The King Of The Pollution Protecters

Rep. "Smokey Joe" Barton (R-Texas) earned his nickname. He never met a polluter that he didn't love, especially the ones that pour huge dollars into his campaign chest. And he's always been willing to fight for the right of those campaign donors to foul the air that Americans must breathe. We can always count on Smokey Joe to scream first and scream loudest anytime the EPA tries to make polluters clean up their act.

And its not just the air that Smokey Joe is willing to let polluters foul. When BP poured millions (billions?) of gallons of oil in the Gulf of Mexico, and President Obama pressured that oil company to set up a $20 billion account to pay for the damage they were causing through their negligent actions, Smokey Joe was horrified. How dare the president make that nice oil company pay for the damage they caused! Smokey Joe was so outraged that he offered a public apology to BP (which even embarrassed his Republican colleagues).

Now we learn that it's not just the air and open water that Smokey Joe is willing to let industry pollute. He is also perfectly willing to let corporate criminals pollute the water underground water that communities across the country depend on for their drinking water. Recent reports from the EPA and others have conclusively shown that the procedure known as "fracking" is contributing to the poisoning of underground water sources -- and once these sources are polluted with toxic chemicals, they cannot be cleaned up.


"Fracking" is the process where gas companies force dangerous chemicals underground to break up rock formations and release trapped natural gas. The problem is they at the fracturing of underground rock formations can let those toxic and cancer-causing chemicals seep into the groundwater -- and that has already happened in communities across the country. Some of those communities have water that can be lit on fire with a kitchen match, and the EPA has warned others not to use the water because it is too dangerous to the health of their citizens.

In spite of the growing evidence that "fracking" is indeed polluting underground water sources, the big gas companies (who are making huge profits from the procedure) continue to claim that "fracking" is safe and does not pollute underground water. And one of those leading the fight to let those companies continue their underground pollution is none other than Smokey Joe Barton. Recently he said, "Hydraulic fracturing isn't nearly as dangerous as this report by a liberal group would have you believe. Trust me, I know."

And how does he know? Is he an expert on underground geology? Of course not. His expertise lies in the area of campaign finance, and since the gas companies are filling his campaign coffers, then those "liberals" must be lying. The liberals he was referring to are the members of Common Cause. They recently released a report detailing the contributions for the last ten years to members of Congress by the companies using the "fracking" process.

Guess who has received the most campaign money from those gas companies. That's right, the person who has benefitted the most from that dirty money is Smokey Joe Barton. In the last ten years he has received more than half a million dollars from them -- $514,945 to be exact. And that doesn't include the money from oil, coal, and energy companies and others wanting to pollute our air and water -- that's just the money from companies wanting to continue "fracking".

Is it any wonder that I refer to him as the king of the pollution protecters? It doesn't matter whether a company wants to pollute the air, the water, or the ground we walk on -- it's all OK with Smokey Joe, as long as he gets those big campaign donations. Maybe we should change his nickname to "Toxic Joe".

By the way, the politician in second place in receiving those donations from "fracking" companies was Senator John Cornyn (R-Texas). He received a piddling $417,556.