HISTORY OF WASTE MANAGEMENT INCORPORATED

WMI WAS ALSO WMX.

WMX is the world's largest waste disposal corporation, with revenues of over $10 billion. It is also a corporate heavyweight in the halls of Congress, state legislatures and local governments.
WMX has been fined repeatedly for environmental and antitrust violations. The corporation also has a history of siting its dumps and incinerators in poor communities and communities of color. The garbage giant has earned a reputation for environmental racism
WMX exerts enormous influence at every level of government, including federal agencies such as the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

But nowhere is the garbage titan's power more evident than in the communities in which it operates. Ferris, Texas, is an example of how WMX infiltrates local government and divides communities in the process-a pattern that has been repeated in other communities. WMX has been accused of bribing public officials in Chicago, Florida, and Ohio.


Ferris, Texas-
The FBI investigated WMX for improper attempts to influence public officials regarding expansion of a landfill in Ferris, Texas, from 73 to over 600 acres. The Waste Management dump is located in the mostly African-American section of town known as "The Flats." After the expansion, the community will be bordered on three sides by the dump.
A former city council member opposed to the expansion, Earline Jackson, told FBI agents that she had been offered "more money than she ever dreamed of" by Waste Management. As part of the offer to Jackson and others, they were asked to sign agreements to drop their public opposition to the landfill expansion. She eventually accepted an offer she could not turn down: $140,000 for her house, which was appraised at $21,170.
Waste Management paid Donna Murray to offer people from the community who supported Waste Management's position up to $270 each to attend hearings in Austin regarding the landfill expansion. Victor Burnett, a former Waste Management employee, said the company promise him a better job if he helped "win control of the Ferris city government by controlling the black votes" during the 1992 city council election, according to a statement given to the FBI


Barnwell, South Carolina- The nation's largest radioactive waste dump, operated by Chem-Nuclear (a WMX subsidiary) is in Barnwell, South Carolina. It was slated to close for good on December 31, 1995, but Chem-Nuclear spent $313,000 between September 1993 and early 1995 to lobby state legislators to keep it open.
WMX's lobbying force in South Carolina has been characterized as "some of the most expensive and effective lobbyists in the state." One Chem-Nuclear lobbyist in South Carolina is known as "the unelected senator." Chem-Nuclear contributed to the campaigns of legislators deciding the fate of the Barnwell site, and the vote to keep the nuclear waste dump open passed.
Chem-Nuclear also contributed the legal limit of $10,500 to David Beasley's gubernatorial campaign. Governor Beasley has been a key ally of the corporation, and he appointed one of ChemNuclear's staunch supporters to a regional committee that decides where states will bring nuclear waste.


Arizona
The following testimony was given by Joseph Lauricella, regarding a suit against someone accused of stealing computer files.
Mr. Lauricella testifies that he was paid by WMX, the giant waste handling firm, and a WMX subsidiary - called Rail-Cycle - to create a fake environmental organization, buy the stolen computer files, and attempt to discredit a company opposed to a huge WMX landfill project in Cadiz, California.
The proposed operation would handle the garbage of Los Angeles and would become the world's largest dump. Cadiz Land Company says it would jeopardize a precious ground water resource.

read the testimony

IN THE SUPERIOR COURT OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA FOR THE COUNTY OF SAN BERNARDINO SPECIAL CRIMINAL GRAND JURY 1998-1999 The First Day of October 1998 THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF )
CALIFORNIA, )
)
Plaintiff, ) INDICTMENT
vs. )
WASTE MANAGEMENT,INC. )
WASTE MANAGEMENT OF NORTH )
AMERICA,WASTE MANAGEMENT )
TECHNOLOGIES,INC. )
RAIL CYCLE,L.P., )
HAROLD"HAL"CAHILL, )
STUART"STU"CLARK, )
FRANKLIN GLEN ODELL, )
PHILIP ELDON SMITH, )
and BOB MORRIS, )
)
Defendant(s) )
)
THE GRAND JURY OF THE COUNTY OF SAN BERNARDINO, STATE OF CALIFORNIA,

read about the case