Democrats Blamed for Napa's Toxic Dump
One of Napa Valley's worst media nightmares flared up last week, in a story about its troubled garbage dump, Clover Flat Landfill.
At Wine Searcher, we have already covered fires at the dump, radioactive waste at the dump, and the fact that the dump is at the top of Napa Valley's watershed. None of this has affected consumers one iota. People don't think about Napa's garbage dump when they buy Cabernet.
But, this being the Divided States of America, they might think about politics. And that's why last week's coverage of the latest turn in Napa's garbage dump saga should make wineries nervous.
In April, Bud Light beer did a small promotion with a transgender TikTok personality, Dylan Mulvaney. Conservative beer drinkers revolted and announced a boycott; the musician Kid Rock filmed himself shooting cases of Bud Light with a machine gun. Bud Light had been the top-selling beer in the US, but sales dropped by 20 percent within a month.
Could Napa Valley face a boycott like that? Generally, wine is apolitical: Republicans and Democrats like it about equally. Napa sells truckloads of wine in states both blue and red.
Last week, Fox Business tied the Napa dump story to two politicians who, to conservatives, are worse than radioactive waste: Nancy Pelosi and Gavin Newsom. Typically for Fox, the headline was both provocative and factually wrong: "Wine country waste workers for Pelosi, Newsom Napa vineyards seek $300M over alleged toxic contamination."
Talk about toxic contamination! Pelosi and Newsom actually have nothing to do with the story, but there's simply no one more toxic in Red State America. In 2021, an NBC News poll showed that Pelosi, the former Speaker of the House, was the most unpopular politician in the US – viewed negatively by more people than Donald Trump, Joe Biden, Kamala Harris and even Elon Musk. Newsom, the California governor, isn't as hated, but he has been openly attacking the Republican governors of Florida and Texas for more than a year.
Response from commenters on the Fox story was predictable.
"Republican consumers do NOT have to buy ... wine from Kalifornia's far left socialist democrat State," said chestypuller120.
"I don't care if their wine is top notch ... time to 'bud light' them," agreed Dales1st.
The news update on the garbage dump story is simple. Some former workers filed a complaint with the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) about the dump, asking for $300 million in compensation. They say they were exposed to hazardous materials without training after the Glass Fire in 2020. It's a good local news story for Napa newspapers, but for some reason they weren't initially interested in covering it.