Fox News host Sean Hannity has asserted 192 times that he and other Republicans do not want “dirty water.” Yet he has not once covered the recent coal-washing chemical spill that left 300,000 West Virginia residents with no tap water to drink or bathe in — an incident made more likely by the anti-regulation policies he supports.
On January 9, a storage tank at a Freedom Industries facility in West Virginia holding chemicals used to “clean” coal leaked into a river located near a water-treatment center. Residents noticed a strong odor soon after and were told to stop using their water.
The incident outraged many, but Hannity has instead focused his ire at those warning that Republican-backed deregulation would put people at risk of dirtier air and water. He has decried those saying these policies would lead to “dirtier air, dirtier water” 192 times, calling the warnings “absurd and irresponsible scare tactics” and a vicious “lie.” In fact, Hannity has wholeheartedly supported allowing more coal and enforcing fewer regulations — a plan that could lead to more disasters like the one in West Virginia that he has ignored.
February 20, 2014 6:03 AM