It was standing room only for a presentation at the State Capitol on Oct. 16. Mingo County residents turned out in strength to hear two of their own, Donetta Blankenship and Debbie Sammons, address state senators and delegates. They were joined by members of the Sludge Safety Project from Logan, Boone, Raleigh and other counties. DEP staff and coal industry lobbyists and lawyers also crowded into the room.

Both affected residents and scientists addressed the legislature’s Interim Judiciary Subcommittee B about grave concerns over the underground injection of coal slurry and groundwater contamination.

Speakers, in order of appearance were: Mine safety expert Davitt McAteer, who heads up the federal Coal Slurry Impoundment Location and Warning System;Dr. Ben Stout, a biologist at Wheeling Jesuit University; Mine safety expert Jack Spadaro; Dr. Scott Simonton, Assistant Professor of Environmental Science at Marshall University; Toxicologist Dawn Seeburger; Mingo County mother Donetta Blankenship; and Mingo County mother Debbie Sammons.

Simonton told the committee: “There’s really no better way to move a contaminant from a solid than to grind it up and mix it with water” –which is exactly what coal prep plants do. “We are injecting that into old mine workings, which are not sealed tubes.” The mountains have been dug and blasted for coal. “Cracks and holes allow migration of now-contaminated water into the surrounding hydrogeologic system, which is connected to water wells and surface water supplies.”

Debbie Sammons detailed her family’s health problems, which she believes have been caused by slurry-contaminated water. Her entire family has had kidney stones--even her six-year-old son. She spoke of a high rate of miscarriage in her area. She quietly announced she too had miscarried. When she first found out she was pregnant, her doctor told her to drink lots of water. “It was the water God had provided for me,” she told the committee. “I thought it was safe. I was wrong. I probably killed my baby! Again, I am just one of many.”

Read more about the hearing in OVEC's upcoming December 2006 Winds of Change newsletter, and also see the sidebar for news coverage of the event and a transcript of the hearing (coming soon). Below are photos from the day.

We packed the room

Front row, left to right: Debbie Sammons, Jack Spadaro, Davitt McAteer, Dawn Seeburger and Scott Simonton listening intently as Donetta Blnakenship, off camera, tell the committee about her family's health problems.

Donetta Blankenship, right, speaks with a State Journal reporter after the meeting. Samples of Rawl area tap water are on the table.