County Dragging Feet on Emergency Warning System for Sludge Dam Failures

Thanks to the great ladies in Sylvester known as the "Dustbusters" for following up this spring on the Reverse 911 and evacuation plans with the Boone County Commission and Office of Emergency Services. Others helped them get this far, and all of us will have to continue working to make certain the system operates properly.

Mary Miller said, "I think it is terrible that we as retired citizens have to fight for an emergency monitoring system, evacuation plan and evacuation centers, but that is what is going on."

Pauline Canterbury said, "The Boone County Commission and the Office of Emergency Services missed the opportunity to get a grant to put this system in and this was because they dont see this as a priority, because they dont have to live like we do." (See story on page 8.)

While the Boone County Commission was dragging its feet on the Reverse 911 systems, it did allocate the funds to run water to Massey Energys new office on Rt. 119, a $500,000 project. The cost of a Reverse 911 system, on the other hand, is slightly less than $25,000. Up that to $50,000, and you include the cost for the first years operation. Now ask yourself, why dont we have a Reverse 911 system operating in Boone County?

Meanwhile in Prenter, people are being forced to travel to get water in bottles to supply their families with safe drinking water. Yup, people in Prenter do without good water, yet Masseys new building gets it piped in.

The message that we are getting is clear we are not worth clean, healthy water nor are we worth a Reverse 911 system to save our lives. Are we in reality the last thing on the priority list of our county representatives? Are we simply expendable people that should shut up and go away?

We dont think so. We deserve a Reverse 911 monitoring system, working individual community evacuation plans and community evacuation shelters. And we as taxpayers should not have to pick up the bill. The coal companies operating in Boone County should pay the cost to solve a problem they created. If each one would give just "pocket change," this cost would not be an issue.

Boone County is one of the most poverty stricken counties in the state, as is McDowell County. Both counties have had high rates of resource extraction. Paying the cost of a Reverse 911 system, working evacuation plans and evacuation shelters would be a great "good neighbor" policy for the coal companies to practice. Just a thought as the coal company surveyors do their community residential surveys, they also could ask the people in the communities to help devise an evacuation plan that could save their lives if anything was to go wrong on one of the 18 Class C (high risk) dams we have in Boone County. Now is the time to do this. Tomorrow may be too late.

Citizens of Rt. 3, Rt. 17, Rt. 26, Rt. 5, and Rt. 85 will stand together to see to it that we have a Reverse 911 system installed and operating with individual community evacuation plans and well-stocked evacuation shelters. We cannot rest until we do. Buffalo Creek taught us something, whether our leaders paid attention or not. We are the people paying the true cost of this so-called "cheap, clean coal" and we deserve protection in our homes and communities.

We citizens in Boone County get stuck with the things that make coal expensive and dirty, like the ruined abandoned mine lands, polluted water, polluted air, and pothole-ridden roads. We live under sludge dams with no warning system and no realistic escape plan. Now what makes anyone believe that we are asking too much in asking that our county officials make protecting our lives priority number one? The people of Boone County will unite to see this through because we have no other choice.

We will be revisiting this in June with the Boone County Commission and Office of Emergency Services. We want your input. Please give us a call at (304) 245-8481.

One of Boone Countys long-standing OVEC members, Bob Farris, recently passed away. Bob was a man who knew we will stop mountaintop removal. We truly appreciate all he did as a volunteer to help us form the Boone County OVEC team. If everyone believed in human kindness as Bob Farris did, mountaintop removal would have never begun. He will be greatly missed by many folks in Boone County and beyond. We love and miss you Bob! Brenda, our hearts are with you in your time of grief.