DNR Director looking the other way

Residents to DNR director: RES still stinks by Mari Winn

How to prevent environmental problems from happening and helping permit holders get in compliance through automation and simplification of the process were ideas put forth by Missouri Gov. Matt Blunt to address the worsening environmental conditions in the state.

Frank Martinez, advisor to the Carthage High School student stream team, was told that the DNR doesn't have the funding to post warnings on the streams. Martinez, whose group has documented excessive pollution in nearby waterways that is hazardous for body contact, is very concerned over the DNR's inability to monitor the streams or warn the public about their hazards.

Herman Lloyd who said he has about 35 head of cattle on property adjacent to Leggett & Platt's corporate headquarters complained over the run-around he got from the DNR after discovering that L&P's lagoon was leaking on his property. He said he tried to call the DNR's local number but found it was no longer in use. When he contacted the DNR's local office, he said he was told they only handled odor problems. Fighting with the corporate giant is not new, remarked Lloyd, who said L&P wanted to buy him out rather than solve their past incinerator problems that impacted him. He refused, he said.

Calling the DNR the lapdog of big business rather than the watchdog, Orr is pessimistic that anything will be done to alleviate problems that she labeled as "turning this part of the country into a giant cesspool."

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Anyone looking to the Missouri Department of Natural Resources in help with dealing with either existing polluters, or one's scheduled to come online in the future is hoping for a miracle that ain't gonna happen, as the good people in Newton County are finding out.

This line from our boy governor "... helping permit holders get in compliance through automation and simplification.. " is very telling and troubling.

Translated, it means instead of requiring on site inspections of polluters, the DNR will let them "simplify" their toxic terrors by logging on and sending in reports via computer, without the burden of having state inspectors actually visit polluters in business now and ones getting ready to construct ethanol factories.

The DNR should be an aggressive "watch dog" of our NATURAL RESOURCES instead of a neutered and well behaved "lap dog."
After all, it's YOUR tax dollars.

Need more convincing? Check out this link to find out the way DNR drags its feet when it comes to ground water pollution:

DNR chief visits Dexter Monday

"There's been a lot of violations from what I read on the permit," Bates told the director. "Right now they have soil brought up from Kennett that's not properly stored."

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