Coal Slurry: New York Times Nails Clean Water Act Crimes (Many) and Punishment (None)

by Jeff Biggers, excerpted from an article in AlterNet

Many readers of the New York Times probably dropped their jaws in amazement at the lead story on Sunday, Sept.13. Seven-year-old Ryan Massey, of Prenter, WV, showed his capped teeth, the enamel devoured by toxic tap water. His brother sported scabs and rashes, courtesy of the heavy metals including lead, nickel in their bath water. A horrifying slide show and video accompanied the article.

Thanks to Times reporter Charles Duhigg, the rest of the United States got a glimpse of daily life in the coalfields of Appalachia, where coal companies are "pumping into the ground illegal concentrations of chemicals the same pollutants that flowed from residents taps." And the coda: "But state regulators never fined or punished those companies for breaking those pollution laws."

Duhiggs portrait of the Clean Water Act violations in West Virginia and the indifference of state agencies blew the cover on one of the worst kept secrets in Appalachia: coal slurry injected into abandoned mines and dumped into waterways has contaminated the watersheds of American citizens and their drinking water...and no government agency did anything about it for years until the community finally fought back. (Go Prenter Water Fund and Sludge Safety Project!)

"How can we get digital cable and Internet in our homes, but not clean water?" said Ryans mother, Jennifer Hall-Massey, a senior accountant at one of the states largest banks.

According to Duhiggs research in Prenter, "Tests show that their tap water contains arsenic, barium, lead, manganese and other chemicals at concentrations federal regulators say could contribute to cancer and damage the kidneys and nervous system."

Thats just the beginning. As the Aurora Lights "Journey Up Coal River" has noted: "Unsurprisingly, the health problems in this community are also massive: from kidney and liver failure to Parkinsons-like neurological problems, common respiratory illnesses that last for years despite treatment, and many different cancers. On a single 300-yard stretch of road, five people were diagnosed with brain tumors and nearly every family has someone in and out of the hospital."

Mathew Louis-Rosenberg was not surprised by the Times article. The young activist took time from a busy day of lobbying with the Sludge Safety Project in Charleston, WV, to discuss his work on the Project and the Prenter Water Fund.

Biggers: "Do you think your work, along with other residents and advocates, helped to get the story out to a national audience?"

Louis-Rosenberg: "Absolutely. The one thing that I was disappointed about in the article was the lack of any mention of the tireless work of community leaders in Prenter and their allies to bring this story to light and win the many victories we have won on this issue.

"Nobody but nobody had heard of Prenter, WV, until organizing began there in 2007. Now we are a household name around the State Capitol in Charleston. Many of the leaders and organizers in Prenter spent many hours on the phone with the Times reporter telling their stories, providing information and connected him with other residents."

Biggers: "What impact do you think the Times piece will have on the WVDEP in addressing the water issue?"

Louis-Rosenberg: "I think the article has the potential to be a great weapon for us here in Charleston. I spent all day lobbying in the Capitol today to line up sponsors for a bill to ban coal slurry. We took around copies of the Times article and, boy, did peoples ears perk up when they found out about it.

"The DEP is such a completely failed agency. No! Thats not strong enough. The DEP is so completely the lapdog of the coal industry that I dont expect this to change their ways.

"But now when we go to the legislature asking them to ban slurry, when we go to the EPA asking them to take over the DEP, we can say, "Look. The cats out of the bag. Everyone knows whats going on here and you can step up and do something about it or be the people who fiddled while the coal companies poisoned the waters of this state and murdered communities like Prenter."

To get involved with Sludge Safety Project, e-mail stephanie@sludgesafety.org or call Stephanie at (304) 475-3873.