And the Prize for Ebola Fearmongering Goes to...

[Earth_First]

And the Prize for Ebola Fearmongering Goes to Louisiana

Louisiana attorney general Buddy Caldwell has a plan to stop Ebola: file a restraining order. Caldwell, a Republican, called the proposal to dispose of Dallas Ebola victim Eric Duncan's incinerated belongings at a Lake Charles landfill "absurd" and pledged to use the legal process to stop the transfer. WBRZ Baton Rouge reports:

"We certainly share sadness and compassion for those who have lost their lives and loved ones to this terrible virus, but the health and safety of our Louisiana citizens is our top priority. There are too many unknowns at this point," Caldwell said. The Louisiana Attorney General's Office is in the process of finalizing the application for temporary restraining order and expects it to be filed as early as Monday morning.

Additionally, the office is sending a demand letter to Texas state and federal officials, along with private contractors involved seeking additional information into the handling of this waste.

Caldwell, whose decision was quickly supported by GOP Gov. Bobby Jindal, didn't offer any details on how burying the incinerated materials would affect the people of his state. It's hard to see any risk—Ebola is transmitted only through bodily fluids, and Chemical Waste Management Inc., which operates the storage facility, sees no problem. And it's not as if the ashes are going particularly far, anyway—Lake Charles is just a quick jaunt over I-10 from Port Arthur, Texas, where Duncan's belongings were burned.

But Caldwell's stance is especially bizarre in light of the great lengths Louisiana lawmakers have gone to position the state as a repository for every other kind of waste. Fracking-waste disposal, for instance, has become a $30-billion industry nationwide over the last decade. Much of that waste water has been dumped into old wells in Louisiana. Louisiana may also soon begin accepting thousands of tons of other states' shale waste-water, which will be shipped down the Mississippi on barges. In Louisiana you can even store radioactive materials in an abandoned salt cavern, and then, after the salt cavern collapses, creating a massive sinkhole and forcing hundreds of people to permanently relocate, pour wastewater directly into the sinkhole. Just don't try to truck the ashes of an Ebola victim's belongings across the Sabine.

http://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2014/10/buddy-caldwell-louisiana-ebola

[uppityperson]

1. Incinerated. 5 syllables. Too long for Caldwell to understand?

[Marrah_G]

2. we need more science classes in school

This ebola outbreak has made that very fucking clear.

[underpants]

3. So the problem, according to Buddy, is the quality of trash?

Maybe he should just a prayer session.

[Louisiana1976]

4. While I don't agree with Buddy Caldwell, I am curious as to why the incinerated belongings can't be

disposed of in Texas. I wonder if people in Texas were complaining about the prospect of their disposal there.

[Earth_First]

5. It could be that the location is the closest location to handle biocontainemnt waste...

Could be an existing relationship with the locale and the facility...

Could be a combination of the two...

I'll dig around some and see what I can come up with.

[LeftInTX]

7. That's where the company's disposal site is located

Judge agreed with Buddy Caldwell and I believe the waste will sit in trucks until a court hearing.

[Initech]

6. The republicans have set the bar so low not even James Cameron can raise it.