded the opportunity to even request a formal evidentiary hearing on
the pros, cons, and just compensation to the public for the pipeline.
In fact, the first time most Florida citizens learned about the pipeline
was after it was completed and Georgia-Pacific started pumping toxins
into the St. Johns River early in 2012. It was then they began legal
proceedings to get relief and save the St. Johns River.
It is highly doubtful that the Kochs, Jeb, or Scott will be
held accountable for their parts in the corruption that threatens the
St. Johns river. It is even more doubtful that the conservative Supreme
Court would consider inconveniencing the Koch brothers by taking up
their time or ruling against them and interfering with their profits.
One imagines that the Kochs will include their two favorite Supreme
Court Justices, Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas, in their next “
secret”
billionaire confab to recreate and confer with Georgia-Pacific
executives and determine exactly what kind of outcome will best serve
the Kochs and Georgia-Pacific. It is, after all, exactly what the
brothers did prior to the Supreme Court hearing the Citizens United case
and there is no reason to believe this will be any different.
One can be hopeful, though, that the details of this decade-long
scandal and corruption involving Jeb, Scott, and the Koch
brothers will alert voters to the corruption and subterfuge typical of
Republicans; particularly if it profits their money machine’s
machinations to devastate the environment.
