Hillary Clinton's Board Work


By DIA, Section News
Posted on Thu Feb 28, 2008 at 05:24:07 AM EST

Some like to dismiss the fact that Hillary Clinton was on the board of Wal Mart while they were actively trying to crush unionization attempts. I call those people idiots. Thinking like that is how we ended up with Bush for president...twice. Let's not dismiss facts if we don't like them. I give you another Clinton resume item that has been scrubbed clean.
Bill Clinton is renowned today for the millions he commands as a public speaker and business consultant. But in the early 1990s when he was making $35,000 a year as the governor of Arkansas, Hillary Clinton was the family's breadwinner, earning more than $100,000 a year from her law firm salary and corporate board fees. Lafarge, a U.S. cement maker owned by a French conglomerate, was one of her largest sources of income, paying her $31,000 a year to serve on its board. Shortly before Bill Clinton was elected president in 1992, Lafarge was fined $1.8 million by the Environmental Protection Agency for pollution violations at its Alabama plant. A year later, the Clinton administration reduced that fine to less than $600,000. Hillary Clinton had left the board in spring 1992 after her husband won the Democratic nomination.
Why do I bring this up? Because LaFarge is still poisoning our state, where Mrs. Clinton is our Senator.
For the third year in a row, the towering smokestack at the Lafarge cement plant sent more toxic mercury into the air than any other place in the state.

The plant on Route 9W north of Ravena released 400 pounds of mercury, according to 2006 figures released last week in the federal Toxic Release Inventory.

That was nearly one-third of all the mercury pollution in the state -- equivalent to four of the state's largest coal-fired power plants, according to a Times Union analysis of TRI and state records. The inventory contains pollution levels reported by businesses to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Hillary certainly is telling the truth about one thing. She has the experience necessary to get things done. My problem is with the things she has experience doing.

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Hillary Clinton's Board Work | 3 comments (3 topical, 0 hidden)
Minor Correction (none / 0) (#1)
by nycowboy on Thu Feb 28, 2008 at 12:34:19 PM EST
LaFarge Didn't Own Blue Circle Cement until 2004.

Still, LaFarge has not been known for the investment in their plants to make them more up to date or compliant with environmental regulations when they purchased plants like Blue Circle in Ravena.

I worry that LaFarge plans to close Blue Circle Cement in the near future. The reality is it's an old and dirty plant, and it's expensive to run. If the state DEC or the EPA pushes them too far, they may just shut down.

I wish there was evidence to the contrary. But the reality is big companies play this game with the state all the time -- make us improve our plant, and we'll just shutter it and save more money.

Cowboy, you're worried about this poison spewing (none / 0) (#2)
by Jim Travers on Sun Mar 02, 2008 at 03:25:23 PM EST
plant closing? Are you nuts?

The 240 or so workers at Lafarge are being poisoned every minute they spend working there. The long term health care costs to society far outweigh the value their workers contribute to the economy.

Ask anyone who's worked there about the various autoimmune ailments they suffer from. I'd suggest you talk to a few retirees too, but their harder to come by. It seems several retirees have croaked before receiving their first retirement check. Honestly, I'm not exaggerating.

Lafarge's Ravena plant has been lying for years about their toxic releases and they could care less about how their toxic emissions affects the health of the people working there or the kids and teachers attending school across the street or that of anyone else living downwind of their plant.

Lafarge is the world's largest cement company, let's not forget. Before they bought the poison factory that also produces cement it was owned by Newmont Mining, another world-wide concern little interested in the health of people or the environment their operations affect most negatively.

(For more on Newmont please see the Frontline articles and be sure to watch the videos) http://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/stories/peru404/
You forget that the Lafarge property was a beautiful farm in 1960. We'll get by just fine without it and if it were to close tomorrow I and several thousand others would rejoice. But even if it did close tomorrow, we'd be stuck with a worthless, forever toxic superfund site.

It seems the paychecks of those folks working there are more important to you than the health of the kids attending the middle & high schools across the street.

Other communities suffer the closure of factories and losses of local employment numbering in the tens of thousands, so if you want to complain about something, complain about that.

Let's not forget either, that the fly-ash or kiln waste is what's being used as an alternate daily cover by Albany at the Rapp Road Landfill. If they lied about was was escaping into the environment from their 300+ foot tall smokestack, consider for a moment the possibility that they've also been lying about the toxic content of that material Jennings has seen fit to place upon his city's residents emergency water supply.

Upgrading LaFarge (none / 0) (#3)
by nycowboy on Tue Mar 04, 2008 at 07:28:28 AM EST
People need to work and bring home money to their families. LaFarge has been a source of employment to many, including those with just a High School degree.

It would be devastating to the 230 families if LaFarge where to close.

LaFarge should upgrade and modernize their plant so that it can continue to produce cement for the next generation, while lowering their impact on the surrounding environment. But as this comment notes, upgrading LaFarge would probably be just as difficult as what happened with Saint Lawrence Cement.

[ Parent ]

Hillary Clinton's Board Work | 3 comments (3 topical, 0 hidden)
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