Whirlpool wants water well ban around former site
By The Associated Press
This article was published February 13, 2013 at 7:09 a.m.
- Comments (14)
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FORT SMITH — Whirlpool Corp. wants Fort Smith to make it illegal to drill water wells near the site of its former factory.
Representatives of the company explained to city directors Tuesday that a spill of a degreasing solvent in the 1980s left contamination in the groundwater.
The Southwest Times Record reported that the company wants to prevent people from tapping water contaminated with trichloroethylene, which is believed to be a cancer-causing chemical.
City Attorney Jerry Canfield said the proposed ordinance would not block residents’ from pursuing Benton Harbor, Mich.-based Whirlpool for compensation.
Whirlpool closed its Fort Smith refrigerator plant last year and moved the work to Mexico.
Comments on: Whirlpool wants water well ban around former site
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NONSHEEPLE says... February 13, 2013 at 8:04 a.m.
Lets see they KILL our water supply and move their shop to Mexico to continue killing nature at a cheaper price. How about holding them responsible for cleaning up their mess until the water is safe to tap? That's another brand I'll not buy again.
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Jackabbott says... February 13, 2013 at 8:08 a.m.
Agree with NONSHEEPLE- talk about a bad corporate player, this is got to be at the top of the list. FT.Smith and the state of Arkansas need to go after these polluters. They know they can away with this type of damage in Mexico. Another reason to boycott and not eat or buy Mexican products.
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BillSmith says... February 13, 2013 at 9:35 a.m.
For all of you right wingers that think corporations are headed overseas and to Mexico because of high corporate taxes here is a tidbit of information for you.
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Whirlpool Paid No Taxes Over The Past Three Years, Got A $64 Million Tax Refund In 2010
By Zaid Jilani on May 9, 2011 at 3:30 pm
Today, BusinessWeek reports that Whirpool, the world’s largest appliance maker, has been a major tax dodger. The company had negative income tax rates over the past three years, and reported a $64 million income tax benefit last year. It expects similar results this year
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AND ALL WE HEAR FROM REPUBLICANS LIKE ERIC CANTOR IS THE CORPORATE TAX RATE IS TO HIGH AND THATS WHY THE MOVE OUT OF THE US. THAT IS THE BS THAT ALL OF YOU FOX SPOON FED IDIOTS BELIEVE.
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penber says... February 13, 2013 at 9:38 a.m.
Why was Whirlpool not required to clean up this spill in the last 30 years?? It does sound like the company is still liable to the claims of residents. At least they are saying all this BEFORE people drill wells and get cancer.
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ladyLiberty says... February 13, 2013 at 9:49 a.m.
i am with nonsheeple, jackabbott, and BillSmith! that is most interesting about the tax issue. and i totally agree that the city or state of arkansas needs to file a law suit against Whirlpool to make sure they clean up this toxic comtamination! it is just good bussiness to do that. Whilpool is now making mega millions more in Mexico with the cheap labor to afford to clean this up. it would be negligant of Arkansas not to get the money from whirlpool and get a real clean up. that water could spread farther and needs a barrier to stop that.
i agree that Eric Cantor is full of ___ ___ __ ___ and a troublmaker but hey his biggest fan is our one and only Steve Womack form the 3rd district. we voted for him because their was no candidate running against him except the green party. Womack practically substitutes Eric's newletters for his own words on his web page. well if you can get anything in between all the face book pictures of this handsome but narcisstic congressman.
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BillSmith says... February 13, 2013 at 10:01 a.m.
Eric Cantor calls for lowering corporate tax rate
Cantor's remarks put him on the side of companies including Cisco Systems Inc., Apple Inc. and Pfizer Inc., which are mounting a lobbying campaign to call for a repeat of a 2004 law that allowed companies to bring home profits held offshore that haven't been subject to U.S. taxation.
The U.S. corporate tax rate of 35 percent tops the rate in many other industrialized countries.
"It's wrong that American companies are paying taxes at rates that are 50 percent higher than even those in Europe," Cantor said in prepared remarks.
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It make’s no difference what the tax rate is on paper is , it is how much they actually paid that counts.
We saw proof of that with Mitt Romney’s 13.9% tax paid on income of 21 million.
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inquire says... February 13, 2013 at 10:02 a.m.
This was published at least two weeks ago in Fort Smith. Apparently, Whirlpool was able to keep the spill secret for years. It's early days yet; this is surely not the end of the story.
Every time a president or a member of Congress tries to promote legislation to remove the tax breaks to corporations for outsourcing, the effort fails. It doesn't seem to bother conservatives at all. This is nothing but legalized tax cheating against the American people, yet it is silently condoned while working up rage against small time welfare cheats.,
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PaulRevere says... February 13, 2013 at 10:33 a.m.
Sounds like Whirlpool's tax situation is much like GE. The difference is that GE, whose CEO led Obama's jobs panel, owns NBC and MSNBC, so the fact that they made over $14 Billion in profits in 2010 without paying ANY corporate income tax, and still received a tax benefit of $3.2 Billion has gone unreported in the news media. About a year ago some of the MSNBC hosts joked about GE's tax avoidance on Morning Joe but only as an inside joke.
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Jfish says... February 13, 2013 at 11:37 a.m.
BS posts on an unrelated topic and then calls people idiots, anyone see the irony?
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BillSmith says... February 13, 2013 at 12:30 p.m.
jfish....just like the Fox nerd you are, you are not mentally capable of understanding the point of my post that you find unrelated. Here is the picture.
GOP says welfare recepients get Obama phones, even though Regan started it with land lines and GW Bush expanded it to include cell phones. This is bad according to GOP.
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Whirlpool polutes our ground water, closes the plant down, ships jobs to Mexico and pays no corporate taxes. This is NOT bad according to the GOP.
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And you want to talk about irony?
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Jfish says... February 13, 2013 at 12:51 p.m.
Where did the article mention that the GOP said it was okay? Is the city attorney a republican or democrat. Also, you forgot to point out NAFTA which was heavily endorsed by the Dems. Turn off the MSNBC and think for yourself.
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Debbieand402171136 says... February 18, 2013 at 8:53 a.m.
Everyone should look up TCE and realize the hazards of breathing, touching, ingesting this poison. Why did it take the EPA so long to acknowledge this as a carcinogen. Whirlpool and it's representatives state that this product must be ingested to harm people. More lies and deception no doubt. They knew this was a problem for residents and for their employees. Half of the plant was contaminated by this spill, 7 - 10 feet below them in the groundwater. Look up vapor intrusion and THINK. I worked there for 5 years and never was told of the danger. One groundwater well at Whirlpool still shows 57 parts per billion when EPA states 5 parts per billion limit....this is after 30 years. ADEQ stated the highest was 29,000pp/billion. Even if they didn't know in 1981, they did know in 2002. NO one was concerned about our city, not to mention the local residents. I am a former employee and a life long resident that feels totally violated. There are tax supported organizations that are supposed to monitor companies like Whirlpool that only care about their bottom line. Yes Bob Jones III, I will be expecting compensation.
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BarichMilhusseinObamaNixonPOTUS says... February 18, 2013 at 9:24 a.m.
I see that BillSmith totally ignored FairandBalanced; he also calls people mentally incapable which is irony at its best. Dude cannot spell yet calls people stupid; don't worry he will have an excuse for everything like he always does. He should change his screen name to WEAKMINDEDEXCUSEMAKER
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BillSmith says... February 18, 2013 at 10:50 a.m.
Cups, is this what you are talking about me ignoring fairandbalanced saying "GE paying no taxes has gone unreported in the news media"
ABC News with Diane Sawyer
GE Pays No Taxes on $14 Billion Income
By JAKE TAPPER (@jaketapper)
THE WHITE HOUSE, March 25, 2011
The top tax bracket for U.S. corporations stands at 35 percent, one of the highest rates in the world. So how is it possible that a giant of American business, General Electric, paid nothing in federal taxes last year, even as it made billions in profit?
And should the CEO of GE, Jeffrey Immelt, be advising the president on business?
abcnews.go. com/Politics/general-electric-paid-federal-taxes-2010/story?id=13224558
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