Environmental Espionage: Inside a Chemical Company's Louisiana Spy Op
Facing lawsuits and activist outcry following a massive chemical spill, Condea Vista called in Beckett Brown International's for-hire spies to infiltrate its opposition.
Located in the historically Cajun bayou country of southwest Louisiana, upriver from the Gulf of Mexico, Lake Charles has been no stranger to chemical contamination. Like the notorious "Cancer Alley" in the eastern part of the state, the area is home to a high concentration of petrochemical manufacturers. But the spill from the Conoco-Condea pipeline was huge even by Louisiana standards. High levels of EDC were first discovered in the local estuary in 1993, and subsequently traced to the pipeline and to Conoco's dock facility. The 1.6 million pounds recovered from the soil in the resulting cleanup effort were only a fraction of the total EDC that had leaked—by various estimates, between 19 million and 47 million pounds. But the companies downplayed the extent of the spill, and workers were dispatched to clean it up without being warned of the health hazards posed by EDC or being provided with adequate protective gear. By the late 1990s, some of those workers were suffering health effects ranging from burns to severe respiratory problems.
In the mid-'90s Tom Filo, an attorney with the Lake Charles firm of Cox, Cox, Filo, Camel & Wilson, first brought suit against Condea Vista on behalf of sickened workers. In 1997, he won an $8 million verdict. The jury in the case found Condea liable for "wanton and reckless disregard of public safety." Not only did the spill sicken workers, Filo says, but it contaminated the Chicot Aquifer, which provides drinking water for southwestern Louisiana and southeastern Texas.
As he litigated the case against Condea, Filo says he suspected that his opponents might be using dirty tactics. "The offices were broken into a couple of times while the litigation against Vista was going on," Filo told me. "In one incident I got a call from the security system. And I went down to the office at 3 a.m. There were 6 cops—sheriff's deputies—sitting in the conference room. I said, 'What's going on?' Well, they were 'Just checking the office.' The next morning the office manager discovered the front door had been broken through. A friend checked out the city agencies and found a record of an alarm being set off, then one minute later cancelled." Filo says he later discovered that one of the police officers sitting in his conference room that night had a day job at Condea Vista. "Weird shit was going on back then," he says.
Years later, Filo's suspicions that he and his law firm were being spied on were confirmed. In 2006, the Louisiana lawyer received a call from John Dodd, alerting him that he might have been a "victim" of BBI. Filo, who is specifically referred to as a "target" in internal BBI documents, later flew up to Maryland to comb through Dodd's archive. Among the documents Filo found were handwritten copies of his phone records. He also says he discovered confidential documents related to his litigation against Condea Vista, including a medical report by a doctor who had examined a client, a copy of an autopsy request, and internal memos between attorneys planning strategy in the case. He dismissed the possibility that these documents were fished out of the trash. "Copies of correspondence between lawyers never get put in the trash." If private investigators were eavesdropping on his offices, or had gone so far as to steal documents from his firm, that would explain something that had long puzzled him. As he prepared his case against Condea Vista, he says, he was startled to find that his opposition "had info I was going to put in a brief before I wrote the brief."
When Filo returned from Maryland, he showed some of Dodd's BBI documents to Michael Tritico, a local environmental activist. Included in the records were photographs of Tritico's mother's house, which had apparently been staked out in an effort to monitor the activist's whereabouts. "I always assumed the other side was watching," Tritico told me.
Yet another example of the rightwing "free" market at work. Phooey!
These chemicals were used and are being used in crime:
WARNING!:
THE 'BLAME ISRAEL' AND USING SKINHEADS, CRIMINALS, MURDERERS, FAKE JEWS TO RUN ALL JEWISH TO DEATH AND OTHERS; LOOTING ISRAEL AND U.S. WHILE BRINGING AROUND 'ISLAMIC WARS' AS THE FRONT. AFTER ANOTHER 40 MILLION KILLED SENT TO ISRAEL AND ELSEWHERE UNDER THIS 'BIG LIE' (THOUGH NOT ONE WAS NOT INDICTED FOR FRAUD). Only increasing so far and crimes on ourselves, many died of cancers, illnesses, radiation, from labs, multipart crimes paid off, fake Jewish, brain diseases, fraudulent doctors, even from Iran from earlier 'deals'
Notice of Racketeering & Influence enmasse, along with nonstop ideological nonsense to get people to help.
The overall, world plans right now are 100% looting of Israel and running more crime through; bringing about 'Islamic wars' and then turning that back around after setting up new deals.
Victims:
http://journals.aol.com/suehon5
http://endorganizedcrimesuniverse.org
All real Israelite lines (from 1600, Wales, to 1920) being attacked, while having the Porn-Egyptian undergound/Demi/Baal Syndrome bring Islam as a front to 100% racketeering in every kind of fraud:
One out of millions:
Dr. Les Sachs -- Expert, exiled critic of USA (Inc.) corruptionDr Les Sachs is a gentle and peaceful writer whose freedom of speech has been .... And that goes triple for any crimes connected to the US judges and courts ...
www.adventuresinlegalland.com/index.php?/component/option,com_smf/Itemid... - 57k
Jewish 'conversions' are also being targeted.
Great article. Yet one more expose' that serves as a gross underscoring of the malevolent nature of our corporate world.
A book that I really like and recommend is Deceit and Denial -- The Deadly Politics of Industrial Pollution by Gerald Markowitz and David Rosner.
My favorite documentary would be Bill Moyer's one on the chemical industries coverups (I don't remember the exact title, right now). A couple of 10 minute clips can be found on YouTube at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xn0z8FCkOLc
and
My fathers death was an indirect result of EDC exposure. Shame on Conoco!
EXCELLENT, WELL-RESEARCHED ARTICLE!
I AM THE "SENATOR JIM COX" REFERRED TO IN THE FIRST MEMO ATTACHMENT. WHAT STUMBLE-BUMS THESE SPOOKS ARE! IT IS NOT TRUE THAT I 'FUNDED CLEAN'S OPERATIONS FROM MY OWN POCKET OR FROM STATE FUNDS". HOWEVER I AM VERY PROUD THAT MY DAUGHTER, LAURA COX, WAS A WONDERFUL ORGANIZER FOR CLEAN AND GREENPEACE AND WAS LARGELY INSTRUMENTAL IN EXPOSING CONDEA VISTA'S PERFIDY IN COVERING UP THE SPILL OF MILLIONS OF POUNDS OF EDC (A DEADLY CHEMICAL, PROVEN TO CAUSE SEVERE RESPIRATORY PROBLEMS AND EVEN DEATH). Her then-husband, my son-in-law, Tom Filo, tried the case in which a local jury slapped vista with a $7 million punitive damage judgement.
THOSE MILLIONS OF POUNDS OF EDC REMAINS LARGELY UNREMEDIATED AND IT IS PROBABLE THAT LARGE AMOUNTS ARE ENTERING THE CHICOT AQUIFER, A MAJOR SOURCE OF WATER FOR SOUTHWEST LOUISIANA.
Excellent, well-researched reporting and a real eye-opener!
WHAT A BUNCH OF STUMBLE-BUMS THOSE SPOOKS HAVE PROVEN THEMSELVES TO BE!
I am the Senator Jim Cox referred to in the PDF document dated August 20, 19998 (click on the reference to the document in the second paragraph of page 3. While it is not true that I "funded CLEAN's operations from my own pocket or from state funds", I am proud to say that my daughter, Laura Cox, spearheaded Clean.s operations and did a wonderful job for Greenpeace, and was largely responsible for helping bring to light Condea Vista'/s cover-up of one of the largest industrial spills in our nation's history. Millions of pounds of EDC, a deadly chemical known to cause severe respiratory problems and even death, were leaked into the Calcasieu River estuary in Southwest Louisiana and remained largely unrecovered. As I write this, it is probable that this giant spill is continuing to work its way into the Chicot aquifer, from which the druinking water is obtained for SW Louisiana and Eastern Texas. Her then-husband and my son-0in-law, Tom Filo, slapped Condea Vista with a $7 million punitive damage judgement and after that hundreds of injured workers recovered more millions, but the tragedy continues.
What is all this about? What are you commenting on?
Above query is in response to Honaker
The information that you have given me was on point and very interesting. Thank you for the Article it helped me out in my Business Law Class. I would very much like to read your othter work in the near future.
Ecofasa turns waste to biodiesel using bacteria
Ecofasa turns waste to biodiesel using bacteria
A group of Spanish developers working for a company called Ecofasa just announced a new biofuel made up from trash. This isn't a biodiesel made from used frying oil; instead, it's made from general urban waste which is treated by bacteria. The result of that bacteria? Fatty acids that can be used to produce standard biodiesel. According to the company's CEO, the process is fully biologic, competes with no feedstock and is really sustainable. However, the process doesn't yield that much actual fuel: just one liter of biodiesel from 10 kg of trash. The project is now in a development phase, but Ecofasa said that a commercially viable model could be ready in three to four years.
http://www.biodieselmagazine.com/article.jsp?article_id=3225
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