NY Times Nails Clean Water Act Crimes and Punishment

Many readers of the New York Times probably dropped their jaws in amazement at the lead story last Sunday: Seven-year-old Ryan Massey, of Prenter, West Virginia, smiled back with capped teeth, the enamel devoured by toxic tap water. His brother sported scabs and rashes, courtesy of the heavy metals--including lead, nickel--in their bath water.

If you think every American child should have the right to a glass of clean drinking water and a safe shower, then check out the accompanying slide show and video.

Thanks to Times reporter Charles Duhigg, the rest of the United States got a glimpse of daily life in the Saudi Arabia of coal--in the coalfields of Appalachia, where coal companies are "pumping into the ground illegal concentrations of chemicals--the same pollutants that flowed from residents' taps." And the coda: "But state regulators never fined or punished those companies for breaking those pollution laws."

As part of the Times' gripping "Toxic Waters," series, Duhigg's portrait of the Clean Water Act violations in West Virginia--and the indifference of state agencies--blew the cover on one of the worst kept secrets in Appalachia: Coal slurry injected into abandoned mines and dumped into waterways has contaminated the watersheds of American citizens and their drinking water...and no government agency did anything about it for years until the community finally fought back.

"How can we get digital cable and Internet in our homes, but not clean water?" said Ryan's mother, Jennifer Hall-Massey, a senior accountant at one of the state's largest banks.

According to Duhigg's research in Prenter, "Tests show that their tap water contains arsenic, barium, lead, manganese and other chemicals at concentrations federal regulators say could contribute to cancer and damage the kidneys and nervous system."

That's just the beginning. As the Aurora Lights "Journey Up Coal River" has noted: "Unsurprisingly, the health problems in this community are also massive: from kidney and liver failure to Parkinson's-like neurological problems, common respiratory illnesses that last for years despite treatment, and many different cancers. On a single 300-yard stretch of road, five people were diagnosed with brain tumors and nearly every family has someone in and out of the hospital."

Last month, West Virginia Governor and coal peddler Joe Manchin made a much ballyhooed visit to Prenter, in the midst of legal battles, to announce a new water system for next year. In the meantime, as the Appalachian Voices pointed out, the real headline should have noted: "WV Town to go 8 More Months without Clean Drinking Water."

Mathew Louis-Rosenberg was not suprised by the NY Times article. The young activist took time from a busy day of lobbying in Charleston, West Virginia, to discuss his work on the Prenter Water Fund, and the impact of the Times investigative piece on the widely denounced West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection.

Biggers: When did you first go to Prenter, WV and why?

Louis-Rosenberg: I first went to Prenter in July, 2008. I was taken there by a man named Bobby Mitchell, a Charleston native who had already been organizing in Prenter for the better part of a year. I had been up to Larry Gibson's Mountain Keepers celebration and helped build an addition on to his house. After 3 visits up there, I decided to move to WV. Bobby was up there and I had met him the fall before at the Highlander Center's 75th Anniversary Celebration. He was just thrilled to have somebody to talk the science behind all this (my background is in math, science, and education) and I jumped on board organizing with Prenter.

Biggers: Why and how did the Prenter Water Fund get established?