Interesting item in today’s Maui News, about a decision by the County Council’s Infrastructure Management Committee to table a bill that would ban Styrofoam takeout containers.
As is often the case, the juiciest nugget was buried near the end (third paragraph from the bottom): “[Rep.] Joe Souki, speaking for the American Chemistry Council and not, he told the committee, as a state legislator, said: ‘Simply banning polystyrene will not reduce litter. It just changes the type of litter.’”
The American Chemistry Council, for those unfamiliar, is a lobby organization with a member list that reads like a who’s-who of nefarious multinational heavy-hitters: Monsanto, Dow, DuPont, Big Oil, Big Carbon, etc. It’s wonderful to hear that Joe can change hats so easily, working hard for the interests of his Central Maui constituents one minute and shilling for his big business buddies the next.
To rephrase Souki’s own words: Simply kicking out one bought-and-sold political hack won’t end undue corporate influence in government. But it wouldn’t hurt…
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