THIS is Why We Do What We Do

"Our own local news at first wasn’t reporting what was going on and was just repeating what EPA said—so it’s amazing what you have been doing," California resident near lithium plant fire told Jordan

Hey folks, it’s Jordan.

I wanted to share a message I received from a woman in Northern California who lives under 10 miles from the disastrous Moss Landing Lithium Battery plant fire we have led the charge in covering. As far as I can tell, we’re the only national outlet covering this disaster—in which dangerous levels of heavy metals have already been found in soil near the “Salad Bowl of America” (which produces 70 percent of the greens Americans eat).

Beyond being the only national news outlet I know of actively covering this important story, we’re also actually speaking with residents about their *alarming* health systems while local California outlets mostly ignore it (in fact, an LA Times story I read about this didn’t even mention residents health symptoms!). Those health symptoms include: nose bleeds, headaches, coughing, lung burning, dizziness, fatigue, rash, metallic taste in mouth, and more. We’re also the only outlet I know of that is speaking with hazardous waste experts—see video below—who, unlike the media, shared there are real dangers of the chemicals that were released by the fire (both to local residents and the local crops the rest of America consumes)

With her permission, here is the message from Jody Parker, who lives in Marina, California about eight to nine miles away from the plant (bold emphasis mine)

“I’m really surprised how few people are even hearing about this out of the area. I’m telling my friends who live in other places even in California and I’m the first person who’s told them anything about this. It might get some attention later as things get worse and worse over here. Some soil tests just came out and more are being done but you’re the only one here from day one reporting about this stuff and even our own local news at first wasn’t reporting what was going on and was just repeating what the EPA said so it’s amazing what you have been doing.”

Like many other residents near the lithium battery plant fire, and as far as 50-100 miles away, Parker has been dealing with alarming health issues.

“My symptoms started Friday. I guess when the plant had an explosion I was told. I went outside and in a very short time I felt extremely congested and my chest was hurting. I was outside maybe 10-15 minutes and for the rest of the day I felt winded. I was trying to clean the house and I just couldn’t do it. I also felt very lethargic. I also was coughing a bit for several days and then a couple days later had a bloody nose. I left the area and went to Half Moon Bay which is 80 miles up the coast, just to get out of the area. I felt a little better the first day I was away and the second day I was a lot better. I came back to the area this Monday morning before work and then today I’m feeling very lethargic again. I have a really bad headache and my chest has been bothering me again. I am about 8-9 miles from the plant in Marina. I just couldn’t afford to stay out of the area any longer I was just paying for a hotel over there. I’ve had a horrible, raging headache the last couple days. I feel like I’m afraid to leave the house. My yard is soil so when I go out there I feel even worse so not sure if any particles are getting shifted around but I am not eating any produce or going outside. It’s pretty miserable.

When I replied to her that she must feel like a prisoner in her own home, Jody replied:

“Yeah, if I had any money to move I would. The next heavy rain is going to wash all of these chemicals into the bay and farmlands. The health effects of even eating the produce animals will then consume over time is terrifying. I ordered food from companies in Asia just to have something to eat or I have to drive hours away to a local farm to even get food. It feels impossible to live here over any length of time. They will not act fast enough to prevent the damage of this going into the bay and the expense to clear this out and put in new soil in the effected farmlands doesn’t seem feasible. They are trying so hard to cover this all up since the beginning, I’ll never believe anything these officials say or feel comfortable eating anything grown or any animal or fish from this area again.”

The ordeal Jody is going through—and thousands of others near and far from the lithium battery plant fire—is why Status Coup exists and covers/stays on the stories that we do. Sadly, and frankly infuriatingly, what Jody described to me is now the EXACT PATTERN that repeats itself after every environmental disaster and subsequent cover-up we cover.

Step 1: the environmental bomb detonates in real time (Flint, East Palestine, Conyers, Georgia; Moss Landing, California; etc)

Step 2: magically, within 24-48 hours, the EPA and local officials declare “nothing to see here” and tell residents it’s safe to come home.

Step 3: Media regurgitates EPA/poltiicians’ claims that they’re finding no chemical contamination and everything is safe

Step 4: SICK residents desperately reach out to the media and start Facebook groups to shout “there is something to see here!” and everything is not fine.

Step 5: We reach out to those residents—they express gratitude as they tell us their local media is either not covering it or just regurgitating the false safety assurances from the EPA/local government.

I’m nearing a decade of ON-THE-GROUND reporting across America—much of which has been covering the growing list of corporate sacrifice zones that leave behind a tragic group of sickened Americans—it still shocks me that a relatively small independent outlet like Status Coup, with limited resources, is always the first one to cover these critical stories (and is the only one to stay on them weeks, months, and years later).

It shouldn’t be this way, but a las it is. We thank you for your support so we can stay on these important stories and serve people like Jody; victims who are initially victimized by corporate greed and reckless and then re-victimized by a lazy and corrupt corporate media that seems to only exist to minimize and whitewash reality.

Let’s keep waking up the masses.

Jordan