RFK Jr.: More local activismis critical for clean waterk

By Kristen Garrett
Herald Staff Writer

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. made an appearance at Pennsylvania State University’s Shenango Campus in Sharon on Tuesday to talk about pollution and big business here and in the rest of the country. Kennedy, the son of former Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy and nephew of the late President John F. Kennedy, is the chief prosecuting attorney for Hudson Riverkeepers in New York.

He spent the day at Penn State talking to student groups, the Chamber of Commerce Junior Leadership Shenango, faculty, staff and advisory board members. He spoke at a news conference in the afternoon and to a packed auditorium in the evening.

Kennedy said the Clean Water Act required all waterways to be fishable and swimmable by 1985, but that goal hasn’t been met.

Local activism is critical to keeping water clean, he said. Many communities have fallen prey to big businesses which built factories, polluted the waters and then left the town to clean up the mess, Kennedy said, citing the former Westinghouse plant in Sharon as a prime example. The site along Sharpsville Avenue is contaminated with PCBs, carcinogens found in transformer insulation. Westinghouse’s local transformer plant closed in the early 1980s.

“People are paying the cost” to clean up the property, Kennedy said, adding that Westinghouse’s successor, CBS Corp., remains profitable for its shareholders. Kennedy called the actions of Westinghouse and similar companies a “theft of the public and a theft from the community.”

Many community officials welcome such companies because they fear the firms will take their money — and jobs — to other cities, Kennedy said. Small communities need strong leadership to negotiate deals with companies to stop pollution, he said. Companies must disclose their long-term plans, and communities now have “more of a healthy cynicism” about industry, he said.

Residents and local officials should be encouraged to think long-term about the environment and curb their urge to use business to generate quick cash. “Do we want to be the first generation in the history of mankind to leave the world a worse place for our children?” he asked. Funding also is inadequate for enforcement of the Clean Water Act and other pollution laws, Kennedy said.

Congress makes funds available and the federal Environmental Protection Agency distributes that money to the states; the states, in turn, are supposed to use the money for enforcement, Kennedy explained.

He said many states have stopped enforcing the laws. Kennedy called for the EPA to “yank” funds from those states, but added the federal agency hasn’t “had the guts” to take away any state programs. Some environmental groups are suing the EPA, he said.

Kennedy cited the group he represents, Riverkeepers, as one which helps to stop pollution and prosecute big businesses that pollute rivers. He called Riverkeepers the fastest growing environmental group in North America, with chapters in Pennsylvania watching the Ohio, Monongahela and Allegheny rivers.

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RFK Jr.: More local activism is critical for clean waterk

RFK Jr.: More local activismis critical for clean waterk