FYI. Paul
Fight Over Clean Water Rules
Dan Heyman, Public News Service-WV
http://www.publicnewsservice.org/index.php?/content/article/32354-1
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(05/10/13) CHARLESTON, W.Va. – Congressional Republicans want to force the Environmental Protection Agency to loosen clean water laws, but coalfield residents say their water is too polluted now.
Republicans, including Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky and Rep. Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia, are backing a bill that would force the EPA to act on coal mining permits or have them approved automatically.
But coalfield residents say pollution from the mines already threatens their health.
Bo Webb of Peachtree Creek in Raleigh County, W.Va., says in the last year and a half, 14 people in that small community have found they have cancer, including his wife.
"I got home on December the 1st, my wife wasn't feeling good,” he recalls. “And we went to the doctor, and she'd thrown up some blood. And the doctor called, so we went in. And my wife had cancer. Then on March 3rd she died. And so, it takes its toll."
The Republicans say the EPA is sitting on permits in a back-door attempt to shut down coalmines, part of what they call a "war on coal."
Meanwhile coalfield residents are bringing gallons of brown and red water to Congress to show what they drink, cook and wash with.
The GOP bill, known as the Coal Jobs Protection Act, has the backing of coal industry associations and a variety of business groups.
But Ada Smith of Whitesburg, Ky. says the focus should be more about overall job diversification in the region.
"I think that most people understand that coal isn't going to be the number one source of employment,” she says. “It hasn't been for a really long time."
Many citizen and environmental groups say the clean water that coalfield residents depend on is at risk of being sacrificed for mine company profits.
Sue Tallichet, a member of the grassroots citizens group Kentuckians for the Commonwealth, calls the legislation "a bailout for coal."
"McConnell's bill is very deceiving in that, it's even called the Coal Job Protection Act,” she argues. “They're not protecting jobs and miners – they're protecting profits."
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