"Green" Pataki Took $50K From Renco Group, Among Worst US Polluters

[hatrack]

Governor Pataki, who in his State of the State address this year took credit for establishing New York as a national leader in environmental protection, has recently accepted a $50,000 contribution from a company that the federal government has accused of being one of the nation's worst polluters.

The Renco Group, a holding company owned by Ira Rennert, made the contribution to the governor's Virginia-based political action committee, 21st Century Freedom, which Mr. Pataki established in 1999 with an eye toward running for president. The $50,000 was received on April 27, according to records filed with the Virginia State Board of Elections.

The Renco Group, which owns lead, steel, and coal companies, has long been targeted by federal agencies for its alleged failure to comply with pollution laws.

Last year, the Justice Department sued U.S. Magnesium, one of the affiliate companies, for allegedly dumping carcinogenic chemicals in ditches and ponds near the Great Salt Lake in Utah. The company, when it was called MagCorp, was also sued in 2001 by the government, which accused it of releasing dioxins and hexachlorobenzene — a chemical that sticks to soil and was used in pesticides until it was banned — into the environment. Renco's Doe Run smelter has also run afoul of federal air quality standards.

EDIT

http://www.nysun.com/article/36843

[marmar]

1. Pataki, like that other so-called moderate New York Republican....

is a two-faced fraud.