NEWSBYCHARLES CORRA

Black water has plunged its way into West Virginia, and it has nothing to do with the private military contracting group.  How would you like it if you went to water your plants and black sludgy "water" shot out of your hose and on to your prized Azaleas?  I'm no green-thumb, but I doubt this would fortify any plant.

This situation is a reality in Whitesville, W.Va., where black water comes out of the spigot, gushing like sludge from a sewage pipe.  Who is the culprit of this murky water?  Many place the blame on coal-contaminated drinking water by way of coal slurries.

Statistically, cancer and other serious health problems have very high numbers in areas like Whitesville where contaminated water is present.  It has never been proven, conclusively, that the coal slurry injection sites are safe. This study was done over two years ago, and people are still being forced to settle with contaminated water and the accompanying health consequences.

Clean air shouldn't be a contentious issue: Everyone can rally around the fact that its nice to take a breath of air that hasn't been polluted with toxins and other harmful material.  Because having clean air to breathe is so important, our largest legislative body in America would be head-over-heels about protecting the air right?

Actually, some members of Congress—including and most especially West Virginia's own Jay Rockefeller—want to do the exact opposite.

Rockefeller, a Democrat, is one of the primary sponsors of efforts that would take a scalpel to the Clean Air Act and begin slicing and dicing the aspects that allow U.S. EPA to protect West Virginians from greenhouse gas pollution (West Virginia ranks near the top in the nation in terms of the intensity of its emissions). 

One of the most amazing wildlife spectacles human beings can witness is the seasonal wildebeest migration through The Serengeti.  It is one of Africa's most majestic occurrences in nature, and its days could be numbered.

What could possibly put this powerful migration off the map? An environmental disaster known as the Serengeti Highway, which would cut straight through the heart of the Serengeti in Tanzania.

The proposed "highway to hell" could lead to an environmental disaster that would have serious negative effects on the world's largest remaining migratory system. These wildebeest are imperative to the life cycle of the Serengeti, to which a highway of this kind would severely obstruct.  What is different about this potential environmental disaster is that it is entirely preventable.  As previously pointed out, it is a "disaster of choice" that can be averted.

When trying to persuade a recalcitrant coal giant like Massey Energy to comply with the pleas of the public, it's important to start small.

That's why we are working to increase pressure by asking Michigan State University, which had two contracts with the company in 2010, to stop helping fund Massey's long record of dirty and unsafe practices at its mines, in part recently typified by top executives' refusal to even testify for federal investigators looking into why 29 miners died in last year's Upper Big Branch mine disaster

MSU has a history of relying on coal and is home to the country's largest on-campus coal plant (the T.B. Simon Coal Facility).  Nearly 300 people from all over the country have signed our petition targeting the university's President, Lou Anna K. Simon, which urged her to endorse ending the school's business with Massey Energy.

The good news is that President Simon responded via a personal e-mail, and noted that she has heard these requests. Unfortunately, the response was dreadfully non-committal:

Responsibility is key if you're one of the largest coal companies in America.

Which is why Massey Energy does not deserve to be one of them.

Last April, 29 miners died at Massey's Upper Big Branch mine in the worst American mining disaster in decades. Ever since, its executives have been conjuring up theories of how the disaster couldn't possibly be its fault. The biggest insult came when CEO Don Blankenship retired in December with a $12 million golden parachute, even while both Blankenship and other top Massey executives have refused to testify before Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) authorities for the federal investigation. Literally, Blankenship has gotten to ride off into the sunset will victims' families still wonder why their loved ones died.

The environmentalists stranded among the hills of West Virginia are awaiting the state legislature's actions on HB 2026 with bated breath.

The state house bill is a proposed piece of legislation that would "prohibit any permits authorizing the construction, enlargement or modification of any coal mine waste." This bill, in other words, would effectively ban new coal slurry injection sites. Rumors spread of such a monumental proposal in early December, but hopes were dashed when there were not enough Senators present for a quorum.

This time the situation is different. The bill moved forward to the full joint Judiciary Committee in the West Virginia Legislature earlier this week, a huge breakthrough in the fight to prevent more of these sites from being created. To ensure that the coal industry is not entirely up in arms in opposition, the proposed legislation would also offer income tax breaks as incentives for companies to use alternative coal slurry waste disposal methods. Certainly this bone won't stifle the snarls from corporate coal executives, but it will at least help to keep them at bay for now.

What emits unprecedented amounts of mercury, produces polluting ozone, and could adversely affect the health of Virginia children and elderly folk?

Well, the answer is nothing....yet. But if Old Dominion Electric Cooperative (ODEC) gets its way with plans to build a colossal 1,500 megawatt coal-fired power plant near Hampton Roads, Virginia, in what would the largest coal-fired facility in the state, that could change soon.

Surely, the prospect of powering 375,000 homes is enticing; however digging a bit deeper into this large coal plant reveals its dark side.

Environmental group Appalachian Voices, and several health organizations, are up in arms.  A statement released by  the Consortium for Infant and Child Health (CINCH), the Virginia Asthma Coalition, and the American Lung Association cites the already poor air quality in the Hampton Roads area, and adding this plant would severely exacerbate that problem by producing unacceptable pollution to the region.

Plenty of people want pools in their backyard. A refreshing dip in cool water can be the proper antidote to a hot summer's day. Few, if any, people want pools in their entire yard filled with arsenic and potentially radioactive compounds. Unfortunately for those who live near a coal ash dump site, this type of pool can be a reality; just ask the residents of Kingston, TN.

Last week, in Kinsgton, was the two year anniversary of one the worst coal-related environmental disasters in our country's history. The town was the site of a horrendous accident involving 5.4 million cubic yards of wet coal ash spewing onto the Tennessee village. A dam containing the coal sludge broke, causing a wave so toxic, even the most audacious surfer would refuse to ride.

In all honesty, being an environmentally sound lawmaker in a state in which the biggest lobbying arm is the coal industry has its difficulties.

Coal is the resource that cradles Appalachia in its economic arms. However, there is a fine line between economic prosperity and destroying the natural landscape of this world. The two U.S. Senators from West Virginia seem perfectly fine with crossing this line.

The coal gods will be smiling down on their patron saints in the United States Senate. West Virginia's Jay Rockefeller and Joe Manchin, both Democrats, recently sent a collaborative letter to U.S. EPA requesting they not veto a permit for Spruce Mine No. 1, the largest and most robust mountaintop removal operation that has ever been proposed in the state of West Virginia.

Being the CEO of one of the country's largest coal-producing companies yields quite the lavish lifestyle, as former-Massey Energy CEO (effective 12/30/2010) Don Blankenship can attest. Eight-digit salaries, top of the line BMW's, and a $12 million retirement package are just a few of the luxuries Mr. Blankenship has to enjoy.

So when his company's mine is the site of the worst mine disaster in 40 years, and Blankenship is asked to testify in a federal Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) investigation of the horrendous explosion, the least he could do would be to comply with this simple request.

Well, Don Blankenship couldn't muster that much dignity.  Mr. Blankenship, with a soul as dark as the coal his company mines, decided to exercise his fifth amendment rights and refuse to show up for the hearing.  For a team of investigators anxious to get to the bottom of the mine disaster, which killed 29 Massey miners in April, their frustration continues to mount.  The investigation itself is in regard to the mine disaster, not Blankenship himself.  Sounds like this coal baron may have some skeletons in his closet.