For the past four years, representatives from the Greenfield Multistate Trust have held meetings in Columbus to provide information on the clean-up efforts at the old Kerr-McGee site in Columbus.
I suspect the officials leave those meetings frustrated. It was the same story Tuesday during a pair of virtual town meetings.
Try as they might, they are struggling to get their message out, mainly because of folks like Columbus pastor James Samuel, who routinely hijack these informational meetings to vent their fears, anger and frustration over something that is entirely irrelevant to the topic at hand.
In 2014, the Environmental Protection Agency settled its landmark suit against the company that owned the Kerr-McGee properties, providing $5.15 billion to settle two major types of claims at some 2,100 former Kerr-McGee sites. Of that total, $4.475 billion was designated to address environmental damage and another $607 million was set aside for people with personal injury/property damage who are referred to as “tort beneficiaries.”
Two trusts were created to handle these claims — the Multistate Trust for environmental matters and the Tronox Tort Trust, which covers personal injury and private property claims.
Two things are certain to happen at these Columbus meetings:
First, the officials explain that they don’t have any authority, ability or funding to help citizens who have suffered illness, deaths or property damage. The Multistate Trust exists for the sole purpose of addressing the environmental concerns at the Kerr-McGee site and adjacent areas affected by the plant’s contamination.
At every meeting, they make a point to say, in so many words, “We sympathize with you, but we can do nothing about personal injury claims.”
The second thing that happens is that almost immediately Samuel brings up — you guessed it — personal injury claims.
They are always long, rambling, often passive-aggressive speeches that range from politics to race to psychology. In one breath Tuesday, Samuel was calling the Multistate Trust “the silencer on the .45 caliber pistol that was pointed at our heads.” In the next moment, he was praising Multistate Trust, EPA and MDEQ officials for their work.
I suspect Samuel sees himself as a voice for those people who were not fairly compensated for their losses caused by Kerr-McGee. But the unfortunate truth is that Samuel’s speeches at these meetings have not helped a single person who has suffered losses.
Why? Because what Samuel is doing at these meetings is like somebody complaining to the fire department because their mail wasn’t delivered.
It would be charitable to dismiss Samuel’s long-winded interruptions as harmless distractions to be endured in awkward silence.
But Samuel’s interruptions aren’t just distractions. They fan the flames of misdirected anger, undermine confidence in the Multistate Trust and obscure its mission.
Thanks to Samuel, there are people in this town who still don’t understand what the Multistate Trust is or what it is doing. All they know is that the Multistate Trust isn’t compensating them for their personal losses.
It must be maddening for those officials to be so badly misunderstood and mischaracterized.
There are other people in the community, people who understand the importance of the work the Multistate Trust is doing here. They want to know how the work is progressing, what’s next, what the future holds for the site.
Yet by now there are probably people who see no value in these meetings because Samuel is allowed to take the discussion down the rabbit hole. Why even bother? It’s pointless.
The Multistate Trust has a James Samuel problem. When he is allowed to monopolize the discussion, other citizens — those who have a sincere interest in the clean-up and redevelopment — are silenced.
If these meetings are going to be of any value, something must change. There’s no reason that Samuel’s views should be respected above those of other citizens who can’t get a word in edgewise.
These officials are in a delicate position. Obviously, they can’t tell Samuel to hold his peace.
But I don’t mind giving it a shot. I have no delusion that he will listen to me, but perhaps, as a Man of God, Samuel will listen to Job:
“If only you would remain silent; for that would be your wisdom.”
Slim Smith is a columnist and feature writer for The Dispatch. His email address is [email protected].
Slim Smith is a columnist and feature writer for The Dispatch. His email address is [email protected].
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