This is a article I just picked up that is accusiong US elected officials getting involved in what I see is a private dispute by a citizen Billionaire who hired Washington lobbiest to go to bat for his interests in Peru, the pollution of a area by a smelting plant in a Peruvian community.
It , the article, is also accusing the Obama administration, and insinuating in a way, Obama also being involved here on the Billionairs side in this despute.
Possible I missed that , beyond that of a federal agency looking into the problem as far as a citizen , granted a wealthy one, one who favors the Republicans with hugh contributions by the way, being treated by a foreign government possible unfaily, which is something to make sure is not happening, a service to, especially a wealth and influential person, even from the other side as far aas political ideas are concernec, a man with clout, but thought I would post anyway.
I have a hard time thinking the President personally would be on the side of this gentleman, even involved with this type of event , a private dispute , private company with a foreign government.
It does show tha tlobbying does pay off, no matter who is in power, the sums these interest spend do give those hiring these firms a legs up over we the small fry.
---------------------------------------------
abcnews.go.com/Blotter/members-congress-obama-administration-bat-billionaire-investor/story?id=13084422&nwltr=blotter_featureMore-----------------------------------------------------------
Members of Congress, Obama Administration Go to Bat For Billionaire Investor
Major Lobbying Effort By Metals Mining Company Pays Off
March 8, 2011
"Dispute over a lead smelter in a small Peruvian town has prompted members of Congress and the Obama administration to intervene on behalf of an American billionaire who environmentalists say became one of the richest men in the world while his metal mining companies polluted the environment.
American billionaire founder of Renco Group, Ira Leon Rennert attends the opening night gala for the New York Philharmonic at Avery Fisher Hall in this Sept. 17, 2008 file photo.The intervention follows a major lobbying effort by the Renco Group, a U.S.-based private holding company owned by Ira Rennert, to enlist the help of the U.S. government in the company's negotiations with Peru in a dispute over its operations at a lead extraction site in the Andean town of La Oroya.
Rennert, known for building what may be the biggest house in America, a 66,00-square-foot mansion in the Hamptons, amassed a $5.4 billion fortune using junk bonds to finance acquisitions in metal mining companies and other industries in the U.S. and overseas.
His companies have gone up against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and state environmental agencies for more than a decade, shelling out tens of millions in fines and clean-up costs for pollution at their U.S.-based facilities. And for years, one of Renco group's plants in Utah was listed as the EPA's number one toxic polluter in America"
--------------------------------------------
{Click on link to read article}
