Press Release

June 30, 2005

Contacts: Coal River Mountain Watch 854-2182, Bo Webb, Vernon Haltom, Julia Bonds

Coal River residents outraged over coal permit approval at elementary school

WHITESVILLE, WV—Residents of Coal River Valley today expressed outrage over the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection’s (DEP) approval of a second coal silo immediately adjacent to Marsh Fork Elementary School in Sundial. The DEP also approved the permit renewal for a 2.8 billion-gallon sludge dam—a toxic waste storage lake—400 yards from school grounds.

“We feel stabbed in the back by politics as usual in West Virginia,” said Bo Webb of Coal River Valley. “We’ve been hoodwinked. Governor Manchin was well aware of our concerns for those kids after our meeting with him last week. Apparently he wasn’t concerned enough to have the DEP hold off on issuing the permit. Now he has scheduled a meeting to ‘review possible safety concerns’ at the school a week after the permit is approved.” This morning the DEP issued a press release announcing the approval and the governor’s meeting.

“We’ve worked hard fighting this permit from day one,” said Julia Bonds, the community outreach coordinator for Coal River Mountain Watch. “Over fifty people testified against this permit at the DEP’s hearing. But, as always, the DEP ignored the people’s concerns and rubber stamped the permit.” Twenty people have so far been arrested protesting the Massey operation, including two yesterday at Massey headquarters in Richmond, Va.

“Massey is not a steward of the environment, as they pretend,” said Patty Sebok of Coal River Valley. “Just look at their record of violations. They were responsible for the 300 million gallon sludge spill in Kentucky in 2000, as well as a long list of other violations. Why should we trust their assurances that everything is okay?”

“Decent people just don’t do this to kids, whether it’s legal or not,” said Vernon Haltom of Coal River Valley. “A check mark on a piece of paper won’t protect their lungs, hold back the sludge, or relieve their fear. These are little kids in their formative years, and this will stay with them a lifetime.” An existing silo at the Goals preparation plant towers above the school 150 feet from school grounds. The new silo will stand beside the first.

“We call on prosecutors to look into this as a case of child endangerment, if not outright abuse, facilitated by our government,” added Webb. “We call on Homeland Security to stop the state-sponsored corporate terrorism against the children and people of Coal River Valley.”