How much does a legislator cost in Louisiana?
Certainly, that’s a loaded question, an ambush question, if you will.
Some go pretty cheap. Others not so much.
For the record, State Rep. Terry Brown (I-Colfax) says he is not for sale.
Brown, testifying before the House Natural Resources and Environment Committee last Wednesday in favor of House Bill 11, did what few legislators will ever do: he related payoff overtures he said were made by representatives of the target of the bill, Clean Harbors and its efforts to burn some two million pounds of explosives from Camp Minden in Webster Parish.
A massive explosion occurred at Camp Minden in October 2012, creating a mushroom cloud that loomed 7,000 feet over the town. That led to decision to burn 15 million pounds of explosives on open “burn trays” at the site.
That decision set off a firestorm of protests that involved citizens and officials from Baton Rouge to Washington and the plan was eventually scrapped in favor of moving the burn to the Clean Harbors location in Grant Parish where (surprise) the plan was met with an equally hostile reception.
Clean Harbors, Inc. was founded in Brockton, Massachusetts, in 1980 and has expanded to 400 locations, including more than 50 hazardous waste management facilities, in North America. Revenues for the company in 2016 totaled $3.28 billion, according to the Clean Harbors Web site. http://ir.cleanharbors.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=96527&p=irol-news&nyo=0
Clean Harbors in February withdrew its permit request to quadruple the amount it can burn at its facility located about five miles northwest of Colfax, although the company continued its open burning of explosives at the site. http://www.thetowntalk.com/story/news/local/2016/02/19/hb-11-next-battleground-colfax-open-burning/80565032/
HB 11, by Reps. Brown and Gene Reynolds (D-Minden), would prohibit open burning statewide as a method of disposal of explosive materials, such as those burned at Clean Harbors’ Colfax facility.
“…I was asked as a state representative by a person representing Clean Harbors, ‘What would it take for me to pull this bill?’” Brown testified. “They (Clean Harbors) started out by saying they would pay for our sewer system in South Grant Parish, that they would give my schools playground equipment, my Little League ball teams uniforms—and they would make me a part of it.
“Ladies and gentlemen of this panel, I am not for sale,” Brown said.
Here is the link to his testimony: http://house.louisiana.gov/H_Video/VideoArchivePlayer.aspx?v=house/2016/apr/0427_16_NR
It was a long committee meeting, lasting just more than five hours. To get to Brown’s testimony, move the cursor below the video to 3:04:30.
The bill barely made it through the committee by a 9-8 vote and will be debated on the House floor on Wednesday.
Representatives voting against the bill in its amended form were Committee Chairman Stuart Bishop (R-Lafayette), James Armes (D-Leesville), Jean-Paul Coussan (R-Lafayette), Phillip DeVillier (R-Eunice), John Guinn (R-Jennings), Christopher Leopold (R-Belle Chasse), Jack McFarland (R-Jonesboro), and Blake Miquez (R-Erath).
Amendments to the bill http://www.legis.la.gov/legis/ViewDocument.aspx?d=998279 included a self-defeating provision allowing the Secretary of the Department of Natural Resources to authorize open burning of munitions or waste explosives by the military or by state police and one that would make the effective date of the bill January 1, 2018, which would allow continued burning for an additional 18 months.
Louisiana Voice 
Wow! We have someone in the Legislature that is not for sale. Who would’ve thought. Need a lot more of those, especially now that we got rid of our god-forsaken governor, Jindal.
So true. I am going to go out on a limb and deduce from this who can be bought on the committee. Unfair? Realistic?
Gawd what a name for a company that burns explosive materials in the open air: Clean Harbors. Yeah rite!
I am asking a reasonable question, not intended to provoke arguement or upset anyone. I sincerely want to know how do you propose that we get rid of surplus ammunition, explosives, propellents (despite popular belief propellents are not explosives), and other energetic materials that are surplus or by-products of manufacturing for the U.S. Military? By “we” I mean American citizens who are all indirectly (or directly) responsible for supporting this country’s military efforts.
I could elaborate further as to what spurs my interest in the subject but that would be a lengthy endeavor and probably unnecessary. Suffice it to say that disposal of unneeded energetic materials is a very real problem, has been for some time, and will continue to be for the foreseeable future. So I ask the question again: How do we dispose of it? What is your solution to the problem?
In closing I truly want to recognize the legislators who refused to be bought. I despise unethical behavior as a rule and I’m quite pleased at what transpired in this situation. Perhaps Representative Brown could host a trading class for the legislature as a whole, many of whom are unable to spell “ethics.” Then Representative Brown could address the rest of Louisiana’s elected and appointed positions starting with the governor…after watching some of his appointments, I think he’s earned the title of “Ethically Challenged.”
Is there a safe and effective (though certainly more expensive) way to do a closed incineration with at least some capture and cleanup of the emissions? I understand that it would still need to be remote because of the explosive nature of the waste . . .
An enclosed burn (vs. Open Burn) system is, as we speak, being installed at the disposal site at Camp Minden. It is effective, safe, and far from being cost prohibitive. I recommend that everyone read the numerous articles that have been written about this enclosed system primarily reported in the Shreveport Times.
The alternative to open burning found at Camp Minden was a contained burn system with the most advanced pollution abatement system in the world, and it is working.
The Clean Harbors Colfax open burn facility is an independent problem that has been there for nearly 30 years. While about 340,000 lbs of Tritonal (aluminum laced with TNT) was indeed taken from Camp Minden and open burned in Colfax in 2015, none of the 16 million lbs. of M6 was taken away from Camp Minden. It is being destroyed onsite by the new contained burn system at Camp Minden, and the entire job will be safely completed in about 9 months, without any harmful emissions.
The significance of this is that, since there is now a safe alternative to open burning toxic and hazardous waste, the open burn operations in Colfax and elsewhere throughout the nation will not be able to pass muster under RCRA and can likely be stopped in court. The only reason that companies like Clean Harbors have gotten away with their actions so for is because no proven safe alternative to open burning existed. The new ESI/Elsorado system at Camp Minden has changed that.
It should be noted that Dr. Salvatore, a chemistry professor at LSU-Shreveport, is the individual who first brought the potential dangers of the proposed open burn at Camp Minden to the public’s attention. His quest was quickly adopted by Minden resident Melissa Downer and others who helped spearhead opposition to the open burn.
Without their diligence and persistence in kicking sand in the face of the EPA and the Army, thousands of lives in the area surrounding Minden would have been at risk of serious health issues.
If Louisiana had a Humanitarian of the Year Award, Dr. Salvatore, Downer and the entire group who locked arms to fight the open burn would certainly be a recipients. The public, Northwest Louisiana in particular, owes them a debt of gratitude that can never really be repaid.
Tom, you are right, we all owe them a debt of gratitude, and hopefully, the movement will gather more momentum, and stop the disaster in Colfax. I watched the committee hearing chaired by Stuart Bishop, and I was incensed, he had NO interest in the speakers, he knew before he heard the first speaker, which way he was voting.
And Edwin went to prison for accepting money. He wasn’t in office at the time. These boys are on the job taking lobbying money to influence their vote.
Why not find a way to recycle these materials. Surely they can be salvaged for the War that we are in along with the next o e to come. Look at the long range probablity that there will probably be another fight the US of America will be involved in so salvage and recycle what we already have.