Bill Addington Interview, Part 3 of 3

TRANSCRIPT INTERVIEWEE: Bill Addington (BA) INTERVIEWERS: David Todd (DT) and David Weisman (DW) DATE: March 28, 2001 LOCATION: Sierra Blanca, Texas TRANSCRIBERS: Robin Johnson SOURCE MEDIA: Mini-DV REELS:2138

DT: Well maybe we could wrap this up with just a few more remarks about working together which is an important part and what you'll talk

BA: Yeah, I'll talk about working together but I want to also say that, again I feel compelled to tell you, all the stuff that happened, I felt to me, you know, its not just about me, it happens to a lot of us, but it almost makes you feel like it made me feel like guilty for feeling sorry for myself.

Because, you know, you see other people with worse problems than you and you say you feel like you don't have the right to feel sorry for your loss in life or what you've been dealt. I mean, I lost my family, I,I loved her more than life itself, you know, my son, they took him away.

The very thing I thought I was fighting for was gone. I cried a river of tears for years over that and over the loss. And believe me, we know about loss. So what did it do? It made me more committed.

And I did dove further into the work and my obsessive-compulsive dysfunction overtook me. Its not something I'd advise for anybody.

Its its unhealthy, its not balanced, its good to have a balance in your life, you're actually more efficient when you're balanced, but who can have afford to have a palace, David, when you when you have this breathing down your neck and theres all these deadlines and and milestones coming up that could impact the whats going to happen in the future, whether this facility got built or not.

Its its and its and its and its and I can only describe it as an obsession. But what a magmagnificent obsession to be privileged to defend life. Its a privilege to me to work with all these people, to meet all these beautiful fine people, people that have welcomed me in their homes in Maine and Vermont, in Mexico, people I dont even know, they welcome me in their homes and help me.

Theres been people that have sent us quarters, dimes, and nickels taped to a card, you know. Foundations would never support us, not very many of them, they never gave us much, they didn't believe in us, maybe because we were a legal defense fund, I dont know. But, I mean, when we were fighting the dump, the foundations would generally, very few of them, wouldnt give us money.

Case in point, the Ben and Jerry Foundation from Vermont, we applied to them, Aaron applied to them for a grant. You'd think they'd being the social progressives they are, that they would donate part of the their tax deductible fortune from their ice-cream business and through their foundation to help us in Sierra Blanca.

After all, the waste was coming from Maine and Vermont. Guess what they told us? Were denying your grant proposal because y'all dont have a solution. Well excuse me, we didnt start the problem of the nuclear reactors, we dont claim to have a solution to isolate the mostsome of the most dangerous materials mankinds ever created, you know.

What we do know is it should not be buried in the ground. It should be isolated from the environment for their hazardous life and by dumping it is about the worst placethe worst way to be doing it, whether it be in Maine or in Sierra Blanca, Texas. So foundations wouldnt susupport us very much.

We had a few, Von Foundation, theres several other foundations that gave us money, Genevieve Von also gave us a lot of in-kind help. She 's...without her, I mean we did a lot of she gave us in-kind help and money, about twenty-five thousand dollars.

And but, you know, the majority of the money we raised were from people, like I said, anywhere from pennies and dimes taped to a card sent in all the way to thousands of dollars from, you know, from each from individuals and any monies in be between.

Like I said, we raised over a hundred and fifty thousand dollars and, of course, Bonnie Raitt, we had a concert with Bonnie Raitt and her friends. And we cleared about thirty-five thousand dollars, that helped. You need money for these types of things.

Of course, we never got paid for any of our work. We didn't expect to be paid, but it would really would be nice to at least have your expenses paid so you dont have to be taking money out and doing free work. But of course, we weren't doing it for money, of course, we were doing it because we believed in it and, again, that gave us an edge.

The other side, David, the proponents of the facility, the forces of darkness if you will, they don't have the same commitment because they're paid to do what they do. They just look at it as like a job to make more money.

We're committed because its in our heart and soul, its a part of us. The lands a part of us and to move us from here, to move me from here would be like to pulling a tree or a bush up from its roots and trying to transplant it.

It will usually die, you just cant do that, you have you cant just, you know, were were deeply rooted here and we don't want to leave, this is our home.

And well continue to protect this land from other cities, from other states, and from other corporations that we wont allow just like my sign says outside that I painted, we wont allow companies to contaminate us and opportunistically take from us our home, we won't allow that.

Well do everything we can and I know Ive gone on a lot but, its like I said, we had plan A through Z to stop this dump. If theif the hearings examiners had said yes for the dump and the TNRCC commissioners had said yes, we had other plans, we had anothother strategies, plan A, B, C, D. Legal, legislative, political, and yes we would even go to direct action.

I,I had plans with other friends that could have impacted my health and safety or my maybe my legal status and I was very committed to do that in defense of life.

And I felt I had every right under the constitution of the United States to stand up against the government that would oppress us. I feel I have the legal standing to do that in my heart and soul and the moral standing to stand up against them, not to cause any violence to hurt anybody but definitely to do direct action that could potentially be illegal under our laws, you know, when they're trying to force them on us so.

Like I said, this this the defeat of this this I want people to know that the defeat of this dump at Sierra Blanca, Texas, this national dump, was no accident. It was not merely because Bush wanted votes from the Mexfrom the Mexican people in the United States, that helped and yes it pushed us over the edge, but this was an eight year campaign, we worked I worked on a daily basis.

I slept we some of us slept, drank, ate, and breathed this issue for eight years. It was I the first thing I the last thing I thought about when I went to sleep was this and the first thing I woke up in the morning was this issue and yeah, it cost me my family but this iswas my life for eight years. And they took a part of my life, but I dont regret it because, like I said, I met some very beautiful people.

I had some very beautiful experiences. I've learned a lot, I, I mean, you you never when you're when you're when you're in, how would I say it? When I was growing up, and I dont wayou can stop me anytime, dont feel free, but when I was growing up I was raised to believe in school that the democratic system is representative of the people and that we have a system where our legislators do what the people want and this is a democracy.

It was a rude awakening to see, and to believe me, I had never been to Austin, Washington, or Mexico City before all this happened in 1991. Its a rude awakening to see how our system actually is, but weve let that happen. Weve let the corporations and special interest take our government from us because were not involved, David.

I learned this, were not involved in our government, were not involved in our system. We masome of us may vote, a few of us, but most of us dont and then we dont hold accountable the very instruments we created. Part of our government, and part of ourour job, our responsibility isn't just voting, its holding holding holding accountable our representatives and controlling the instruments we create.

So by failing to do that, we've let these corporations and industry and its bebeing debated right now in congress about special influences and campaign finance reform and all that. Weve let that happen and this is why theyre out of control, this is why bad things happen to good people because weve let this happen.

And I only hope that we can all start getting involved in our government and in our locally, regionally, statewide, and nationally, because if we don't, its going to come back to bite us just like it did in Sierra Blanca where some of us werent involved in our local government. Now we are involved in our local government and we are involved in policy and we do care and, like I said before, or I was trying to say, David, its hard to relate to others when you havent gone through it yourself.

But once youve gone through it and once youve experienced it, whawhat evil can happen and what things can happen, you feel you can relate to others whether its happening across the road, across the state or across the world, you can relate. Because in the end, and it may sound corny but I believe this, we are one earth, we are one water, and were were and and were one soul, were just one, you know.

It all goes to the same place and, you know, thats an Indian belief, were were one air, one water, and one earth, and thats what we believe. Its its just aI dont blame people for feeling disconnected but we have to get past that. And if we dont experience some of the things that weve experienced in Sierra Blanca and someand havedont have to go through all this, we need to realize that were all in this together and we need to support others.

If we could all do that and all and all work together, these things dont have to be happening, and they wont be happening once the government, I believe, sees thatthat therethe people arent going to take this, you know. And it may say ideidealic andand pie in the sky, but I think its very doable. Our country was founded in this way.

Theres millions of us here now, but it was more representative and there were people more involved because we forget how many people have died defending our country and defending freedom andandand trying to protect life. Theres a lot of people that have died doing this.

And so I take that as a sacred responsibility with our forefathers and with people have lived here for many, many, many generations have done, you know, and I appreciate it. And I'm I'm willing to defend them and defend what their their what they've done and not forget what they've done because I wouldnt be here without all their work is what I believe.

DT: I think you've helped us understand and relate a lot to what youve done and how its connected other places. Lets break now and (misc.)

DT: Bill, were out I guess about a mile or two west of Sierra Blanca and looking out at the Sierra Blanca Mountain that your town is named for and I was wondering what you could tell us about the train cars we see and what might be going on.

BA: Sure, this is the railroad spur for Merco Joint Ventures, the sludge dump operation. Its the largest in the world, eighty-one thousand acres, theyre spreading up to four hundred and fifty tons of de-watered sewage sludge cake a day from the fifteen treatment plants in New York City.

This material isn't legally allowed to be spread or landfilled in New York State but yet our Texas regulators and leaders have seen fit to to fertilize us and create the largest sludge dump in the world. This was brought in without a pubic hearing, a permit or any notice to anyone in Sierra Blanca or in Hudspeth County.

Today's a real dusty day and windy, itsbeing it is March, but this mountain behind us is very beautiful, unusual characteristic mountmountain, the Sierra Blanca Mountain was named by a Spanish explorer, I think Coronado, that came through here back when before Sierra Blanca existed and named it because of theof the white poppies growing all over it.

It it wasn't because of snow, but it was the white poppies, Sierra Blanca, white mountain. And they're spreading sludge over eighty-one thousand acres along theall along northeast and northwest of Sierra Blanca around the mountain. They don't spread it on the mountain, they're spreading it on the surface, this is surface disposal and theyre spreading it now at ten dry tons per acre per year, it used to be about eight.

Like I said, this material isn't legally allowed to be spread or even landfilled in New York State because of it does not it has too much heavy metals like copper, lead, and sometimes cadmium. What else can I tell you? This is athis is a illegal hauling dump operation masquerading as a beneficially used.

DT: Could you continue?

BA: Sure. Like I said, this is a illegal hauling dump operation masquerading as an environmentally beneficial project and its only a masquerade. Theythe only thing that protects Sierra Blanca, they're they've used they have spread it up almost up to the town boundaries with sewage sludge but they're mainly spreading it on about forty thousand acres, what they call the ten-mile site on the other side of this mesa over here that youyouI dont know if you can see, but theres a mesa here.

That mesa is the only thing that protects Sierra Blanca from the stench the stench the sewage stench is a mixture of a fecal odor and chemical odors, hydrogen sulfide and ammonia which itthethe smellthe stench is undeindescribable.

If you've ever smelled like I told you, if you've ever smelled a dairy or a feed lot, this stuff smells that stuff that smells good, the dairy or feed lot to the side of the sewage sludge and what thosethe sewage sludge what what what the out-gassing of these bioaerosols, they call it, which isthey call it I guess the official is volatilization of bioaerosols when the gases, vapors, and fumes emit out of this sewage sewage sludge cake when it gets wet.

Theres vapors, gases andandand it actually waves through town when the winds right and stinks to high heaven, people want to leave. Thisthis stench generally happens when its cool, not when its hot, when the weather conditions are right and after a rain.

In the early mornings or late afternoons when people are doing their barbecuing, it can come through town during the spring and summer mainly, not thats when the stenches happen and they are sporadic caucause the wind direction is its all critical.

And doctors tell us that its not only that its that its a health hazard that itbasically it could bethey believe that it would be when you're smelling it that strong, nailing our immuneit could be, you know, repeated exposures nailing our immune systems.

Those at risk of of immun ocompcompromization by this bioaerosols or the old that have failing immune systems, the young that have developing immune systems and the sick that have compromised immune systems.

And they're the ones that are most at risk from catching anything after their lume their their immune systems areareareare nailed. So theres been absolutely no testing by the State of Texas for thesethe airthefrom the air, from the chemical odors.

They do not they have not done itperformed any sludge testing itself on what the constituents of the sludge is that are coming to this so-called sludge ranch in about six years, they havent done any testing.

So its basically the same thing in Mexico where its self-regulation by the company itself, they test it and thats about it and tell the Texas National Resource Conservation Commission whats happening.

DT: Can you tell us about your work to try to get more oversights for the dump or to stop it?

BA: Well weve tried toin the legislaturethe Texas legislature weve tried to get sensible laws that wont do us any good here but to require a permit for this type of activity. And manmany other states including Oklahoma where thesethis same project was stoppedMerco was stopped in Oklahoma in five towns, they haveit requires a permit.

If we had a permit here, wewe probably could have stopped this or at least had some input or at least been able to have a voice. This way, they just hohosted this upon us, like I said, without any notice to our county, without any permit, or any public hearing andand that by doby doing that, they created the largest sludge dump in the world. So, what was your original question.

DT: Thats good. Could you talk also about some of the reactions of Merco to your work to try to slow down or limit their actions?

BA: Well, okay, we believe that in 1994, we had an arwell we had an arson of our lumber yard, we believe it was caused by direct result of our activity and actions against Merco Joint Ventures and maybe the radioactive waste dump. We believe it was more tied to Merco.

We never said that Merco burnt down our lumber yard or ordered it burnt down, but we said because of our activof our work to stop them, oror the arson happened, and, of course, we were sued for saying thatI was sued in United States Federal District Court in Pecos alleging business disparagement, slander, and liable.

And I was sued along with Sony Tristar, Merco I mean Sony Tristar, Hugh Koffman, of theone of the good guys at the EPA, and Tristar Television. So the judgethe judgethethe jury gave them only one dollar in actual damages and four hundred and fifty thousand dollars in punitive from Mr. Koffman and four and a half million dollars in punitive from Sony Tristar.

However, the most conservative court in the country, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, unanimously overturned that decision and told Sony Tristar and Mr. Koffman they didnt owe him a penny and that in thisand thatthat it was all overturned because in this country, business disparagement should not be used to stifle peoples reasonable beliefs and opinions.

And the first amendment still exists in this country for peofor citizens to be able to speak out against whatever opinion they have on whats right or wrong and that that wasthats not what defamation law was intended for and that fair story, a balanced story that Merco wanted would be one that favored sewage sludge spreading and they shouldnt be surprised being in the controversial business of sludge spreading that people would criticize them.

Regarding my my my comment that many people in town know why the arson happened, its because of our speaking out against the sludge dump, when they panned over thewith a camera over the burnt out lumber yard, thethe Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, the most conservative court in the country I might add, stated thatthat I had every reason to believe in this contentious debate about sewage sludge that someone might burn down my lumber yard because of our outspoken opinions.

I had every right to believe and say that and I never said that Merco or anyone having to do with Merco burnt down our lumber yard which they say I implied. So in any case, yes, thats happened, weve been sued forthat was a sixty million dollar lawsuit, they were suing us for sixty million.

I don't even of course, I dont even have one million, but they said they could get some type of partial judgment forfrom me and theythey wanted me to donate money into thisthisthis front group which I never would do in exchange for saying I lied and Im was sorry which I never would do, Im not sorry for telling the truth.

DT: What sort of lesson have you drawn from your experience with the sludge ranch?

BA: Say that again?

DT: What sort of lesson have you drawn that you might tell other people from the sludge ranch and your experience here?

BA: Well in any proposed project I would encourage andandand advise anybody to watch whats happening on any registrations or permits, not just permits in their countyyou can get on a list at the TNRCC for your county and they will send you any upcoming applications having to do with your county or you can do it by company even.

I would urge you tourge them to do it on theiron their own county andandand watch because especially in these rural counties, and yeah sometimes in their not so rural ones in a poor disenfranchised area, they want to do projects that can hurt your health.

So I would encourage youactually like I said before, to get more involved in every way, especially in your local government, have some local control.

If we had had exercised local control this project would have never existed. If our county commissioners had been united, even after they got their registration we could have stopped them. However some of ourour commissioners and county judge favored the project and did everything they could to help them stay.

DT: Is there anything youd like to add about how sometimes money inclines people do things that maybe arent in favor of the environment?

BA: Right, well obviously the reason these things happen are because of money. This isthis company here for example, Merco Joint Ventures from New York City which by the way, we have proven and its been published in the New York Times, Im not afraid to say it, or have close ties and associations with the Lacasey crime family in New York City. But, what was the question again?

DT: I was wondering if you could talk about the link between money and peoples

BA: Oh the money, yeahyeah, regarding money, yeah, I'm sorry, too much information I guess. Money is the reason these projects are here and, of course they the the companies or the industries that try to put these facilities in communities know thatthat people basically can be greedy, and that greed can be a factor and can be bought off really basically like in the case of Sierra Blanca here for chump change ininin bribes, legal and illegal bribes.

These bribes have come down all the way to our state government unfortunately into our local government andand ImIve been told even in the federal government with the United States senators. So money plays a big part in influence peddling and money played a big partpart on how they got here.

We know they got the contract to spread sludge, or to bring it to Sierra Blanca fromfrom New York City using influence peddlingillegal influence peddling, its been well documented and, of course, like I said, theyll try to buy off the decision makers, the officials in the local government and appeal to their greed by all in the name of economic development and getand offer these people money.

And, of course, then these people generally would be opposing these projects will favor them because they think they are personally going to make some money off of it in the form of a contra gravel contract or some business or an out an out out right bribe, some money under the table.

DT: Do you have any suggestions on how to take money out of environmental decisions or do you think greed is just a part of life?

BA: Well greeds going to always be a part of life, thats definitely so. However I really believe thatthatwell, for thesethese are huge decisions that sometimes are made for popolitical favors or orders by higher ups and so I guess the state of Texas should really, well in the case of sewage sludge, it should be permitted and theresI dont knowI really know how to answer that to be honest with you. What was the question again?

DT: How money can be taken out of being a factor in some of these environmental decisions.

BA: Yeah you did say that. I guess campaign finance reform, it all goes back to the money, when theyre donating money to, you know, these companies to the officials thatlike the governor and the legislature and certain key officials in the Senate Natural Resources Committee that are members of it andand certain representatives that are members of the house environmental regulations committee.

There should the the conflict of interest there, you know, basically they'll donate money to them in the form of a legal bribe to their campaign committee and then thethese legislators will pull some strings and get the permit or, in this case, the registration approved. And so thats the way it works.

The they're very good about spreading legal and illegal money around and theyve got very deep pockets to do so and they basically bought their way into Texas, this company Merco.

And theres something wrong and theres something rotten in Austin, Texas when these types of activities are allowed to happen, it is ait is a pathetic disgrace that Texas would allow New York City sludge that isnt even be allowed to be spread or even landfilled, spread for beneficial use or landfilled, its banned from being done so in New York City whenand thenbut yet Texas will allow this to be spread on an area the size of El Paso and Watus, eighty-one thousand acres is the registration. It is a pathetic disgrace that our officials, our leaders, would allow this.

This just proves what weve said all along that we are the step child of Texas, that Austin and east Texas doesmost the decision makers do not care about us and see us as a part of Mexico probably, you know. So this is just more of the same of, were not part of Texas. (misc.)

DW: Since were here with the train maybe you could explain for the people that are wondering why were looking at a train and you talk about spreading they may expect to see bulldozers or something so maybe explain so they might have an idea.

BA: Yeah, sure,sure. Well we see here these sludge cars come in by rail three times a week with a work train from El Paso, Texas. The sludge train doesnt come directly fromthrough Sierra Blanca, it goes to El Paso and is stored there and it comes three times a week from El Paso. These containers hold twenty-five cubic yards each of sewage sludge cake from New York City which is de-watered sewage sludge.

It has the consistency of about like Copenhagen or Skoal, its a very sticky messa sticky, gooey mess that you, you know. So they actually take this out of thethesethese containers you see behind me.

They will fit on the back of a converted cement mixer diesel truck which they load with aan inverted forklift onon top of it and take each one of these out to the field which is thethe high desert graderange land in behind in the application area they call it and theyll dump it on the ground, pick it up with a front end loader after they dump the sewage sludge in a big pile and then dump it into the back of a manure spreader thats pulled by a tractor.

Then this manure spreader flings this sewage sludge about thirty feet in the air and it plops all over the ground. Its applied at a rate, what they say of ten dry tons per acre per year, ten tons of sewage sludge per acre every year and they just keep applying on top of that. It used to be about three dry tons per acre per year.

Also by the way, cattle they have cattle out here. These cattle go onto the open market and these cattle have definitely eaten some of the sewage sludge that lays close to the ground, that falls in the plants. Theyve eaten sludge, theyve eaten plants that arethat arepotentially have taken up contaminants in the sludge and, of course, theythese cattle are bioaccumulators that that that concentrate toxins which we then eat.

So that's something to think about when youre eating your hamburgers, this you could be eating aa cow that came from this sludge ranch here or you could be drinking orange juice from Florida where they spread sewage sludge pellets from New York City on the orange groves, you could be drinking orange juice.

DT: Is this sewage sludge biodegradable?

BA: No. This sewage sludge cake

DT: Will (?) eat it?

BA: Will what?

DT: [inaudible]

BA: Well this this this sewage sludge here is not biodegrad the reason it can not biodegrade, it has too muit has excessive levels ofmainly its hazarditsits a toxic soup of chemicals, metals, bad pesticides and a lot of oil and grease. Like I said, there's before, there's millions of pounds of oil and grease gets spread out here every year, millionshundreds of millions of pounds every year get dumped.

Yet the state of Texas tells us, which is rightfully not to dump a quart of oil in the ground but yet theres millions of pounds of hydrocarbons, oil and grease get spread out here every year. And thatoil and grease which washes off the city streets in New York City and is illegally dumped in the storm sewersdrains is concentrated in this sludge. Theres a lot of oil and grease in this sludge.

DT: Let me ask you one last question if you don't mind.

BA: Sure.

DT: Theres a lot of injustices that have been done to this community and disgrace this land, can you tell me maybe a place near here, a natural spot that you like, love perhaps, that makes it worth caring for these places and this community?

BA: Well I like all the land and I love it all about equally, its all part of the samethere are special places that I go to relax and meditate and remind myself why Im doing this but, thisthe other day I climbed the top of the Sierra Blanca Mountain behind us and its a very special place with itstill, even with sludge around it, with a lot of different types of animals living on it, plants, lizards, snakes, all kinds ofand, of course, the Eagle Mountains where they wanted to put theover there where they wanted to put thealthough you cant see it from here the dust.

But well be going out there in a little bit. But that area, the Eagle Mountains on the top of that I go I go backpacking, hiking into that area and its another world ofofof only pure, pristine nature with elk, falcons, javelina, snakes, all kinds of different animals that you dont see in the lower desert down here. So thatthats a special place that I go, thethe top of the Eagle Mountains.

DT: Is there anything you'd like to add, a message to those who might see this?

BA: Well a message to those that might see this in the future? I just want everyone that might see this in the future from near future and into the deep future to know that that there are people out here that try, and I'm not I'm just one of them.

There's many thousands of people that care and that try and we just need more of them to make a difference and we hope that you will join us, and anyone seeing this, to defend the earth. This earth isisthis earth hashas sustained us for millennia and yet the thanks that wevewere doing to it is toto slowly destroy the nature on the surface of the earth, by doing so were going to be killing off ourselves and the earth wont die, it'll recover.

So we just hope that that I just appeal to anyone seeing this to, on whatever level you can, get involved for your children and do whatever you can and that way there wont have to be a few people trying to kill themselves, screaming out in the wilderness trying to make a difference.

DT: Well thank you very much. [End Reel #2138] [End of interview with Bill Addington] (Misc.)