This article originally provided by The Charleston Gazette

March 7, 2006

Allen Johnson

God’s creation: Coal industry does not practice good stewardship

“An act of God” is how Massey-owned Martin Coal Co. refers to the 300 million gallons of coal sludge that gushed into Coldwater Creek and Wolf Creek in October 2000. God should have known better, having been similarly chastised by Pittston Coal for the lethal Buffalo Creek coal dam burst in 1972.

How helpful that these paragons of moral integrity, indeed some of our very own coal corporations, would so gallantly think, as the expression goes, to “haul God over the coals.” And let’s not forget the floods God seems to be spewing more frequently and intensively in the same areas.

On Feb. 1, about 20 residents of Mingo, Boone and Raleigh counties convened at the Capitol to meet with a dozen state legislators. They had one message articulated in tearful personal stories and heartfelt pleas: “Our wells are poisoned.”

Their message was visual, too. Several canning jars held blackish water from home spigots. Two-day-old water filters were clogged with muck.

Their stories were depressingly similar. Once pure well water now runs black several times a week. Cancer, kidney stones and miscarriages are common in their communities. Property values have plummeted. They live in omnipresent fear as billion-gallon sludge ponds loom over their homes and uncounted volumes of toxic sludge seep through aquifers.

Coal sludge waste is typically handled in one of two ways. Much of the gunk is stored in multibillion-gallon sludge impoundments typically constructed by damming a valley. Other goo is pumped into the ground in a method known as underground injection. There are 338 permits for injected coal slurry on the books in West Virginia. Does any of this toxic brew find its way into drinking-water aquifers?

In sharp contrast to blaming God for their contaminated water these ordinary folks cry out pleas to God. “I’ve been praying for 20 years that something be done about this contaminated water,” said one middle-aged woman who described even bathing as a health risk. The legislators listened attentively. One of them, a delegate from a southwestern county, interrupted a coalfield resident’s talk. “I apologize, but I have to leave because I just cannot bear hearing these stories. This is all so incredibly sad.”

Earlier that day, the coalfield residents had conjectured that with our nation’s eyes on recent coal mine fatalities that government might link the issue of safety inside mines to safety outside the mines. Just before adjourning our final afternoon meeting a senator burst into the room with the heart-sinking announcement that two miners had died earlier that day in two separate incidents. Stunned, a few minutes later we stumbled over to Gov. Manchin’s somber press conference.

So what does God think about these matters down in the coal belt? Presuming to speak for God is not a light matter, although no doubt most folks want God in their own corner.

Yet, inasmuch as the coal companies do blame God for the floods and dam bursts and poison well water that regularly visits our coal belt neighborhoods, we must presume their theistic belief. Some of our Bible-believing preachers in the coalfield churches should ask their corporate neighbors what God might expect in their behavior.

Psalm 24:1 states that the Earth belongs to God. The courthouse deeds do not say so, but Bible-believers know God is the property owner of everything. Some folks get the privilege to hold title to some of God’s property for a period of time, but they also are expected to assume responsibility to take care of this property on behalf of God.

This raises the next question. What is God’s intent for the Earth? Our God-believing coal companies must figure that mining and selling large volumes of coal with the lowest possible overhead is within God’s equation. Blasting mountains to smithereens then dumping their coal-stripped carcasses of rock and debris into valleys is in that equation. That future generations of people, animals and plants will find such land worthless or of greatly diminished quality is in that equation. That regulatory officials, politicians, churches, and neighbors silenced by economic pressure is in that equation. That disaster-prone sludge dams, forever-contaminated aquifers, and ruined health of neighbors are in that equation.

Some have proposed that God might have a different intent for this creation. For instance, God makes an agreement with Noah and his family and their descendents and with all living creatures to preserve them. Creation is established in relationships between people, animals and plants, and future generations. This means that a few are not to plunder the earth at the expense of people and other beings living now and those yet to be born. This means that a healthy economy is somehow to be found in mutually beneficial relationships rather than in exploitive ones of winners and losers.

Creation is set up right now as a rather rough-and-tumble place. Earthquakes, volcano eruptions, tsunamis and heavy storms might rightly be beyond the purview of human intervention. Yet God has created humankind with the capacity to mitigate natural disasters, so-called “acts of God.” With an understanding of all creation being in interdependent relationship, we humans can act as responsible agents of healing, restoration, and sustainable life for all God’s creatures. As a saying goes, we are God’s hands, feet, voice and love in this world. Let us then truly be in this way “an act of God.”

Johnson, of Dunmore, is active with Christians For The Mountains, www.christiansforthemountains.org.