JUDGE SAYS CONSUMER GROUP MUST TURN OVER CONFIDENTIAL HEALTH SURVEYS FROM TOLEDO REFINERY NEIGHBORS TO SUNOCO; MEDIA IS SILENT
You know how, when reporters are told by prosecutors and judges that they have to name their sources or go to jail, it's immediately a national news story? Even when the reporter is protecting a criminal -- like say, a source who leaked classified information to damage a political opponent?
Hold that thought while I tell you a story.
Since August, Ohio Citizen Action, a nonprofit consumer and environmental action group, has been fighting a subpoena in Lucas County (Toledo) Common Pleas Court. The subpoena demands that OCA turn over (among other things) copies of personal health surveys, filled out by 473 neighbors of Sunoco's MidAmerica refinery, to attorneys for Sunoco. OCA has been ordered by Judge Ruth Ann Franks to comply. OCA says the information was collected in confidence and they can't turn it over unless individual respondents give their permission. If they don't, OCA staff and leaders face contempt of court charges and possible jail time.
Haven't heard about this? There's a reason for that. The media is ignoring the story.
The surveys were collected in August from residents of the low-income East Toledo neighborhood near the Oregon, Ohio refinery as part of an ongoing OCA "Good Neighbor Campaign" to reduce the facility's toxic emissions. They contain respondents' names, addresses, and personal health information. The compiled results were released to the media and sent to the Toledo-Lucas County health commissioner with a request for a formal public investigation into the serious, recurring health problems reported by neighborhood residents.
The subpoena was issued to OCA by Sunoco attorney Louis Tosi in connection with a class action lawsuit filed by fifteen neighbors of the refinery in March. OCA isn't a party to the suit, didn't organize support for it, and has had minimal contact with the plaintiffs' attorney. Nonetheless, Tosi's subpoena demands that OCA turn over virtually every scrap of paper and computer file in its possession that has anything to do with the refinery... including the 473 original survey forms.
The whole history of the campaign and the subpoena (from OCA's viewpoint) can be read here. But here's the bottom line:
On November 22, Judge Franks denied OCA's motion to quash Sunoco's subpoena and ordered the organization to turn over the survey forms within fourteen days. That clock ran out on December 6.
OCA has asked for time to contact the individual respondents and ask for their permission. Without that permission, OCA says it can't comply with the judge's order. Contempt of court citations are the likely result.
Now here's the weird part. This story was last covered by the Toledo Blade on September 9, three months ago. Since then, despite numerous OCA press releases, there's been no media coverage of any kind -- not by the Blade, or Toledo television, or the AP, or the Cleveland Plain Dealer, or the Columbus Dispatch, or NPR. Nobody. Nothing. Total silence.
Try to imagine that it was a reporter or a newspaper in this situation -- facing jail time for protecting the confidentiality of low-income residents who filled out a form describing their personal health problems. Would there be media attention? The only question would be the size of the headline on the front page of USA Today.
Ohio Citizen Action needs your help in this fight. I think they deserve it. (Disclosure: I worked for OCA throughout the 1980s and my daughter works there now... which is the only reason I know about this.) Here's what you can do:
First, send an email or letter to Sunoco CEO John Drosdick asking him to contact his lawyer Louis Tosi and get the subpoena withdrawn.
Second, write a letter to the Toledo Blade asking why this story isn't being covered.
And third, spread the word. If you're a blogger, please blog this story. I don't give a crap if you link here or not... feel free to write it up yourself and take credit, but please get this out into blogspace!
Thanks.