Monday, August 31, 2020
While some in New Jersey are anxiously awaiting the possibility of indoor dining – after all, the summer won’t last forever --- and the reopening of gyms, the people of Lake Charles, a city of 78,000 and Westlake on the other side of the lake, a suburb of about 4900 are experiencing the aftermath of a violent hurricane.
Bowing to the lobbying of oil and gas refineries, the Trump administration reversed the Obama regulation requiring chemical plants to submit to independent evaluations after accidents. As a chemical fire raged out of control at Biolab, residents of Mossville were told to close their windows and shut off their air conditioners to protect themselves against the chlorine gas that was spewing forth.
Thanks to their lobbying efforts, Biolab does not need to disclose what was released in its fire. The predominantly white suburb of Westlake could look at the minority area of Mossville and see the fire across the lake. It was 90 degrees. The plant has dumped chlorine and other chemicals before in violation of the Clean Water Act.
Prayer for the Day
We of the earth shudder at the power of a hurricane, O God,
And we tremble at the damage such storms cause;
But even as storms rage about us, we are caught in trivia,
And are vexed by the little things that seize our days.
Reveal your light through the help we bring to others
And infuse in us a determination to change our ways.
In the name of the One we follow,
Even Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen
Thoughts for the Day
What melody will our rivers remember if songbirds forget how to sing?
Sheniz Janmohammed, Canadian poet
Every new source from which man has increased his rower on earth has been used to diminish the prospect of his successors. All his progress has been made at the expense of damage to his environment which he cannot repair and could not foresee
C.D. Darlington, English biologist (1903–1981)
In God’s hand are the depths of the earth;
the heights of the mountains are God’s also.
The sea belongs to God, for God made it,
and God’s hands have formed the dry land.
O come, let us worship and bow down,
let us kneel before God, our Maker!
For this is our God,
and we are the people of God’s pasture,
and the sheep of God’s hand.
Psalm 95: 4–7a