Ohio town bought by utility corp

[Yoshie Furuhashi]

>Yoshie -
>this one is for you.
>marta
>
>
>New York Times
>May 13, 2002
>
>Utility Buys Town It Choked, Lock, Stock and Blue Plume
>By KATHARINE Q. SEELYE
>
>HESHIRE, Ohio, May 8 - This would have been an ordinary little town 
>except for the bizarre blue plume that periodically emerged from the 
>gigantic power plant and stalked through the streets, leaving 
>townspeople complaining of raspy throats, burning eyes, sore lips, 
>mouth blisters and grime everywhere.
>
>The village clerk read a list of cloud incidents at a recent public meeting.
>
>"Sightings of blue cloud."
>
>"Touchdown of blue haze."
>
>"Complaints of spots on vehicle."
>
>"Citizen complains of fly ash release."
>
>The words could have come from a science-fiction movie, except that 
>in this story, the blue plume was no mystery and everyone already 
>knows the ending.
>
>Two years after the Environmental Protection Agency accused the 
>plant's owner, American Electric Power, of violating the Clean Air 
>Act in this southeast Ohio hamlet, the company, which is contesting 
>that accusation, is solving at least some of its problems by buying 
>the town, for $20 million.
>
>Over the next few months, all 221 residents of Cheshire will pack up 
>and leave. The 90 homeowners here will get checks for about three 
>times the value of houses they probably could not have sold anyway. 
>In return, they have signed pledges never to sue the power company 
>for property damage or health problems.
>
>The deal, announced April 16, is believed to be the first by a 
>company to dissolve an entire town. It will help the company avoid 
>the considerable expense and public-relations mess of individual 
>lawsuits, legal and environmental experts said.
<snip>

Wow, Marta, there's no good news in Ohio on the power front.  This 
just after we got disturbed by the news of a huge hole made by 
corrosion at Davis-Besse....

BTW, we are plagued by the Axis of Evil in Ohio: Bush at a Taft 
fund-raiser on May 10; Ashcroft today; and Bush again as the 
commencement speaker at the Ohio State University, Friday, June 14 
(the last bit is not quite confirmed yet, but we are gearing up to 
the protest anyhow).
-- 
Yoshie

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