This article originally published by The Herald Dispatch

June 2, 2007

Diane Bady: OVEC focuses on problems, causes favored by its members

OVEC has always worked on the issues our active members want to work on. We didn't arbitrarily "forget" the refinery or "forget" Tri-State air pollution issues.

In 1998, the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency imposed their largest-ever (at the time) fines on Ashland Oil for numerous, serious pollution violations. The refinery was also forced to spend many millions of dollars on improvements to bring it into compliance with pollution laws. Many OVEC members worked for more than 10 years to make this happen. We weren't fighting a "boogeyman" at Ashland Oil; we were fighting because many of our active members got sick when air pollution laws were violated.

Of course there are still air problems here, but it is better than it used to be.

At the time of our 1998 victory, our members who worked so hard on air pollution here were not interested in continuing the fight. We had a big success, and many people wanted to step back from air activism. Again, staff do not work on issues without the active involvement of many members.

Yes, there is a role for an organization that focuses on Tri-State air quality issues. We'd welcome the formation of such a group and would certainly find ways to cooperate.

We began working to limit mountaintop removal and valley fill strip mining when many people came to us and asked us to work with them on this. This is an issue that affects every West Virginia taxpayer, as taxpayer dollars are essentially spent on coal tax breaks and state government's promotion of mountaintop removal (MTR).

It seems obvious to us that mountaintop removal threatens the future of Southern West Virginia's economy. While our critics point to isolated examples of former MTR land being put to some productive use, this is the rare exception. At (and near) many MTR sites, the water is poisoned or the groundwater level drops and well water disappears. How can there be any future productive use of such land?

Also, we've found that many Huntington area people are enraged at the destruction of portions of the coalfields that they grew up in, and/or where they have family members living. ...

Wouldn't it make more sense for West Virginia taxpayer dollars to be spent on finding practical ways to implement known methods of using energy more efficiently and on energy conservation and promotion of renewable energy, rather than on fighting to promote more mountaintop removal? ...

Obviously, our society cannot abruptly stop using coal, but why are our taxpayer dollars being used to promote the most ecologically and socially damaging form of mining?

Like most people, we are concerned with the state's economy. Coal River Mountain Watch, a Raleigh County group we work with, brought in wind energy experts to measure the feasibility of wind power on Coal River Mountain, a long ridge where mountaintop removal is planned. The experts found that wind speeds on top of the ridge were viable for commercial wind farm development. Measurements taken on a nearby mountain that had been "mountaintop removed" showed that wind speeds were much lower and not suitable for wind power. ...

Such development would generate more than 200 construction jobs and about 50 permanent jobs. This seems like a better way to generate energy in the coalfields.