Way back in what seems like another lifetime, I was a central part - not the leader, but right in the center of things - of a movement to try and close Liquid Waste Disposal (LWD), a hazardous waste incinerator that was operating in the middle of a major chemical manufacturing complex in Calvert City, Kentucky, not that far from where I live.

I was very concerned about the impacts of the this incinerator - it's history was sordid - bringing in a toxic soup of wastes from everything from nuclear power plants to chemical plants from across the country, and burning them in incinerators that didn't work right. It was a recipe for cancer, and cancer was happening.

And while we eventually had major environmental organizations like Greenpeace, NRDC, and the Sierra Club on our side, the state of Kentucky was steadfast in keeping the facility open, primarily because the owner was pumping money into campaign contributions to the governors of the moment. We tried court, but the state and the incinerator had enough resources to drag it out enough so that, even with the support of these major organizations, we couldn't sustain the legal challenges.

So on and on the incinerator burned. Eventually though, predictions that we had made during hearings started to come true. The contamination at the site was so serious, and the cleanup so expensive, that the facility itself didn't have the resources to deal with it. That left the state of Kentucky holding the bag. Finally they had no choice but to close the place. It still isn't resolved, but the state of Kentucky is out millions of dollars at the minimum - just as we had predicted.

And so this morning, when WPSD-TV reported that a chemical truck had overturned and spilled chemicals onto the exit ramp, and that Kentucky's Dept. of Transportation's PR dude, Keith Todd, was quoted as saying that "there wasn't any danger to drivers" driving over the area where the chemicals had spilled, it brought a lot back to me.

The reason it brought a lot back to me is because Keith Todd, at the time that we were trying to get LWD closed, before it would have cost the state so much to close it, was the PR dude for LWD. (Before that he was a reporter at WPSD-TV) Innumerable times Todd criticized environmentalists, and downplayed environmental effects at the facility. Time has proved him wrong. Yet, he was rewarded with a government job. And now he is probably doing the same thing - downplaying hazards. Isn't it ironic? As a songwriter Sam Leopold that I met many years ago who made one album on Mercury records with Van Morrison's band, wrote in one of his songs, "Oh, the grass has turned to weeds as less and less we are judged on our deeds." But when you hear Keith Todd telling you not to worry, maybe you should worry.