Just less then nine months ago one of the worst toxic slurry spills in history did occur and millions of gallons of toxic slurry rushed across the land and into the river. This was just north of the state line and still today the train cars continue to drive through Alabama to dump the recovered poisons in our toxic landfills. Sure TVA did not intentionally dump the sludge and slurry into the river, they did not want it there. Nonetheless the waste is in the river and hundreds of miles of river are contaminated beyond anything man can clean up with even our best efforts and latest technology. The clean up will depend certainly on the efforts of the workers dredging what they can but mostly on the continuous efforts of Mother Nature with the river, its streambed, the mussels, snails, plants, and other organisms that are always working on the river to keep it clean. No the river purity has been damaged for decades probably centuries due to this one event just before Christmas of 2008. No the company did not intentional discharge the toxins into the river but for Christmas the community along the river and the country as a whole did not just received a lump of coal but a great burden of toxic slurry.

Now the company might tell you that they did what they were required to and blame the spill on an act of nature or unusual circumstances, and some may agree. However, the fact is that someone made the decision to raise the height of the slurry pond instead of dredge the material and dispose of it another way, an engineering company drew up the appropriate plans, a contractor was hired that implemented the plan and the state regulators agreed that the pond met the appropriate legal requirements and not one drop of water would enter the river without first being treated to the current legal requirements. I am sure the agencies responsible made all the regular inspections whether bimonthly or once a year but the fact is the dam failed and there is no taking it back or denying it even though we tend to forget all to easily. That is you forget unless it is in your own backyard and you now have to live with it for the rest of your life.
I am not saying the engineers were incompetent or the contractors did not do their job or that the regulators were corrupt. I am just trying to point out that even when people do what they think is enough things happen and the truth is millions of gallons of toxic slurry were dumped into the river just less than a year ago.

So you question the concerns of citizens that will be affected by this mine saying they are groundless. You say the West Virginia Health study on mining towns has skewed the data. You say that the mining cannot be worse than before because the laws are better now. You say the company will fix the damage from past mining and leave it better than before. You imply we have nothing to worry about.

First of all you are correct to say the laws are better than before. Before the laws were terrible and now they are only real bad and short sighted. Yes these mountains in Blount County were ripped apart some forty years ago. The trees cleared away, all the underbrush was raked back and then the soil with its host of microorganisms was scrapped down piled up and hauled away or spread out and most of it lost to the river through erosion. Next the rocks were blasted away and the bones of the earth were drilled into and blasted apart in order to get to the coal. One of my neighbors described it as a moonscape void of any life. There were pools of blue green water scattered throughout the area that would not even support insect life for at least a decade and seepage of rust colored water that would bring a rash to your skin if you even briefly placed your hand in it. The coal company abandoned the land and Mother Nature continued her steady process of restoring the land. Slowly the weather broke down some of the rock and eventually the harsh materials were leached away and organisms could begin to make the land fertile again. Pioneer plants came in and over time the forest has become the young ecosystem that it is today. The mountains have begun to weather and taken on a more natural look. The river was devastated during this time and the siltation and leeched runoff killed off all but the hardiest of organisms that keep the river healthy. It has taken decades to improve the quality of the river and slowly the river has made progress, but as you mentioned it is not just mining but the excess siltation and nutrification from farms, livestock and human activity that continue to stress the river. You say the mining company will “fix” the area and isn’t that good. The first thing the mining company will do is clear all the over story trees to sell for timber. Next they will rake away all the under story plants and scrape away the thin layer of soil that has developed over the past four decades to be spread around later. Then there will be giant track hoes that will scale the rock wall surface smooth back down to the bare bone. After this they will attempt to drill into the sixteen-inch coal seam four-foot wide holes every three feet apart four hundred feet back into the mountain. This coal will be pulverized into small particles and hauled out by dump truck all day and night for the next five years. Then they will take bulldozers and reshape the spoils from the previous mining some 300 – 400 feet from the mountain wall. We know that the coal seams play an intricate part of the aquifer system in this area and no one can tell you how this type of perforation will turn out but if you live in the area and drink water from a well or spring you will have to live with the results. Now it is true that there are some points of erosion that are still running into the river after all these years but I do not think it is very truthful to say it will be fixed by scraping away the forty years of work Mother Nature has provided. Now you might say we have no reason to worry because an engineering company has designed these ponds and 3 foot high plastic silt fences so that not one drop of water will leave the area without meeting the required specifications. I am sure you will tell me that the company will hire the best contractors to carry out these well designed plans and you will probably say that I can rest assured that the state agency will be out there every other month to check things over just like they are required to by the letter of the law. Well I have heard that story before and it would be negligent on my part to not express my concerns.

You fault my good neighbors for quoting a West Virginia University Health study saying the validity of the data sets were in question which you claim was skewed. The data is clear. The closer to a mining town the incidence of chronic and severe diseases increases, that is not what was in question. The questions arose in trying to determine exactly why. They made an attempt to rule out poverty and certain social habits and certainly there were questions that arose. However, the findings still stand and the research continues to be underway but the fact is the closer you get to mining towns the higher incidences of cancer, liver, kidney and lung disease to name a few. This reminds me of the tobacco executives refuting the ill health effects of smoking. I would not be so condemning of the WVU study as you seem to be so sure of.

I agree with you that everyone should look at this for what it is. An investment company is proposing a sure 12% interest on investments and possibly 25% for some of the start up money to come to our community and with the help of all the land owners they can entice take advantage of our weak laws to exploit these natural resources for their short term economic gain. They promise to be “good” neighbors and they promise to leave the mountain “better” than it is now. In actuality they will run their loud, heavy equipment all day and night. They will strip the mountain bare and stir the dirt into the air and waterways. They will drill into our aquifer system and pulverize the coal so it becomes part of the dust in the air, on our roadways and into the water. They will break down the roads with the heavy, continuous hauling. They will rip away forty years of the work that nature has provided and sell it to us as progress. Don’t tell me these are false claims. Don’t tell me our concerns are groundless. There are currently over 100 mining operations in the Black Warrior watershed and we continue to see violations, excessive siltation, dam breeches, overloaded erosion fences and toxic runoff. Certainly these violations can carry stiff penalties but the concerned citizen is forced to fly over the site to even monitor the area and there are just not enough state regulators to make the rounds. I don’t believe that Mcoal or any other company wants to intentionally destroy the environment. I just believe that it falls to the bottom of the list when trying to meet the profit projections. As witnessed before in this county a coal company will do as little as possible to meet the requirements of the law and I know it has been far too easy to slip past these laws. So I have good grounds to be concerned and I feel it is my responsibility to make sure the highest standards are written into this permit and that there will be constant monitoring of each phase of the operation.


Red Dog
Citizen watch dog loyal to the environment.