Yesterday, Ruben wrote about rich folks poisoning view-blocking trees irrespective of the enormous fines faced. The Boston Globe has an absolutely wild ride through the weeds of the story, whose mix of arboriculture, industrial poisons and the "a-fine-is-a-price" mentality of those involved suggests a darkly comedic HBO miniseries.
To recap, Amelia Bond — CEO of the St. Louis Foundation, a massive charity organization with half a billion dollars in assets — owns a vacation home in Camden Harbor, Maine, that gained a handsome sea view by poisoning the trees of neighbor Lisa Gorman, the widow of Leon Gorman, whose grandfather founded LL Bean. The chemical deployed, however, is much more powerful than the job called for. From the Globe:
The herbicide — Tebuthiuron — was the same one used in 2010 by an angry Alabama football fan to kill the Toomer's Corner oak trees at Auburn University, following a Crimson Tide loss to their archrival. The incident earned jail time for Harvey Updyke, who acknowledged poisoning the trees.
Tebuthiuron contaminates soil and doesn't break down, so it continues to kill plants. At Auburn University, it took the removal of about 1,780 tons of contaminated material to achieve negligible levels of the chemical in the soil.
Short of removing the soil, the only other solution is dilution — waiting for nature to thin out the concentration of the herbicide to safe levels for plants. It could take six months to two years for it to be diluted enough to no longer endanger to plants, said Scott McElroy, an Auburn professor specializing in weed science and herbicide chemistry.
So what happens when you dump a ton of that stuff into the soil on the waterfront? It gets into the water. And the beaches. And the parks.
Sure, the Bonds have acknowledged their role in contaminating the entire environment. And they've paid some fines — $1.5 million to the Gormans in a legal settlement, and around $200,000 to the state for various violations. But that's not nearly enough to satisfy the community outrage. Oof.
A wealthy couple allegedly poisoned their neighbors' trees to secure a Maine harbor view. It's united locals in rage. [David Sharp / The Boston Globe]
