Coal Slurry Injection Ban Is Alive and Kicking in West Virginia

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.

Coal slurries are the result of washing coal. Coal is washed in order to burn more efficiently, and the wastewater from this process is now pumped into abandoned mines. Coal slurries can contain mercury, arsenic, and other harmful contaminants that eventually find their way into the water wells of local residents. In a previous post, I explained some of the hazardous and unsightly effects that these coal slurry injection sites. Birth defects and orange water are just a few of the claims that residents of Mingo County, W.V. attribute to coal slurry sites in their long-running legal actions against Massey Energy, for example.

This bill is a chance, a rare chance, for legislators in West Virginia to take action and prevent these contaminants from continuing to sully our state water supplies.

Now, it's decision time state representatives. Will they be a lackey to Big Coal, or stand up for their constituents?  Drinking water, or stinking water?  Higher living standards, or higher health bills? We know the obvious choice, but sometimes politicians and government officials need some prodding in the right direction.

It is imperative that we make the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection aware of our support for this type of ban.  The petition linked here, if signed, will send a letter to the Secretary of the WVDEP, urging the organization to place this permanent ban, endorsing the state legislature's bill.

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Photo credit: jimmywayne via flickr