2005-09-02 TMALASEKO2 - Laserfiche WebLink

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bothdeal with crop insurance separately from infrastructure. And, in fact, if you were to file a, for instance, under whats happening like now in the hurricane impact area, you would file separate claims for both your crop loss and your infrastructure loss. That is the standard process for doing that. I think the claims adjuster recognized that. The issue of the claims adjuster, why is there a claims adjuster involved in this process? Well, because it is what the then Director of the Planning Department recommended to the Planning Commission; and the Planning Commission agreed. The reason that they stated at the time for doing that was to basically depoliticize the process. So now I find it somewhat of a breach of faith with the community that that has changed, that someone supposedly with the expertise -. At the time, they said the Planning Department didnt have the expertise to make the assessment; and thats why a claims adjuster was brought in. Well, you have the document from the claims adjuster, you know what the claims adjuster said about it. TheotherissueIwanttotakeupwithyouthatgotalotofdiscussionsiswhetherMr.Malasek departed from his property willingly. I dont know how many of you were reading in the newspaper in 91 during the time of the blowout and all of the incidents that preceded it and followed it. But I was going to circulate a copy of the front of the newspaper there where it said, the headlines read, LETHAL LEVELS EMITTED FROM PGV. That was the headline of the newspaper. And then it went on to state what had happened, the fact that the workers had been knocked unconscious and they had been removed by other workers and safety equipment. That erupted into a whole discussion of whether those lethal levels were actually capable of impacting the surrounding community or not. My assessment of that to give you kind of a visual on it, lets say that someone is standing down the street and he tells you that he has a loaded weapon. So you get to assess whether that weapon is capable of reaching you or not. Is it a high-powered weapon? Can you actually shoot me and kill me, or is it the bullet wont reach me? Its, you know, this is what we face out there now. Wehadanotherincidentwiththewellventingjustlastweek.NumerouscallstotheHealth Department, it goes on, you know. So just to be clear about this, the distance from that well pad towhereMr.Malaseklivesiswithin1500feetofthewellpad.Thatswithin1500feetofthe well pad. Thats why they notified him. So thats how close he is. Im 1200 feet away, so I know. And that brings us to the issue of susceptibility to primarily hydrogen sulfide and caustic soda. Those are the two major emitters coming out of the plant when they have an incident. Well, Dr. Legator from the University of Texas at Galveston who is an epidemiologist, came out here and did a study. It was part of a four-part study. He studied the surrounding community of PGV and three other sites on the mainland, and oil and gas plant, a slaughter house facility, and the sewage plant; and the subject was hydrogen sulfide and how people are impacted by that. And he found that there is a certain portion of the population, about 20 percent, that are impacted at what are really incredibly low levels, 10 parts per billion. So you want to gamble? You want to find out whether youre one of that 20 percent or not? I dont see that Mr. Malasek, given the amount of time and energy that he put into his farming, departed from there willingly. 5