Mexico should close border to US dirty industries-US Exported Sick Swine Ranch to Mexico Under NAFTA

[kpete]

The US Exported the Sick Swine Ranch to Mexico Under NAFTA
by RichardfromHB
Mon May 04, 2009 at 09:16:48 AM PDT

A likely source of the swine flu outbreak in Mexico is a corporate migrant from the US. Smithfield Farms, America's top pork producer, churns out a sea of waste that has destroyed rivers, killed millions of fish and generated one of the largest fines in EPA history. Welcome to the dark side of the other white meat after the break.
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/12840743/porks_dirty_secret_the_nations_top_hog_producer_is_also_one_of_americas_worst_polluters


Beginning in 1985, the US EPA began enforcement actions that culminated in forcing Smithfield Farms to construct a sewage treatment plant for one of its pig factories on the Virginia River, instead of using the river which flows into Chesapeake Bay as a toilet. The EPA's presser:
http://yosemite.epa.gov/opa/admpress.nsf/135261f4d1edd40885257359003d4807/c7a68726816ff7b3852567ef0053e790!OpenDocument

Smithfield appealed a series of district court rulings that the company violated federal law, arguing that the United States was barred from suing the company because of an agreement between the company and the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality that allowed Smithfield to exceed its permit limits. The district court had rejected that argument and ruled that the United States could seek penalties for violations that "had a significant impact on the environment and the public." After trial in 1985, the court imposed a penalty of $12.6 million, the largest fine ever imposed under the Clean Water Act.

"The Fourth Circuit has affirmed the principle that if you break the environmental laws that protect our nation’s waters, a many million dollar penalty is appropriate," said Lois Schiffer, Assistant Attorney General for the Environment and Natural Resources Division. "The Court affirmed that when the State of Virginia took no action to stop Smithfield Foods from illegally discharging slaughterhouse waste into the Pagan River, the federal government could take strong action to hold the company accountable. This decision is a victory for all who care about public health and the environment.

Then comes NAFTA in 1994 and Bush senior's "new world order" where the US exports it's dirty industries to foreign lands without environmental regulators. The regulators in Mexico are no better than those in Virginia. Smithfield Farms opens its pig factory called the Carrol Ranch (Granja Carrol) in La Gloria that same year. Published reports uninfluenced by corporate spin doctors from the region identify that farm as the source of the pandemic. Mexico should close the border to US dirty industries.
http://www.marcha.com.mx/resumen.php?id=2128

more at:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2009/5/4/727671/-The-US-Exported-the-Sick-Swine-Ranch-to-Mexico-Under-NAFTA