Sludge Safety Project Action Alert

Feb. 16, 2006

Please Call, Ask Your Delegate to Support Sludge Safety Legislation
Please take a few minutes to call your state Delegates and ask them to support HB 4583, the Sludge Safety Bill.

Click here for info on contacting your Delegates. Please tell them that you want to see health and safety extend beyond the mine gate to mining communities--that's why you are calling to ask them to support HB 4583. As long as sludge safety issues remain unaddressed, thousands of West Virginians will continue to live in danger.

Provisions of the bill:
--After June 2006, the DEP can no longer issue permits authorizing the construction, enlargement or modification of any sludge impoundment.
--Bans "disposal" of coal mine waste by injecting it into underground mines.
--Calls upon the DEP to conduct a study of existing sludge impoundments by looking at their structure, chemical makeup and whether current mapping indicates all existing abandoned mines. The report is to be completed no later than June 2007.

If your Delegate is Larry Barker (D-Boone), Cliff Moore (D-McDowell), Charlene Marshall (D-Monongalia), Lidella Hrutkay (D-Logan), Bobbie Hatfield (D- Kanawha) , or Sally Susman (D-Raleigh), please call her or him with a big thank you for being one of the initial co-sponsors of the Sludge Safety legislation.

Our E-Day! Sludge Safety Project press conference went well. Read the Charleston Gazette's article on this by clicking here. WV Public Radio and TV coverage of the Feb. 14 event may be posted soon here.

 Please Join Sludge Safety Project Feb. 27 at the State Capitol
Save the date and plan to join the Sludge Safety Project for Buffalo Creek Day at the State Capitol.  Call Abe at 304-522-0246 for more info.