| By Clem Guttata
 Every legislator, state-wide elected official and congressperson from W.Va. should be personally embarrassed to read these opening lines in Saturday's NY Times article by Charles Duhigg, Clean Water Laws Are Neglected, at a Cost in Suffering:
Jennifer Hall-Massey knows not to drink the tap water in her home near Charleston, W.Va. In fact, her entire family tries to avoid any contact with the water.
A few paragraphs later, we're reminded this is not some third world remote village we're talking about (emphasis mine):
"How can we get digital cable and Internet in our homes, but not clean water?" said Mrs. Hall-Massey, a senior accountant at one of the state's largest banks.
She and her husband, Charles, do not live in some remote corner of Appalachia. Charleston, the state capital, is less than 17 miles from her home.
"How is this still happening today?" she asked.
When Mrs. Hall-Massey and 264 neighbors sued nine nearby coal companies, accusing them of putting dangerous waste into local water supplies, their lawyer did not have to look far for evidence. As required by state law, some of the companies had disclosed in reports to regulators that they were pumping into the ground illegal concentrations of chemicals - the same pollutants that flowed from residents' taps.
But state regulators never fined or punished those companies for breaking those pollution laws.
Once you're done reading the entire New York Times article, which you should definitely do, read this Jeff Biggers interview with one of the Prenter Water Fund activists.
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 Capital today to line up sponsors for a bill to ban coal slurry. We took around copies of the NY Times article and boy did people's ears perk up when they found out about it.
Articles with an international audience focus the attention of West Virginia politicians. If West Virginia wants to avoid the further embarrassment of a federal takeover of the WV Department of Environmental Protection, we would do well start enforcing regulations to make sure no other communities suffer the fate of Prenter.
Flickr image credit: Liz Veazey |
