The Guy in Charge of Protecting the Environment Really Wants to Destroy It
Today, dear Pith reader, we ask this intriguing question: Who's the most anti-environmental state legislator? That's a tough one. Nearly every legislator is in the running. OK, the name Frank Niceley springs to mind immediately. Only Niceley could find the silver lining in the TVA coal ash spill. Those mind-boggling levels of arsenic in the water? In the World According to Frank, arsenic is good for you! So maybe this is the question: Besides Niceley, who's the worst? For this honor, we'd like to nominate Joe McCord. That's right, the chairman of the House Conservation and Environment Committee. The guy who's supposed to be in charge of protecting our environment is actually trying to destroy it. Whoops! Here we go sliding down that rabbit hole again!
Rep. Joe McCord: Champion of polluters
Last year, McCord was instrumental in killing legislation to stop the environmentally devastating method of mining known as mountaintop removal. He's from Maryville in the foothills of the Smokies. His hometown depends on tourists attracted by mountain scenery. But what's more important? Rolling over for coal companies or protecting the underpinning of a gazillion-dollar tourism industry?
This session, McCord's name appears more than any other legislator's as a sponsor on the Tennessee Clean Water Network's list of terrible bills. Here's one great idea from McCord: He'd bar state regulators from checking out a pollution complaint if it's made by someone anonymously. After all, polluters can't intimidate annoying neighbors unless they know their names.
But our particular favorite is the bill that redefines water to exclude a lot of streams and creeks so that industries can pollute them at will. The TCWR calls it "perhaps the most dangerous of all water quality bills." According to the TCWR, a law like that could destroy 30,000 miles of streams--almost half the streams in Tennessee.
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