Time DEP Stood Up and Did Its Job, Too

Morgantown Dominion Post
30 May 2010

Guest Commentary

By Mike Furbee

I attended the public meeting at the Cassville Volunteer Fire Hall on Wednesday night regarding the current and proposed future of surface coal mining in that area.

Speakers had to sign up ahead of time, but I didn’t think I had anything to say so I didn’t put my name on the list. But driving home after the meeting I found I did have something to say.

I live in Morgantown, but I was born in Barbour County in 1952, within smelling distance of the gob piles (coal waste) that burned along the Tygart Valley River —  day and night — for decades, all the while leaching orange runoff directly into the river.

We go back 200 years in West Virginia on both sides of my family; Nestorville was founded by my distant relative Jacob Nestor after he served in the Revolutionary War. The Furbees just found an unproductive hillside on Buffalo Calf in Doddridge County where they scratched out a living and labored in obscurity for a long time.

I wanted to say how proud I was of John and Petra Wood —  relative newcomers to West Virginia by my standards. Anyone who is a true West Virginian should applaud their efforts to defend their land and home from powerful corporate and government forces.

I know about the nights and weekends of work they have put in to try and understand what was happening to them as well as holding down full-time jobs. I know they are sick with worry as to what will happen to what they have worked to build in the 17 years they have lived in Cassville.

I’ve been in their old restored farmhouse and seen the gardens and their meadows and their pond they work to maintain and improve. Listening to their prepared remarks, it was obvious that they had done their homework and were well versed in the process of mining, and the regulations on the books. It was also obvious to me how nervous they were, speaking first and facing an unknown crowd with a large number of men wearing their mining gear seated as a group in the center of the room. They had no idea what sort of reception they would get. They showed bravery and courage and a command of their information, and I am proud to count them as my friends and West Virginians.

It also warmed my heart to see people on both sides of the issue being civil with each other. It struck me that the rest of the nation could learn a lot from West Virginians about how to behave at a town hall meeting.

I was proud of the young miner who decided to speak on behalf of his co-workers and his industry at the end of the meeting. My father worked on strip jobs running coal shovels, dozers and drag lines. My best friend in high school was killed in a mine collapse. I’ve known miners and know them as tough, hard-working men that you would be proud to call friend.

But let’s not confuse supporting the troops with supporting the mission. If you use water anywhere in the state you have to be chilled at hearing about plans to use fly ash to treat acid mine drainage and all the heavy metals it contains. And the fact that the testing, which is almost nonexistent, is also seriously flawed and does not use current federal Environmental Protection Agency standard lab tests.

This is dangerous toxic waste that the state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) is apparently going to allow to be spread all over the 225-acre mine site. The young miner I mentioned said that he lived in the Cassville area all his life and that from the pictures he has seen, the area looks much better than it used to. I don’t doubt this. I have traveled all over the state and know of a lot of places that still look like they are mired in the 1930s. In many such places the jobs are gone, the money is gone, the coal is gone, the coal company is gone and nothing is left but the damage done.

I also don’t doubt the reason that some places are better off is that someone cared. Someone stood up and forced the coal companies to change. Forced them to actually reclaim mines instead of abandoning them. Forced them to treat the water instead of letting it run orange for a thousand years or more. Forced them to treat miners better than the mules that once went underground to haul out the coal.

Someone forced them to spend some of their profits in paying for the true costs of coal mining, instead of passing those costs off to people downstream who will continue to pay long after the coal, the jobs and the hope are gone. Maybe they were forced by people like the Woods, who by defending their home are also defending anyone who breathes the air and uses the water.

I’m glad things are better than they were in 1935. I hope that in 2040 things will be a lot better than they are now. But the DEP has to stand up and do its job, too, and protect people from danger. At the very least, the DEP has to enforce regulations already on the books. The DEP has to enforce violations instead of collecting a token fine and letting coal companies like Massey Energy and Patriot Mining Co. get away with pretty much anything they want. I’d like to be as proud of the DEP as I am of hard-working coal miners and good West Virginians like John and Petra Wood, who have the guts to stand up and fight for their rights. I’d like the DEP to stand up and do its job for a change.

Mike Furbee does injury research at WVU and plays a fiddle. He lives in Morgantown. This commentary should be considered another point of view and not necessarily the opinion or editorial policy of The Dominion Post.