The Alliance for Appalachia

West Virginia Rep. Nick Rahall, Chair of the House Natural Resources Committee, has responded to the TVA disaster by proposing to regulate coal ash impoundments under the Surface Mine Control and Restoration Act, or SMCRA. At first, this sounds good – a concerned Washington representative quickly responding to a disaster with promises of tough regulation.

However, Rahall’s proposal would place the safety of the coal ash impoundments under the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) and/or the federal Office of Surface Mining (OSM), the same entities charged with preventing disasters like Massey’s Martin County Kentucky coal slurry spill in October 2000.

These federal agencies whitewashed the government investigation into the causes of the 300 million gallon Martin County accident.  These are the agencies that got former Mine Safety and Health Academy Director Jack Spadaro fired.  They aren’t the guard dogs for the people of Appalachia – they are the lapdogs for the coal industry.

Coal ash is hazardous waste. The EPA has found levels of arsenic in the Emory River downstream of the spill at 150 times the safe level for drinking water. Independent tests performed by Dr. Shea Tuberty and Dr. Carol Babyak at the Environmental and Toxicology Labs at Appalachian State University have found levels up to 300 times the EPA standard for drinking water (10 parts per billion).

In the independent tests, lead was found at two to 21 times the legal drinking water limits, and thallium levels tested at three to four times the EPA standards for drinking water. All water samples were also found to contain elevated levels of barium, cadmium, chromium, mercury, and nickel.  Each of these heavy metals is considered dangerous and is regulated by the EPA.  The synergistic effect on human health from exposure to low levels of multiple heavy metals cannot be determined.

Chronic arsenic poisoning can result from drinking water contaminated with low levels of arsenic.  Arsenic is perhaps best known as the Borgia’s murder weapon during the Middle Ages.  It kills people by disrupting the digestive system. Low levels of arsenic poisoning from the use of emerald green paint are believed by some art historians to have contributed to Monet’s blindness and van Gogh’s neurological disorders.  Other symptoms of arsenic poisoning include changes in skin color, stomach pains, vomiting, and delirium.  Chronic low level arsenic poisoning may also cause lung cancer, skin cancer, kidney cancer and bladder cancer.

Federal Toxic Release Inventory data requested by the New York Times after the spill reveals that in just one year, TVA placed 45,000 pounds of arsenic, 49,000 pounds of lead, 1.4 million pounds of barium, 91,000 pounds of chromium and 140,000 pounds of manganese into their coal waste impoundment in Kingston.  And since the Kingston plant is over 50 years old, and two-thirds of the impoundment actually collapsed, one million pounds of arsenic is a conservative estimate for the total release into the river.

Coal waste - whether it’s coal slurry from mining operations or coal ash from power plants -  needs to be regulated as a hazardous waste by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).  There have been too many toxic disasters already, in towns like Pines, Indiana and Inez, Kentucky – and more bad news is coming.  In Versailles, Kentucky, Kentucky Utilities dumped 100,000 tons of coal waste into a Woodford County park, covered it with dirt and turned it into a ballfield for children.  The Cincinnati Enquirer reports that Hamilton County, Ohio is now using coal waste as a supplement for road salt during winter months.  What happens when Cincinnatians breathe that dust on the highways?

In Mingo County and Boone County, West Virginia – Rep. Rahall’s home district - people are getting sick right now from drinking well water contaminated by coal waste.

This contamination has been documented in two films: “Burning the Future – Coal in America” and “Mountaintop Removal.” In a heart-rending scene in “Burning the Future,” Kenneth Stroud of Rawl, West Virginia holds up a glass of orange water and says “This is my tap water.  I’m unemployed and cant afford to buy any water.  Im worrying now every day daily that Im going to die.  I’ve asked a lot of the people around … if they would watch out for my kids, you know … if I do die.”  A photo of Stroud, his son and his orange tap water also appeared in the March 2006 issue of National Geographic magazine.

(see the video clip at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kQPYKD4WGew )

In  Prenter Hollow – a community of 300 in Boone County surrounded by mountaintop removal operations - volunteers and staff with Coal River Mountain Watch have formed the Prenter Water Project to document the contamination of well water by coal waste and to supply clean drinking water to residents.  Despite their heroic efforts, there are still dozens of residents waiting for a clean supply of water.    You can go to www.prenterwaterfund.org to see pictures of the water contamination and make a donation to help provide clean water to residents.