Winds of Change Newsletter, February 2006     See sidebar for table of contents

Something’s in the Water

by Patricia Feeney

“We all get red bumps on our skin, sometimes sores on our head. We won’t let the kids bathe too long and I know our water isn’t as bad as others around here.”

Russell Elkins, a retired coal miner, lives in Rawl, WV, with his wife and two adopted girls, ages 7 and 11. He is talking about the water, and he’s right; they don’t have it as bad as others.

“I don’t dare bathe the baby in it,” said Carole Hensley of Lick Creek, “not since they told us what was in it.” She takes her 6-month-old grandson to her sister’s house in nearby Williamson, where they fill up water jugs to use for drinking and cooking. “We still bathe in it, and I’m pretty sure that’s why our hair is falling out.”

“We have three filters,” said neighbor Donnetta Blankenship, “but after we shower, we itch and the red bumps get worse. My son’s back stays covered.”

Residents of four different Mingo County, WV communities (Rawl, Merrimac, Sprigg and Lick Creek) are suffering symptoms such as red skin bumps, sores and hair loss, as well as a variety of kidney and liver problems. Some residents cite at least 15 of their neighbors who have died from cancer in the last four years.

A 2005 study by scientists at Wheeling Jesuit University reports that the water tested in private wells exceeds federal drinking water standards for arsenic, lead, iron, aluminum, beryllium, barium, manganese and selenium (all of which are also found in coal sludge). Potential health effects of arsenic, aluminum and selenium include skin damage and rashes; arsenic and lead are known carcinogens; and excess selenium causes hair loss. Records show that millions of gallons of coal sludge (waste from a coal preparation plant) were pumped underground in the 1980s – up to 28 million gallons a month. Residents believe the sludge has reached their private wells and they allege the contaminated well water is harming their health. Over 300 families have initiated a lawsuit against a Massey Energy subsidiary, the coal company that admits injecting the sludge underground.

“But no amount of money can give us our health back,” said Hensley.

Clean Water Doesn’t Come Easy

Residents claim their water started going bad ten years ago, when blasting from a local mountaintop removal operation shattered windows in their homes and in the local church. They suspect it was also responsible for cracking the rock that separated the underground sludge from the water aquifer.

Researchers have told residents not to drink or bathe in the water, but what are low-income communities to do? They have both agitated and organized. Thanks to long-term citizen participation in pressuring local officials, politicians secured some Abandoned Mine Lands Fund to provide a portion of the money to pipe water in from nearby city of Williamson.

But having been promised city water many times before, residents remain doubtful.

When asked what the community is doing while they wait for water lines, Billy Sammons of Lick Creek gave an all-too-common response. “We’re dying,” he said.

“I’m over the hill, and I know it,” said Elkins. “I know it’s too late for me, so I do it for these kids. It’s not too late for them… and if we don’t do something, nobody’s going to do it for us.”

It will be at least a year before the lawsuit goes to trial and before residents get city water. Some wonder how good the city water will be. Since so many coal industry messes end up in the water, the Tug River could hardly be unscathed.

Meanwhile, people are suffering without clean water. The Church of God Jesus Christ's Name in Rawl, WV, is accepting donations of bottled water to distribute to the community. To make a donation, please contact the pastor, Larry Brown Sr., at (304) 235-2571.

To support the residents of coal field communities and learn more about the true costs of coal, please contact the Sludge Safety Project (www.sludgesafety.org) and write a letter to your representatives encouraging them to ban mountaintop removal and support the Sludge Safety bill.