125 children, women, and
men died 42 years ago today. Pittston Coal Company's waste sludge dam gave way,
flooding Buffalo Creek, killing innocent citizens, and leaving 4,000
homeless. The names and ages of the dead are listed here.
Please take a moment to remember them.
The company called the disaster an "act of God." They were never
indicted. Pittston settled with the state of WV for $1 million. They settled with survivors and
victims' family members for an average of $13,000 each.
2.8 billion-gallon sludge dam above the old Marsh Fork Elementary and
community of Edwight, WV
42 years later, you would think that things would have
changed. Not so much. We still have 114
active sludge dams in WV, with more in surrounding
states. The 2.8 billion gallons stored above the town of Edwight
and the 7 billion gallons stored above Whitesville would make Buffalo Creek's
132 million gallon spill look like a trickle.
Dec. 2005 sludge spill, Little Marsh Fork near Whitesville, WV
The WV Dept. of Environmental Protection still fails to
take our communities' health and safety seriously. In 2009,
federal investigators found that the WVDEP's "existing policies and procedures
are not effective in reducing or preventing blackwater spills." Sludge dams often fail compaction tests.
It "just didn't click
in anybody's mind" at the WVDEP to inspect the leaking tank that
poisoned 300,000 people's water in January. Since then, we've had
a 108,000-gallon sludge
spill Feb. 11, another "black water"
spill Feb. 19, and a mine water
blowout Feb. 19.
So we're delivering over 50,000 petition
signatures to the Dept. of Interior with our Citizen Action for Real
Enforcement (CARE) campaign
partners. You can join us, Thursday February 27, 2014, 12:00 pm to 1:00
pm at the Department of Interior main entrance, 1849 C Street NW,
Washington, DC. If you can't join us, please consider a donation for gas money to get
our folks home.
What else can you do?
*Support the WV
Clean Water Hub to provide clean water to those whose water is still
unsafe.
*Contact your US congresspeople and urge them to support
and co-sponsor the Appalachian Communities
Health Emergency (ACHE) Act, HR 526. Just enter your zip code here to find their contact info.
While you have them on the line, tell them to oppose HR 2824, which would further allow
destruction of our critical headwater streams, and also oppose HR 3826, which
seeks to undermine Clean Air Act carbon pollution standards. And
sign this petition.
*Register
to attend Mountain Justice Spring Break in Virginia March 1-9 or
West Virginia March
9-16. Bring a friend, learn more, and get
active.
Thank you for all your help. Please
consider setting up a recurring monthly
donation, and remember that all donations
are tax-deductible.
And take another moment to cherish those you hold
dear.
Vernon Haltom
Executive director, Coal River Mountain
Watch
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