This op-ed originally provided by The Herald-Dispatch

December 17, 2005

Vivian Stockman: Massey at center of its 'total environment'

Just how stupid does Massey Energy CEO Don Blankenship think West Virginians are?

Massey's latest "Total Environment" propaganda campaign features ads saying Massey protestors forget "the needs of the people." A Web site shows the ads and outlines Massey employee benefits.

The campaign is an apparent response to the efforts of the Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition, Coal River Mountain Watch and Mountain Justice Summer to expose Massey's dirty secrets.

The propaganda would be laughable if what Massey is doing to our total environment, from the land, water and communities, to the rule of law and the democratic process, weren't so outrageous and irreversible.

Massey apparently forgets the needs of the people living near its mountaintop removal sites -- needs such as clean water and the right to stay on your ancestral land. Massey's total environment apparently doesn't include forests or streams.

A Mingo County lawsuit alleges that a Massey subsidiary injected slurry from a sludge impoundment underground for years without a permit. Massey documents subpoenaed by the plaintiffs show its Rawls Sales plant was injecting as much as 28 million gallons a month of coal sludge into old underground mines. More than 300 households from Rawl, Lick Creek and Sprigg believe their well water -- and subsequently their health -- has been ruined by the injected sludge.

OVEC has spoken with former Massey coal prep plants workers who tell us their "employee benefits" included working with chemicals without any safety gear. Now they allege they are "benefiting" from debilitating illnesses related to chemical poisoning. The miners claim their workers' compensation was denied, so now massive medical bills are their "benefits."

As they listed co-workers who they believe have died from chemical poisoning, they told us they wished they'd never worked in Massey's "total environment."

Massey's "total environment" extends well beyond its mountaintop removal sites, coal sludge impoundments and prep plants.

Many live downstream from Massey's frequent blackwater spills. It's reasonable to expect that the blackwater contains heavy metals that occur naturally in coal, including mercury and arsenic, as well as the chemicals used in prepping coal.

All of us suffer when huge swaths of forests are destroyed essentially forever for "cheap" coal. With sustainable logging practices, forests provide jobs, revenue and hugely valuable ecosystem services such as flood control, water purification, soil building, climate control and oxygen generation.

Massey's union-busting ways weaken labor unions. Its scofflaw behavior -- it seems to think paying fines for breaking laws is cheaper than obeying them -- erodes the rule of law in the state. By using his coal-gained millions to topple a progressive Supreme Court justice, Blankenship seems to mock the democratic process.

If we carried out a proper accounting of all costs associated with Massey's "total environment," we would likely find that the taxes it does pay are dwarfed by the costs it passes along to all of us.

How sad that the best Massey can do to improve its "total environment" is to come up with a slick propaganda campaign that insults the intelligence of an entire state.

See www.wvoter-owned.org to learn more about how you can help remove Big Coal's grip over West Virginia's politics.