July 8, 2014

I really like the California law that requires disclosures of fertilizer chemicals being sprayed on the fields directly adjacent to where I live and where my children go to school. But in Texas, the Attorney General who also happens to be running for Governor really doesn't like it. As it happens, neither does Koch Industries.

Despite their protestations, it cannot be coincidence that Attorney General Greg Abbott handed down an edict from on high telling Texans to just go ask those chemical companies what they're brewing. In Abbott's learned opinion, the state has no responsibility to disclose that information.

Evidently a fertilizer plant explosion that nearly leveled an entire community wasn't disastrous enough to prompt any kind of regulatory action, but if citizens are concerned, they can just...ask. Here's how Abbott explains it:

"You, as a community member of this state, can go to any chemical facility in the entire state of Texas and say, 'Identify for me all chemical you have on your facility,'" he said. "And you are entitled to get that information."

And while state officials can't release Tier II lists, Abbott says the public can still go knock on chemical company doors and ask.

"Every single facility along the way, whether they are storing any kind of chemical whatsoever," he said.

Oh please tell me another joke! Please???

Rachel Maddow lays out the connections to Koch Industries, Greg Abbott, and what it means for Texans in this segment. Their options are limited. In the end, they just need to ask themselves if they feel lucky.

After you watch this, here's a bonus. Politico's Ken Vogel is doing his best to join the Koch Brothers' PR campaign by painting them as victims of the vicious Harry Reid. As if Reid just randomly chose them to scapegoat.

Feel free to facepalm away in the comments.

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