Robin

Just Coincidence? Health Issue Convergences

 Health, Marcellus Shale, Mountaintop Removal  No Responses »
Aug 292012
 

Imagine: you move to a new community and discover at least half of the residents have brain tumors, and that there is a forty percent greater likelihood that babies born into this community will suffer from serious birth defects compared to their peers in other communities. Would you want to know what is causing all of these illnesses? Of course you would! Similarly, if you lived in a community where strange substances start to creep into your water supply, you would want to know what is going on.

These are just some of the challenges that residents of this state face when they live near mountaintop removal and gas fracking operations. The health concerns resulting from these two industries are pervasive and widespread. Read more about the growing body of scientific evidence about these health problems here.

It’s high time that we start making connections between the health problems faced by community members who live near both mountaintop removal coal mining and deep well gas drilling operations. A big step forward in this endeavor is our Water and Wellness conference, to be held September 8, in Morgantown, W.Va.

Through a range of discussions and panels, you will learn about the extreme human health impacts of mountaintop removal coal mining and deep shale gas drilling and fracking. Meet with impacted residents and experts including: keynote speaker, Wilma Subra; Dr. Ben Stout, whom you may have seen in The Last Mountain and Burning the Future; Dr. Jill Kriesky; and Dr. Michael Hendryx, whose research is shining a much-needed light on these health impacts.

Read more about this event here, and register here.

A Warning from Doddridge County

 Marcellus Shale  No Responses »
May 312012
 

What’s worse than mountaintop removal water polluting your Memorial Day Holiday? Possibly “brine water” from fracking operations. To see why, view this YouTube  video and this one, along with the photos posted here.

During Memorial Day weekend, Doddridge County residents tested road puddles made where a gas company truck had just sprayed, reportedly to control dust. Residents living along the roadway shared this report:

The water looked black coming out of the truck, smells horrible, and at three sites along the road:

         • Conductivity: 10,500 – 11,500 range (microSiemens/centimer of water)
         • TDS (Total Dissolved Solids): 8,000 – 9,000 ppm range (microSiemens/centimer of water)
         • Salinity: 6,000 to 7,000 ppm range (microSiemens/centimer of water)

This is unacceptable – children, livestock, and pets live along this road! It can wash into Broad Run. When it dries and starts blowing around — we will be breathing it! Pets may drink it… We do not want our health compromised any longer — we have been dealing with uncontrolled dust for over 2 years, but adding more harmful components for us to breathe is even worse! During our family picnic this holiday weekend my family, including children will be breathing this…

Some citizens fear the WV Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) will not consistently follow up on future incidents of gas industry pollution. From past experience, DEP officials don’t come out until days after people call to report an incident. When citizens turn in film footage and/or provide the DEP with time stamped photos — such as photos that document water withdrawals from streams during prohibited withdrawal periods — DEP does not follow up in a timely fashion, if at all. In the case of the incident documented above, the DEP was relatively swift to respond, requiring the gas company to take some clean-up measures, but the agency has yet to provide residents with all the information they have requested concerning the nature of the pollutants that were sprayed onto the roadway.

We have some serious accountability and enforcement issues here in West Virginia! DEP has only 16 state inspectors and 59,000 oil and gas wells to monitor in addition to all the Marcellus drilling activity. Sometimes, citizens wonder “Why don’t they want to watch these guys?”

It is important for residents of all areas where gas drilling work is underway to watch the activities of trucks and the industry closely, and to report all problems noted. Keep a log of the activities you are reporting, with notes on date, time and with whom you spoke. Here are some helpful contact numbers for DEP:

Emergency Spill Line:  800-642-3074
Tom Aluise: 304-926-0499 extension 1338
Dave Belcher: 304-389-7590

Because residents reported this incident immediately, DEP responded in a relatively timely way.  Local news services rarely cover incidents like these in an in-depth manner, if at all, so please circulate this blog widely. Read the Clarksburg Exponent-Telegram’s news story on this incident here.

(Three Doddridge county residents provided information for this posting.)

Let’s Talk Energy Ethics

 Faith, Mountaintop Removal  No Responses »
Apr 032012
 

Topping my list of things to be thankful for these days is the National Council of Churches’ (NCC) strong support for ending the ravages of mountaintop removal (MTR) coal mining. The National Council of Churches, with an office located in DC, recently hosted an event called “Ecumenical Advocacy Days.” Of the more than 800 participants in this annual national conference, 60-70 chose to spend part of their Saturday afternoon listening to information – presented by myself and Lorelei Scarbro, on the problems of MTR. Others were exposed to issues related to MTR and other eco-justice problems during “eco-justice track” events throughout the weekend. Still more people have participated in webinars and received information about MTR problems via the NCC eco-justice website. Here are some examples of what you will find on this site:

A petition calling for an end to MTR injustices.

NCC Eco-justice office is conducting a series of webinars on environmental ethics issues; the next one will focus on problems associated with gas fracking; for more information, click here.

The National Council of Churches is also endorsing and supporting an Interfaith Action on Climate Change during “Earth Day Week” – April 21 – 27. For more information, please click here.

Here’s something I actually cheered about: A media letter, authored by one of the biggest of the big-wigs in the Presbyterian Church (USA), which states clear questions about the ethics of MTR coal mining.   The NCC eco-justice office helped make this happen and would welcome similar letters from faith community leaders in our area.

If you would be willing to write such a letter, or simply want to know more about how to involve your community in discussions about the ethics of energy and/or MTR and gas fracking, please contact Robin at robin@ohvec.org