Oklahoma Senator James Inhofe, who has stated that global warming is the "greatest hoax ever perpetrated on the American people," walked out in the middle of Senate hearings today on the worst man-made environmental disaster in US history, TVA's colossal coal ash catastrophe near Kingston, TN.
Jan. 8 hearings of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee were called to allow TVA Chairman Tom Kilgore, local Roane County emergency officials and environmental experts an opportunity to shed light on the causes of the Kingston impoundment failure, which dumped over one billion gallons of coal ash containing over one million pounds of arsenic and other dangerous heavy metals into tributaries of the Tennessee River.
Sen. Inhofe, who referred to "environmental extremists" before Southern Alliance for Clean Energy (SACE) Executive Director Stephen Smith had a chance to testify, demanded that Smith's organization promise to devote any funds obtained from a lawsuit against TVA to Kingston community reparations.
After listening to about 30 minutes of testimony from TVA CEO Kilgore, Sen. Inhofe then strode out of the committee hearing, before hearing any testimony from the "environmental extremist."
Inhofe, who has claimed that "environmental extremists exploit the [global warming] issue for fundraising purposes, raking in millions of dollars" has taken over $400,000 in campaign contributions from the oil and gas industry since 2003, and over $218,000 from electrical utilities since 2003, according to opensecrets.org.
Coal company Murray Energy is listed as Inhofe's second-highest campaign contributor for the years between 2003-2008. Cleveland-based Murray is best known for the 2007 Crandall Canyon mining disaster which resulted in the deaths of six coal miners and three members of an MSHA rescue team. Murray CEO Robert E. "Bob" Murray also made news when he allegedly threatened federal mine inspectors, stating that Kentucky Senator "Mitch McConnell calls me one of the five finest men in America, and the last I checked, he was sleeping with your boss," a reference to McConnell's wife, Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao.
So where did Sen. Inhofe go? Did he have an important engagement -- something more important than the problem of one million pounds of arsenic in our drinking water?
Did he go to Disneyland? Or just to McDonalds for a nice Big Mac and an icy cold Coke? Maybe he went to visit his friend Bob Murray.
We'll probably never know where Sen. Inhofe went. A phone call to Sen. Inhofe's Washington office asking for further details was not immediately returned.
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I just came across a terrific video made by a local Kingston resident of life on the Emory River in Kingston before and after the TVA spill. Its a bit long but well worth the watch. This film is so well made it might even melt Sen. Inhofe's cold heart.