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Are Good Neighbor Committee members fearful and angry? Of course they are. You would be too if you lived near an industrial facility that spews the barrage of chemicals that Clark does into Blue Island’s environment. Are committee members struggling to understand how an oil refinery operates? Of course they are, and it’s not easy. But that’s why CBE is there–to help level the playing field. With our help, Good Neighbor Committee members know if they’re being given a “snow job” when platitudes about plant safety come from Clark’s spokespersons, like Syd Wiley. CBE’s own staff not only has both engineering and scientific expertise, but because of the large network of groups with whom we regularly collaborate we have been able to bring some of the best environmental expertise in the country to Blue Island. This includes three out of the four environmental group representatives who have been chosen to serve on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Petroleum Sector Common Sense Initiative–all of them highly respected.
This technical and scientific expertise was also available to Langer for the asking. We could have answered Langer’s questions regarding the material in our files or anything else relating to the community struggle with Clark, had he asked. We could have provided him with additional sources to provide independent verification of our position on the issues. Unfortunately, while he may have spent time reviewing our files, he failed to follow up with questions about what the information means. Thus the end result was yet another cliched story about emotional activists who are short on facts but have moxie versus scientifically-credible-but-have-difficulty-communicating corporate officials, instead of the more subtle but more complete story of some reluctant activists’ attempts to bring democracy into the closed world of corporate decision-making.
Director, Illinois Office
