American Forum Op-Ed

MISSOURI FORUM

By Patricia Schuba

I was born in 1963 in Labadie, three miles from what is now the nation's 14th largest coal-fired plant. My family has farmed the land for four generations. It was only when Ameren placed a coal ash landfill in the floodplain that we became aware of the risks of burning coal and of exposure to the waste left behind.

In 1970, Ameren built the plant that is still operating today in the floodplain of the Missouri River just east of Labadie on a scenic stretch of the lower Missouri River. Little did we all know that almost immediately after the plant was built, the utility began dumping toxic wet ash into an open 154 acre unlined pond, and from there into the Missouri River. This stretch of river floods and the groundwater is often above the surface, making contamination of surrounding soil and water likely.

We now know, from reviewing public records that this pond was leaking 50,000 gallons per day since 1992. Ameren claims to have recently stemmed the leaks, including new ones that were reported in 2011. We also know that under its water pollution permit, Ameren dumps an average of 25 million gallons per day of waste water from the ponds into the Missouri River.

All of Ameren's neighbors, including my family, depend on well water, and millions downstream get their drinking water from the Missouri River. Coal ash contains high concentrations of toxic chemicals like mercury, cadmium, arsenic, lead and hexavalent chromium. As a concerned citizen, I have tried to find out how much pollution has seeped into the groundwater from the leaking ponds in Labadie. Unfortunately, nobody knows, since Ameren does not do any groundwater monitoring, and the state does not require such monitoring -- even though the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) has known since 1992 about the substantial leakage at the unlined coal ash pond.

Carcinogenic and neurotoxic chemicals being dumped and buried in Missouri's floodplains are endangering our drinking water on a large scale. Missouri has at least 32 coal ash waste sites, many of which are unlined. Missouri utilities produce 2.7 million tons of coal ash waste per year. A 2011 Earthjustice report listed Missouri in the 10 worst states in the country for regulating coal waste because of our lack of consistent regulation and monitoring. In Missouri, utilities can build coal ash ponds and landfills "in the water table" and are not always required to have composite liners -- making the health risks needlessly high. The coal ash ponds near my house are the most high profile cases of potential contamination in Missouri but only because citizens started asking questions. There are coal ash ponds and landfills across the state, in the counties of Jackson, Jasper, Greene, Randolph, St. Charles, Jefferson, Henry, New Madrid, Scott, Platte and Buchanan where we have no idea what is happening to groundwater. This is not just a problem in one part of Missouri and it affects us all. If you consume electricity, you are near a site where toxic coal ash is being dumped.

Recent reports show that when groundwater monitoring occurs at ash pond sites, potentially dangerous levels of coal waste toxins are frequently found leaching into groundwater. In January, a new report by North Carolina officials found elevated levels of metals in groundwater near every coal ash pond. Iron and manganese were found at all 14 plants. Boron was found at six plants and highly carcinogenic chromium and arsenic at seven and six plants respectively. The findings have raised alarms that monitoring for all of the coal ash toxins should be required at all sites.

Missourians need DNR to require groundwater monitoring for coal ash toxins around all new and existing coal ash ponds and landfills immediately. The Missouri DNR should require utilities to clean-up all coal ash ponds and landfills that are leaking dangerous chemicals into surrounding soil, groundwater and surface water. Let's follow the principle -- if you break it, you fix it.

More importantly, let's not put bad stuff near the good stuff. Utilities should not be allowed to dump disease-causing chemicals into our floodplains, rivers and streams. The risk of heavy metals and toxic chemicals in our drinking water is playing a dangerous game with our health, environment and economy. I love my corner of Missouri here in Franklin County, as so many other Missourians do. Let's take the steps now to get coal ash out of our water and protect our floodplains, communities and local economies.
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Schuba is president of Labadie Environmental Organization (LEO), a community nonprofit established in 2009 to oppose the siting of Ameren Missouri's proposed 400 acre coal ash landfill in the Missouri River floodplain and floodway near Labadie Missouri.

Copyright (C) 2012 by the Missouri Forum. 3/12

MISSOURI FORUM

By: Bailey Parrish

My name is Bailey Parrish. A 23-year old-employee of a Catholic hospital, I grew up in Ozark, Mo., and moved to Springfield, Mo., to study psychology, biomedical science and religious studies at Missouri State University. When I was 20, I was hired on as a nurse's aide. It's hard, unglamorous and underpaid work, but together with nurses, doctors, social workers, housekeeping and administration, we take care of our patients. We also take care of each other.

I will continue to work with what has become my family until I move to Washington, D.C., in the fall to study public health promotion. This will be a happy move because my education will allow me to reach more people, but it will be sad because I will be leaving the mothers, grandmothers, sisters and brothers that have changed me for the better.

The Obama administration recently made a decision to protect affordable access to birth control. Now, millions of women including those in my surrogate family, who are employed at religiously affiliated hospitals or universities, will receive the same health and economic benefits as everyone else. These are benefits we need.

When I first started, I didn't care about being an active contributor to the system or becoming a better person; I needed a job. But like any good first job, my experiences there have taught me the value of discipline, the power of a positive attitude and ,most importantly, love and tolerance for others whatever their personal differences.

When on the clock, I understand that I am not there to form opinions about people, and I am not there to inform others. I may not refuse to provide a service that medical science has proved to help others because of how it makes me feel, or how I feel about the one giving me the order, or sometimes even what I know to be true. Although ministry is a valuable ideal, the organization I work for is primarily focused on providing medical care for all who need it by employing people capable of providing it.

That is all that this provision, which has received so much media attention, is trying to do: provide care. By making birth control available and affordable for all, it gives women and families choices.

Others would have you believe that this provision tramples on religious choices of institutions. What they fail to mention is that the original compromise on this policy gave churches and houses of worship the freedom to opt out of this policy. Approximately 335,000 are exempted.

Recently, President Obama went even further, making special accommodations for religious employers like mine who operate like any other employer in terms of employees and people served. These include huge hospitals and universities, which have a primarily secular purpose and hire thousands of people based on secular criteria. The new policy says religious organizations will be allowed to deny contraceptive coverage should they choose. Importantly, though, the president clarified that insurance companies will offer contraceptive coverage to those employees with no additional burden or cost. If you have been told differently, that person was either misinformed or lying.

America values religious freedom because it values personal freedom -- not the other way around. Employers also must respect personal freedom, something on which conservatives and progressives can agree.

People will always disagree. But when we make policy decisions, we need to stick to the facts.
* Women of all faiths use birth control. Catholics do so in the same proportion as other women.
* Birth control allows women to plan their families and have healthier pregnancies. This means more healthy mothers and children.
* A majority of the American public supports this new policy.

Sometimes on our quest to serve God, we see only potential threats to His world. We forget that He is also about tolerance and choices. This provision will not force anyone to consume or provide birth control; it only makes it affordable for all.
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Parrish works at a Catholic hospital as a Nurse's Aide. She is a recent graduate of Missouri State University in Springfield, MO, and will be attending George Washington University in the Fall to pursue her masters degree.

© Missouri Forum. 2/12.

MISSOURI FORUM
By John Regenbogen

In the final hours of the regular legislative session this past spring, the Missouri General Assembly added highly controversial, pro-billboard language to an otherwise uncontroversial transportation bill. The bill passed on the last day of session but fortunately was vetoed by Gov. Jay Nixon because the bill substantially weakens the ability of local communities to restrict billboards.

The governor’s veto is not the last word, however, as the General Assembly begins a veto session September 14 and leaders appear intent to try to override the veto by garnering votes of two-thirds of the legislature. Ironically, while all indications are that the General Assembly appears poised to finally act on a matter of basic fairness and return control of the St. Louis police department from the state to the city, it may seek to take away the right of local citizens – through their locally elected officials -- to regulate billboards according to community standards.

As the governor wrote in his veto letter, it is important for Missouri’s cities and towns to be allowed to preserve their community character in a manner that reflects local standards. A growing number of communities across Missouri feel they have accumulated enough billboards and have enacted either explicit prohibitions on new billboards or restrictive spacing and location requirements that ensure billboard blight doesn’t get out of control. From our state’s largest city, Kansas City, to rapidly growing suburbs like O’Fallon and Chesterfield, to small towns like New Haven and Defiance that depend heavily upon tourism, dozens of Missouri communities have enacted prohibitions or restrictive ordinances to protect against excessive billboard blight. But because the new language added to the transportation bill would take away this authority of local communities, the governor had no choice but to veto the bill. In fact, the bill’s extremely industry-friendly “customary use” requirement would make Missouri’s billboard law among the weakest in the nation with respect to powers of local control.

The billboard industry argues that there aren’t enough billboards in our state, which is absurd. Many Missourians feel strongly that the state has too much billboard blight and that a reduction of clutter over time will improve our communities and increase tourism. In fact, just shy of 50 percent of Missouri’s voters supported a ballot initiative in 2000 that would have prohibited new billboards anywhere in Missouri. If more Missouri communities follow the Texas model where over 300 communities have prohibited new billboards, (the fierce Texas pride in their beauty is perhaps best represented by the well-known anti-litter slogan, “Don’t Mess With Texas”) the sky won’t fall and local communities will continue to thrive, if not improve.

But the veto isn’t about the number of billboards in the state, whether we have too many or too few. Rather, it is about keeping state law intact in order to allow local governments to continue making the decisions with respect to billboards in their communities. The Missouri billboard industry may not like this law, but we must retain the common-sense notion that local communities are best able to make these local decisions. Not all communities want to take a tough stance on billboards, of course, but polling has shown that the vast majority of citizens support the strong right of local control on this issue without interference from Jefferson City.

Billboards may have a place in Missouri. But that place should not be every place. At the very least, Missouri’s local governments must retain the right to determine what is appropriate in their communities. Gov. Nixon’s veto must be upheld and the General Assembly should end its effort to put the interests of a powerful industry ahead of local communities.
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Regenbogen is executive director of Scenic Missouri.
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Copyright (C) 2010 by the Missouri Forum. 9/11

MISSOURI FORUM
By Patricia Brown, RN

It’s summer in Missouri, the peak time for canoeing on clear Ozark rivers.

Starting Memorial Day, I spent a week camping on the Jack's Fork River. Instead of the beautiful peace and quiet I was looking for, I saw inappropriate overuse of the river.

Because my father was born in Larkin "Holler" of Shannon County (I also have other relatives there) I have visited this area almost every year for the last 50 years. About 30 years ago I stopped canoeing there during the summer because the noisy crowds made it like a Worlds of Fun ride.

More recently, I've witnessed continued deterioration, with even more noise, and scenic disruption, from development of buildings, motorboats that zip by within yards of me snorkeling so that I almost inhale part of their waves, and bulldozers taking scoops of rock gravel beach.

My father had a chance to "get rich" gravel mining, but he valued the rejuvenation powers of those rivers and instead taught me to love them as they were -- which now stirs me to action. When I see things like this, or that red Allley Springs Mill in so many magazine photos, I get a sinking feeling that the memory of something precious to me has been made obscene.

The National Park Service is in the middle of drafting a General Management Plan that will guide management of the Ozark National Scenic Riverways (ONSR) -- the Current and Jack’s Fork Rivers -- for the next 20 years. Missourians should know that now is their chance to speak up about the problems confronting this gem of a river system, home to more first-magnitude size springs in one area than anywhere else on Earth.

The updated management plan should address: (1) overdevelopment that has produced a proliferation of illegal access roads used by noisy ATVs and trucks (2) overuse by horses repeatedly crossing the rivers causing E.Coli contamination that harms swimmers and (3) stopping gravel mining. All of these things cause erosion of soil, which smothers the insects that live on the rocks and that the fish eat, destroying river life

As a little girl I sat in one spot on a rock beach, taking in the serene beauty, and gathered many empty snail shells to sew a necklace. In those days all the rocks in the rivers were speckled with black snails. Because of the unlimited numbers of people who visit these rivers now, many little creatures have been trampled to death. This cherished experience won't happen for any little girl now, not in this park.

Some would argue that my opinion should not matter, because I do not live near the rivers. Since my family is from there, I understand why local people would feel protective of the place. Shannon County has many low income residents and they need to maintain all the tourist related business far into the future. They also care about preserving the cultural practices of Ozark river life and its natural beauty. We must all do all we can to assist them.

My 91-year-old cousin from the town of Eminence, which is centrally located in that Ozark Rivers region, once said that she traveled away from them once and was shocked to find that other rivers weren't so crystal clear. She had no need to travel so far away after that. In addition, as a Kansas City area resident, like others who travel to the ONSR, I recognize it as a National Park, and know that all citizens have the standing, and indeed the responsibility to make sure it is well managed.

Now is the time to speak up. The plan being formulated now will guide management of ONSR for the next 20 years. Let’s use this opportunity to fix the problems and restore the rivers to the tranquil and restorative place that I remember from my childhood. We can do it.
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Brown is an RN and a member of the Sierra Club and lives in Independence.
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Copyright (C) 2011 by the Missouri Forum. 7/11

KENTUCKY FORUM

By Kelly Anthony

The battle between Governor Walker and public employees in Wisconsin shines a spotlight on people who are normally behind the scenes in our communities – the public workers.

Teachers, firefighters, street cleaners, police, child abuse caseworkers – these public employees are the heartbeat of our communities. Wisconsin breaks open a debate about how these workers are treated, and the impact on citizens’ pocketbooks. Unfortunately, that debate has become more political theater than substance, with pundits advancing ideological points over honest debate. Here in the “Show Me State” we prefer to look at hard facts.

The nonpartisan Economic Policy Institute (EPI) recently issued a report on the lot of public employees in the state of Missouri. They made no-nonsense comparisons between public employees and their counterparts in the private sector. The findings may surprise you – and they will certainly alarm any Missourian that believes an effective government needs to attract the highest quality employees, and keep them for the long term.

Myth #1: Public employees earn more and have cushier jobs with more costly benefits than those in the private sector.

FACT: The EPI finds that Missouri public employees earn 15.6 percent less in total compensation per hour than comparable full-time employees in Missouri’s private sector -- this is a comprehensive figure that includes pension and health insurance benefits. Also illustrated in the report is the finding that compared to the private sector, public sector employee compensation costs are 24.3 percent LOWER at the state level than their private sector counterparts.

Myth #2: Those who are employed by the public sector are there because they “can’t make it” or are unqualified to get a job in the private sector.

FACT: the EPI report shows that public employees in Missouri have substantially higher education levels than those in the private sector; 53 percent of Missouri public employees hold at least a Bachelor’s degree, compared with 22 percent of private sector employees.

Myth#3: The public sector unions are bankrupting the state.

FACT: Despite that low pay, state workers have not received a cost of living adjustment in three years. State employees have also seen reductions in health benefits and pensions. All are now paying significantly higher premiums and deductibles through the state’s health insurance plan, and new state workers must pay 4 percent of their salary into their pension plan.

In light of all this, the question may be, why does someone in Missouri choose to work in the public sector over the private sector? That is best answered by a public employee (and you should ask them). The firefighter, the police officer or the teacher is likely to tell you their rewards are more about job satisfaction. They are filling a need, helping their community and serving their neighbors.

Just look at the facts. The next time you talk with someone in the public sector, instead of making assumptions, thank them for their service.
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Anthony works with the Public Good Project of Missouri Jobs with Justice, a nonpartisan coalition promoting issues of workers’ rights and economic justice.
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Copyright (C) 2011 by the Missouri Forum. 3/11

MISSOURI FORUM

By Lew Prince

The Republicans in the Missouri Legislature are trying to overturn the clearly expressed will of the people in order to give gigantic welfare checks to some of America’s biggest corporations.

Nearly 1.6 million Missourians voted to raise the minimum wage in 2006. Only 501,657 voted against the proposition. That’s a three to one margin.

To put this in perspective, in the same election, Democrat Claire McCaskill beat Republican Jim Talent by less than 49,000 votes. That means over a million Republican-leaning voters saw the need to raise the wages of the poorest working Missourians. According to exit polls, the minimum wage proposition was favored by Democrats, Independents and Republicans; liberals, moderates and conservatives; urban, suburban and rural voters; low-income, middle- and high-income voters; and voters of all ages.

Missourians voted overwhelmingly to raise the minimum wage and protect the working poor with a cost of living adjustment. This tiny adjustment amounts to pennies an hour. The COLA gives families that are barely keeping their heads above water a fighting chance when prices rise.

Republicans are pushing legislation to undo the cost of living adjustment and prevent the minimum wage from going above the federal rate of $7.25. Why would Missouri Republicans want to hurt workers who today are making just $15,080 if they are paid for 40 hours a week, 52 weeks of the year? Why would they want to hurt the most vulnerable workers in our state?

They say it’s to help small businesses. Well, I’ve run a small business in Missouri for 32 years and I say, BUNK!

Higher minimum wages help Missouri businesses, large or small, compete with gigantic national and multinational chains. Local businesses compete by being part of the community -- from hiring our neighbors to sponsoring youth leagues – and by providing service that gigantic multinational chains with their feed-more-profits-to-headquarters policies can’t match. In order to do this I need well-trained, long-term employees. I have to pay them more to keep them. My customers know my employees and are loyal to my business because of those employees.

Large Missouri companies like Schnucks and Dierbergs, who pay decent union wages, have to compete with predators like Wal-Mart who pay the lowest wages they can get away with. Why would the Republicans Rin the Missouri legislature want to side with multinational retailers and gigantic restaurant chains in their competition with Missouri businesses?

The minimum wage is a full dollar higher in Illinois -- $8.25 instead of $7.25. That means, for every hour worked in Illinois an extra dollar stays in the state and helps the local economy. Why do the Republicans in our legislature want to see that money end up at Wal-Mart headquarters in Bentonville, Arkansas or Wall Street or in some off-shore bank account instead of buying groceries and car repairs and paying rent here in Missouri?

What’s worse is Missouri taxpayers already subsidize these out-of-state corporate giants.

Did you know that according to the Missouri Healthnet Employer Report, in the 1st quarter of 2009 (the latest data available) Wal-Mart alone cost Missouri taxpayers $4.2 million in Medicaid costs. Casey's General Store cost Missouri taxpayers $884,104 while Tyson Foods, Dollar General and Target combined for another $1.4 million? Why are Missouri taxpayers subsidizing a company like Wal-Mart, the fountain of wealth for America’s richest family?

Who knows how many of these underpaid employees qualify for Food Stamps and other subsidies. These are the costs we pay while large companies and their lobbyists fight against a meager few cents an hour in raises for their Missouri employees for whom those pennies add up to milk or medicine for their children. Remember these same companies pay a dollar more minimum wages per hour in Illinois and still turn huge profits there.

It's time for all of us to write, call, or email our state legislators and remind them that they work for us, not multinational giants. Tell them to keep their hands off the minimum wage we voted for.
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Prince is managing partner of Vintage Vinyl, an independent music store with 24 employees in St. Louis. He is also a member of Business for Shared Prosperity.
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Copyright (C) 2011 by the Missouri Forum. 2/11

Todd Swanstrom

MISSOURI FORUM

By Todd Swanstrom and Chris Krehmeyer

It has recently come to light that lawyers processing the paperwork for foreclosures have been signing 10,000 or more documents a month without even reviewing them for accuracy and proper documentation. They are called robo-signers. Facing the threat of lawsuits for wrongful foreclosure, a number of the largest banks and servicing companies have suspended foreclosures until these problems are resolved.

Chris Krehmeyer

Instead of slowing down, the foreclosure crisis is speeding up and Missouri’s economy is being dragged down. About 11 percent of first-lien mortgages in Missouri are either delinquent or in foreclosure and 15 percent of mortgages are “underwater,” meaning homeowners owe more on the mortgage than the property is worth.

Everybody pays for foreclosures, not just those who are kicked out of their homes. Research has demonstrated that each foreclosure drives down the market value of properties located within one-eighth of a mile of a foreclosure by about 1 percent. The Center for Responsible Lending estimates that by 2012 Missouri property values will have dropped by approximately $7.3 billion as a result of foreclosures.

So while local governments are losing property tax revenue they are also forced to bear increased costs of processing the paperwork, cutting the grass for vacant properties, and even demolishing vacant structures. The Joint Economic Committee of the U.S. Congress estimates that it costs municipalities $19,227 per foreclosure.

Fortunately, skilled foreclosure counselors can prevent many foreclosures. The Public Policy Research Center at the University of Missouri-St. Louis studied 1,460 homeowners who were counseled by Beyond Housing, a St. Louis housing nonprofit. Even though most came to counseling facing a foreclosure, the study found that 84 percent were still the owner of record at the end of the study period. A national evaluation of the federally funded counseling program by the Urban Institute compared 60,892 households that received counseling with 60,892 households that did not. Households receiving counseling were 60 percent more likely to avoid foreclosure compared to those who did not.

Olga Povarich’s story is typical. An upbeat, high-energy woman, Olga came to St. Louis from the Ukraine in 1993. She works for a home health care company and cleans homes on the side. When her husband left the family, she could not keep up with the mortgage payments for the home she shares with her three children. Her lender initially told her, incorrectly, that she was ineligible for a loan modification and repeatedly lost her paperwork. Working with Beyond Housing, Olga was able to finally get a loan modification under the federal Making Home Affordable program that limited her housing expenses to 31 percent of income.

Unfortunately, Olga’s happy ending is the exception rather than the rule. Loan servicers are rushing to complete foreclosures, repeatedly losing paperwork and refusing to negotiate loan modifications to keep families in their homes.

What’s the solution? The foreclosure process in Missouri needs to be slowed down in order to make sure the paperwork is correct so we can find ways to keep as many families as possible in their homes.

Missouri has the fifth-fastest foreclosure process in the nation. Our “non-judicial” foreclosure process is not regulated by the courts, as it is in Illinois, where the process is finalized by a judge. Missouri’s process does not provide enough time to negotiate solutions that will prevent families from being pushed out of their homes.

Missouri should immediately declare a 60-day moratorium on foreclosures. During this period, local governments should establish foreclosure mediation programs, like those in Philadelphia, PA and Providence, RI. Under voluntary mediation programs, homeowners can choose to meet with their lender before a trained, neutral mediator to see if a way can be found to avoid foreclosure.

Foreclosure mediation can help homeowners and lenders find win-win solutions. By keeping the mortgage payments coming in and preserving the value of the home, loan modifications are often in the interest of the investor, as well as the homeowner. If the mediator concludes that no mutually agreeable solution can be worked out, then the foreclosure can proceed.

A foreclosure moratorium attached to voluntary mediation is the right and smart thing to do.
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Swanstrom is the Des Lee Professor of Community Collaboration and Public Policy Administration at the University of Missouri-St. Louis. Krehmeyer is the President and CEO of Beyond Housing.
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Copyright (C) 2010 by Missouri Forum. 10/10

MISSOURI FORUM

By: Jason Whitaker

Our heroic service members are in harm’s way each day they wear the uniform of the United States military. Around the globe, they defend our national security interests so that we can be safer here at home. America’s fighting men and women signed up for this because they care for our country and want to keep it stronger for future generations.

Yet in the face of this enormous sacrifice, our troops encounter perils beyond wildest imagination, threats that undoubtedly can and must be prevented. In order to make this happen, Senators must start leading and work to end our addiction to oil.

Our forces deployed the Middle East are all too familiar with IEDs – Improvised Explosive Devices – which have killed many military personnel and countless numbers of innocent civilians. My lieutenant was a victim of such an IED during one of our convoys in Afghanistan. His Humvee exploded just two vehicles in front of me. And the newest, and most deadly of these weapons are called EFPs, or Explosively Formed Projectiles. Able to penetrate our best armor, these roadside bombs are brutally effective.

These new, dangerous weapons are coming into Iraq from oil-rich Iran. In fact, for every
$1 increase in the price of a gallon of gas, Iran makes another $1.5 billion to use against our soldiers. The connection between energy, our national security, and the sacrifices made by our military couldn’t be more obvious. Our reliance on their vast oil reserves enriches the extremists who directly threaten our military and way of life.

Aside from the direct link our dependence on oil has on the deaths of American and allied soldiers, former CIA director James Woolsey has put it in another context worth mentioning: “Except for our own Civil War, this [the war on terror] is the only war that we have fought where we are paying for both sides. We pay Saudi Arabia $160 billion for its oil, and $3 or $4 billion of that goes to the Wahhabis, who teach children to hate.” In fact, in 2008 we sent $1.19 billion per day to some of our most dangerous enemies for
energy. These are unstable, unfriendly regimes – and they’re funding terrorist organizations across the globe with our gas money. The funds are funneled through shady front groups in Saudi Arabia and end up as AK-47 rounds being fired by the Taliban in Kunar where I served. They end up in increasingly dangerous and extremist
Nigeria. And they kill men and women in Iraq in the form EFPs from Iran.

The Department of the Defense, the CIA, and the National Intelligence Council have all noted that energy security and climate change pose significant strategic threats to America’s strength and safety. From the vulnerability of our oil supply, to the threat of weak nations destabilized by climate disruptions, we are threatened by our continued use of dirty energy from dangerous places.

The U.S. Senate has so far refused to debate comprehensive legislation that would address these threats, and that is why I call on Senators McCaskill and Bond to show leadership and bring this issue to the floor. It is time for our Senators to sever the flow of money landing in the hands of our enemies by working to pass legislation that would create clean, secure American energy. Right now, they have an opportunity to join members of both parties in support of comprehensive climate and energy legislation that would begin to free us from oil dependence, strengthen Missouri’s economy, and prevent the long-term impact of climate change. From both sides of the aisle and all parts of the country, veterans are speaking out in support of clean energy legislation – not because of environmental reasons, but because our dependence on foreign energy and carbon pollution pose a threat to our national security.

Our brave men and women in our armed forces have displayed unparalleled signs of courage and conviction in the face of adversity. Lawmakers in Washington can honor their commitment and stand with the men and women of our armed forces to prevent more oil-funded attacks. This is not rocket science; it is an issue of paramount importance to support our troops, defend our nation and de-fund our enemies. After all our soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines have done for America, this is the least we can ask of our Senators.
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Jason Whitaker is a former U.S. Army Staff Sergeant.
Use of his military rank, job titles, and photographs in uniform does not imply endorsement by the United States Army or the Department of Defense."
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Copyright (C) 2009 by the Missouri Forum. 9/10