That Crud in the Streets...Could cost you a fortune

Now to be honest, I am not the kind of girl who is usually whipped into a verbal frenzy by topics like storm-water runoff. That was before I read the article that informed me that storm-water runoff is ....kind of a big deal. Each of Ventura County's 330,000 households could potentially be paying $400 dollars a year to reduce the trash and pollution flowing through storm drains into our rivers, lakes and ocean. For 35 years, Americans have concentrated on making waterways and oceans cleaner through the federal 1972 Clean Water Act. But the law primarily targeted only traditional sources of pollution from factories and sewage facilities and so in 1987, Congress started focusing on municipal storm-water runoff. Just recently, Ventura County’s storm-water permit has expired. This is my county, guys and this fact puts this issue in perspective for me. It will be the first lucky county in California to face strict new regulations on keeping pollutants out of storm drains. Get ready for this: Cost estimates for 75 new or additional proposed requirements range from 60 million a year to 140 million a year. Who knew that all that crud in the streets could be worth that much?!! The icing on the cake: there is no additional government revenue to pay for them. Local government officials are freaking out about this price tag.

Nevertheless, they assured the Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board that they are committed to reducing storm-water pollution locally and to spending a reasonable amount of money to accomplish that goal. One of their major concerns was the generic nature of the permit, which has standards based on high-density areas like Los Angeles. This kind of a permit surely would not be able to take into consideration Ventura County’s agriculture and topography.

The Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control board is certainly not wrong for wanting to make waterways healthier, in fact, I am quite proud to say that our government is paying attention to this particular environmental issue. However, tthe government must take practical steps to achieve that aim, in cooperation with local governments, if they plan to have any real success. There will be consequences of these unaffordable requirements that they are currently demanding, unintended as they may be, and these need to be looked at carefully. When the money isn’t there…it just isn’t there. There is no way around that. The focus of the storm-water issue is thus misdirected and a shift must take place very soon. The focus should not be on spending millions of dollars into treating the effects of storm-water runoff; it should be on reducing the sources of the pollution in the first place.

Bottom line: that crap did not get there by itself. It had help from that small group we fondly call Americans. You know when your parents’ insistence that you clean your room takes on new meaning as soon as they threaten to take away some important privilege. I’m gonna be your parent for just a second: I've asked you to clean up your trash and you have completely ignored me and so the problem has reached an al-time high level of disgusting. Now I'm gonna have to play the mean-mom card: Clean up your trash or give me $400 of your hard-earned money a year. The choice is up to you as always, but I'd think about this one carefully. I think the inner conflict with this particular issue is that you cannot blame the people who are trying to get this issue fixed, because who wants nasty water all around them. That being said, these measures just seem terribly expensive. A middle ground must be found regarding the Storm-water runoff issue.

And May All Children Forever Have the Right to Suck on their Toys...

Where have the days gone when a little kid could get some saliva on their Barbie and not have to worry about their health? What fun is a toxic toy train? They certainly seem far, far away and somewhere over the rainbow when I think about the current controversy regarding the lead paint contamination in Chinese-made toys. There was recently an article in the Daily News that focused on "Toy Giant" Mattel and the congressional scrutiny that they are now under in light of the recent recalls that they were forced to have due to lack of safety. From what I can gather from the article, Mattel Inc. took a beating from congressional leaders on Wednesday for their failure to detect the contamination in their toys, such as their Barbies and Thomas and Friends train sets, just to name a few. There was a two-day hearing regarding this case and legislators accused Mattel of negligence and obstructing a congressional investigation into how these toys ended up getting to kids.

And I am certainly glad that the government is taking this issue so seriously...after the damage has been done. But why did it take them this long? Why did it take until this time for the government to find out that safety was not a priority to Chinese manufacturers and huge companies like Mattel? It is a pretty big deal, isn't it? I believe that this should be the main issue: not how we are going to punish Mattel for their wrongdoing, but how the government is going to be proactive about getting involved in ensuring the safety of these Chinese products. 86% of all toys manufactured in the United States come from China. And toys are not the only products that make up the economy obviously; plenty of other industries and their products could just as well have been exposed to lead paint. And when you look at the issue with all of these statements in mind, it becomes much more huge than the Barbie-doll manufacturer's slip-up. It becomes a problem on a national scale and Mattel simply represents one of many companies who seems to be compromising safety for a few extra bucks. What kind of sick economy does the United States have?

So where does the government's position fall regarding the safety of these products. Lawmakers mentioned the Consumer Product Safety Commission and its current state of disrepair: both underfunded and understaffed. Thirty years ago, this Commission had 800 people working to ensure product safety. Currently, half that number is employed for this job. Outdated labs and tools make it difficult to regulate these products that could contain lead. And although the agency has already negotiated an agreement with China that includes new, strict safety requirements, the agency has no way of enforcing these rules.

As consumers, I believe that we need to stay on top of the government and make sure that they follow through with this issue of safety. How can we do this? It is quite simple; we have more power than we think. They will soon see that consumers will not buy products when they have any doubt that they are safe. Economics are very powerful in the United States and they will speak for themselves. We will, in this way, demand the safety we want to see and thus demand the government's involvement and follow-through.

Who knows where the Time Goes?

It seems hard to believe that the 6th anniversary of the September 11th terrorist attacks has just passed. It continues to seem impossible that it could have been so long ago, until I remember that I was sitting in Mrs. Krahl's sixth grade homeroom at Chaminade Middle School on the morning of the attacks. And the reason that sixth grade seems like forever ago but September 11th does not is because the country is surely still dealing with the events on so many levels. It was never going to be something that was just going to go away. And yet, I read an article recently that makes it clear that there is one aspect of the event that the government would like to pretend has *poof* disappeared over these years. I am referring to the medical needs of the people exposed to the harmful dust in Lower Manhattan following 9/11.

Last friday, hundreds of union workers and elected officials attended a rally near ground zero. The rally was held in support of federal legislation that would force the federal government to assume more of the financial responsibility for the long-term treatment for the people that were exposed to the dust in Lower Manhattan during the cleanup of September 11th. On Tuesday of this week, which was also the official sixth anniversary of the attacks, the legislation was introduced in the House of Representatives. If it is passed, the federal government will finally be forced to collect the data that would be completely essential to a full understanding of the situation. They could not at this point have any idea of the extent of the ground-zero illnesses. So many people were exposed to asbestos and other contaminated dust. This does not just include the rescue workers, but also the office workers, students and even tourists who were in Lower Manhattan. This could finally provide compensation for these people.

Very significantly, Hilary Clinton took time away from her campaign to attend the rally. Mrs. Clinton proceeded to personally vow to make it her first priority to get each and every person the health care that they deserve. Clinton is thus taking a similar stand as Rudolph Giuliani, Mayor of New York City. I think it is certainly indicative that Hilary Clinton made a point to attend this rally. Her statement certainly seems to be a kind of territorial claim on what has previously seemed to be Rudolph Giuliani’s September 11th territory. My anger regarding the lack of attention that this issue has thus far been given goes far beyond my recognition of the fact that America is the wealthiest country in the world. For me, it is the realization of how many people willingingly risked their lives when our country was most in need. How would we have handled that terrible day without all of these individuals' support? It is unimaginable. It is disgraceful that this is how the government feels these people deserve to be repayed: by refusing to care about their medical needs. In fact, our government has tried to find ways of getting around meeting their needs. In an article published in the New York Times regarding this issue, the director of the World Trade Center monitoring and treatment program said that 4 in 10 of its patients have had breathing problems like asthma. Many are suffering mental health problems like post-traumatic stress disorder. With these kinds of statements, there should be no kind of denial of the problem anymore. It is real and horribly upsetting. It has been six years of suffering for these people. It is well time that our government examined this problem with the energy that it surely deserves.