EPA Coverup

Thirteen long months ago this blog filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request with the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) seeking all information on the environmental contamination of Marco Island by the city governance, its "staff", its contractors and its denizens in the syndicate.

Despite the intimidation, procrastination and shenanigans by the EPA to purposefully obfuscate the FOIA request, nearly five months later the EPA "produced" redacted emails from some residents, a few black pages and some newspaper clippings. This sham production was a thinly veiled effort to shut up this blog and bury the reprehensible means by which the city governance, its "staff", its contractors and their denizens in the syndicate were complicit in the environmental crimes.

So naturally we appealed the ersatz production.

But as if something out of a Kafka story, one appeals a FOIA request to the same agency that failed to comply with the FOIA request. Therefore our expectation at being successful was the same as our expectation that the city councilors and city staff that allowed the contamination to take place will ever serve prison time. But still, one could hope, akin to the hope of one day winning the lottery (as in the syndicate serving prison time).

Just today this blog received the results of the appeal to the FOIA request – today – SEVEN MONTHS AFTER we appealed and thirteen months after the original request.

The decision of this appeal is below.

Look carefully: the reason for the EPA's refusal to produce the salient, revealing and indictable aspects of the information the EPA has in its possession is because ... now wait for it … the EPA does not want to embarrass those responsible for the environmental crimes!

Now, seriously, wasn't it worth waiting thirteen months just to read this morally corrupt Orwellian logic from the government that is no longer for We The People?

Let's put this in perspective: YOUR government (the EPA) that is funded with YOUR tax dollars is protecting YOUR government (the governance of the City of Marco Island) that is also funded with YOUR tax dollars by refusing to reveal YOUR information as to the details of the environmental crimes YOUR government (the governance of the City of Marco Island) committed that has a direct and unequivocal impact on YOUR health and YOUR property.

Is this a great country, or what!

So what are the next steps?

First, "we" will post the emails the appeal letter states will be released – if and when we get them.

Secondly, "we" will do something else. The advice of two celebrated revolutionaries – one of enormous intellectual and moral statue, the other morally reprehensible – are worth considering:

"As our enemies have found we can reason like men, so now let us show them we can fight like men also.",

And

"¿para atrás? ¡ni para coger impulso!" (To go back [now]? Not even to gain momentum!).

The war continues.

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