Coalfield Residents Visit
Capitol Hill to Speak on Valley Fills

May 14-15,2002
Photos by Vivian Stockman

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Patty Wallace of Kentuckians for the Commonwealth speaks at the Capitol Hill press conference.

Monroe Cassady of the Big Sandy Environmental Coalition addresses the crowd.

During the press conference, OVEC released a newly created map of McDowell Co. W.Va., an area devastated by the latest flooding. The map shows strip mines, including mountaintop removal sites, valley fills and coal waste dams in the county. During the flooding, a coal waste dam spilled tens of millions of gallons of coal slurry -- which contains water, coal waste, heavy metals and chemicals used in processing coal for market -- into the Tug Fork River. The maps reveal that strip mine boundaries cover over 18,000 acres of McDowell County. That’s 4.6 percent of the total permitted strip mine boundaries for the entire state. Seeing the map, it’s hard not to conclude that scalping that many mountains and filling that many valleys will worsen flooding.

The map is the first in a series we will produce using DEP data and GIS (geographic information systems) technology. We obtained the computer and software for this endeavor, administered by hydro-geologist Rick Eades, through a grant from the Progressive Technology Project.

Senator Robert C. Byrd's office. From floor to ceiling, the walls in Byrd's office are covered with Byrd memorabilia.

Have any doubt about who Byrd favors?

Groups participating in the DC trip include OVEC, Clean Water Network, Coal River Mountain Watch, Citizens Coal Council, Earthjustice, Friends of the Earth, Kentuckians For the Commonwealth and the West Virginia Rivers Coalition.

Weary after a day of walking all over Capitol Hill, folks cue up to board the bus for the long ride home.

Patty Sebok talks with Rep. Nick Joe Rahall (D-W.Va.) about mountaintop removal. The body language says it all.
(photo by Janet Fout)

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