Ronnie Cummins: The Organic Elite

(via PR Watch)

The Organic Elite Surrenders to Monsanto
By RONNIE CUMMINS
Counterpunch

"The policy set for GE alfalfa will most likely guide policies for other GE crops as well. True coexistence is a must."

-- Whole Foods Market, Jan. 21, 2011

In the wake of a 12-year battle to keep Monsanto's Genetically Engineered (GE) crops from contaminating the nation's 25,000 organic farms and ranches, America's organic consumers and producers are facing betrayal. A self-appointed cabal of the Organic Elite, spearheaded by Whole Foods Market, Organic Valley, and Stonyfield Farm, has decided it's time to surrender to Monsanto. Top executives from these companies have publicly admitted that they no longer oppose the mass commercialization of GE crops, such as Monsanto's controversial Roundup Ready alfalfa, and are prepared to sit down and cut a deal for "coexistence" with Monsanto and USDA biotech cheerleader Tom Vilsack.

In a cleverly worded, but profoundly misleading email sent to its customers last week, Whole Foods Market, while proclaiming their support for organics and "seed purity," gave the green light to USDA bureaucrats to approve the "conditional deregulation" of Monsanto's genetically engineered, herbicide-resistant alfalfa. Beyond the regulatory euphemism of "conditional deregulation," this means that WFM and their colleagues are willing to go along with the massive planting of a chemical and energy-intensive GE perennial crop, alfalfa; guaranteed to spread its mutant genes and seeds across the nation; guaranteed to contaminate the alfalfa fed to organic animals; guaranteed to lead to massive poisoning of farm workers and destruction of the essential soil food web by the toxic herbicide, Roundup; and guaranteed to produce Roundup-resistant superweeds that will require even more deadly herbicides such as 2,4 D to be sprayed on millions of acres of alfalfa across the U.S.

In exchange for allowing Monsanto's premeditated pollution of the alfalfa gene pool, WFM wants "compensation." In exchange for a new assault on farmworkers and rural communities (a recent large-scale Swedish study found that spraying Roundup doubles farm workers' and rural residents' risk of getting cancer), WFM expects the pro-biotech USDA to begin to regulate rather than cheerlead for Monsanto. In payment for a new broad spectrum attack on the soil's crucial ability to provide nutrition for food crops and to sequester dangerous greenhouse gases (recent studies show that Roundup devastates essential soil microorganisms that provide plant nutrition and sequester climate-destabilizing greenhouse gases), WFM wants the Biotech Bully of St. Louis to agree to pay "compensation" (i.e. hush money) to farmers "for any losses related to the contamination of his crop."

In its email of Jan. 21, 2011 WFM calls for "public oversight by the USDA rather than reliance on the biotechnology industry," even though WFM knows full well that federal regulations on Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) do not require pre-market safety testing, nor labeling; and that even federal judges have repeatedly ruled that so-called government "oversight" of Frankencrops such as Monsanto's sugar beets and alfalfa is basically a farce. At the end of its email, WFM admits that its surrender to Monsanto is permanent: "The policy set for GE alfalfa will most likely guide policies for other GE crops as well True coexistence is a must."

Why is Organic Inc. Surrendering?

According to informed sources, the CEOs of WFM and Stonyfield are personal friends of former Iowa governor, now USDA Secretary, Tom Vilsack, and in fact made financial contributions to Vilsack's previous electoral campaigns. Vilsack was hailed as "Governor of the Year" in 2001 by the Biotechnology Industry Organization, and traveled in a Monsanto corporate jet on the campaign trail. Perhaps even more fundamental to Organic Inc.'s abject surrender is the fact that the organic elite has become more and more isolated from the concerns and passions of organic consumers and locavores. The Organic Inc. CEOs are tired of activist pressure, boycotts, and petitions. Several of them have told me this to my face. They apparently believe that the battle against GMOs has been lost, and that it's time to reach for the consolation prize. The consolation prize they seek is a so-called "coexistence" between the biotech Behemoth and the organic community that will lull the public to sleep and greenwash the unpleasant fact that Monsanto's unlabeled and unregulated genetically engineered crops are now spreading their toxic genes on 1/3 of U.S. (and 1/10 of global) crop land.

WFM and most of the largest organic companies have deliberately separated themselves from anti-GMO efforts and cut off all funding to campaigns working to label or ban GMOs. The so-called Non-GMO Project, funded by Whole Foods and giant wholesaler United Natural Foods (UNFI) is basically a greenwashing effort (although the 100% organic companies involved in this project seem to be operating in good faith) to show that certified organic foods are basically free from GMOs (we already know this since GMOs are banned in organic production), while failing to focus on so-called "natural" foods, which constitute most of WFM and UNFI's sales and are routinely contaminated with GMOs.

To Read the Rest of the Essay

Act NOW! Proposed Louisville Coal Ash Pond Threatens Your Health and Water Share

Act NOW! Proposed Louisville Coal Ash Pond Threatens Your Health and Water Share

5.7 Million Cubic Yards of Hazardous Coal Ash May Be Dumped At E.ON’s Cane Run Coal-Burning Power Plant. Action needed by March 13th!

Problem

E.ON’s Cane Run Power Station has applied for a Section 404 permit through the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to add a 60-acre coal combustion waste (CCW) landfill adjacent to the power plant.

The current CCW pond on-site at the Cane Run Power Station is one of 44 classified by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency as “high hazard” – meaning that a spill would result in significant damage or loss of life.

CCW is the solid waste left over from burning coal. CCW is a combination of waste from the coal plant’s air filters and the residue from coal boilers. The ashy part of the waste, called coal ash, contains concentrated pollutants, including many toxins known to cause cancer in humans.

The proposed permit would:

# allow 5.7 million cubic yards of CCW, which contains toxins known to be hazardous to human health, to be dumped on site. The U.S. EPA states that 1 in 50 adults and 1 in 100 children that live near CCW storage sites are at risk of developing cancer

# allow more than 3,000 feet of ephemeral and intermittent streams and 8 wetland areas to be filled

# allow use of an inferior containment liner that deteriorate over time, likely resulting in toxic chemicals leaching into groundwater

# ignore restoration requirements for 5 of the wetlands and require only minimal restoration for the other 3

# allow this waste to be dumped on land located at the end of the Ohio River floodwall, clearly in the river’s flood plain putting residents downstream at risk


--Find out more about the impacts coal ash can have on your community and health here.

--Louisville District Corps of Engineers Public Notice No. LRL-2010-35 is available for viewing here.

Cane Run Rd. Coal plant. (photo from Courier-Journal website)


Solution

Let the Army Corps of Engineers know that you oppose this permit!

**Please take action by March 13, 2010 deadline**

Action Needed:
Send an email requesting that the Army Corps deny this permit to:

lrl.regulatorypubliccomment@usace.army.mil

Put the permit # LRL 2010-35-mdh as the subject. Provide your physical mailing address and telephone number.

OR write to:

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Louisville
Romano Mazzoli Federal Building
600 Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Place
Louisville, KY 40202

A SAMPLE LETTER

Please deny E.ON’s request for a permit to expand Cane Run Power Station’s CCW landfill

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Louisville
Romano Mazzoli Federal Building
600 Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Place
Louisville, KY 40202

March 13, 2010

To Whom It May Concern:

Please support clean air and the health of Kentuckians by denying E.ON’s permit request to expand the Cane Run Power Station’s coal combustion waste landfill. Coal ash exposure puts our health at risk. The EPA estimates that up to 1 in 50 nearby residents could get cancer from exposure to contaminants in poorly stored coal ash. Other health effects may include damage to vital organs and the central nervous system, especially in children.

This permit is problematic for several reasons:

· The dump will not be properly contained, putting nearby residents and families at risk of health hazards and death.

· The permit allows over 3,000 feet of ephemeral and intermittent streams and 8 wetlands to be filled with 5.7 million cubic yards of coal combustion waste.

· Minimal restoration requirements for destroyed wetlands.

· The land selected for this expansion is not an extension of the existing landfill and is right outside the end of the Ohio River floodwall in the flood plain putting residents downstream at risk.

The Cane Run plant’s current coal ash pond already puts nearby residents at risk of death and serious health impacts. Enough is enough. Help Louisville lead the way toward better environmental standards. E.ON can invest in energy efficiency, weatherization, and renewable energies to reduce and eliminate the need for hazardous expansions like this permit request.