Former West Virginia Miner: We've Been Dumping Those Chemicals In The Water For Decades

I was a little torn about which forum this story belonged in, so mods feel free to move this if you don't agree with my choice to include it in the 'Disaster Conspiracies' forum.

A Former WV miner has come forward and said he hasn't drank the water in years, because he was fired from the coal industry after asking for information on the various chemicals the industry has been dumping. Stanley says he lost his job after a conflict with management, when he, as union president, demanded an inquiry into certain chemicals that were being used in the mine. He claims that mine workers, particularly electricians and pinners, were getting sick.

"I watched the coal industry poison our water for years. Now they're telling us not to drink the water? We've been dumping this stuff into unlined ponds and into old mines for years," he says. "This MCHM was just one of the chemicals we were told was highly toxic but that we dumped into old mine shafts and slurry ponds, and it's been seeping into the groundwater for years."

Read the entire article on Business Insider.

reply to post by peaceblaster


Hardly surprising....
The captains of industry dont care about people......as people are their self renewing resource for getting more wealth......
Seems theres no end to em, they keep reproducing and making new dupes for the elite to divest of their wealth and their health.....

reply to post by peaceblaster


Well bust my buttons, I don't know how this could even be true. All I keep hearing them talk about is how over-regulated they are and how they can't make a dime because of all the burdensome regulations already in place.

On top of that, from what I've read here on ATS, isn't it impossible for a union to be on the right side of any issue?

Yeah, I'm almost sure I heard someone say that we need to utilize more "clean coal" and more "clean gas" from "clean fracking" instead of resorting to any kind of asinine plan to utilize renewables.

I guess now that Freedom Industries has given the OK to use the water again, (while simultaneously filing for bankruptcy) those people in W.Virginia, (not to mention the other cities and states downstream of them) can rest assured that what they're drinking and bathing in, is also "CLEAN."

The individual has lost their rights to the rights of corporations to make profits a long time ago. Look at the Supreme Court case of 260 U.S. 393 (1922) PENNSYLVANIA COAL COMPANY v. MAHON ET AL..

The same day this spill happened a bill was bases in the US House that essentially overturns the Clean Water Act of 1972 and if passed in the Senate will leave corporations off the hook for cleaning up their mess. US House passed bill ravaging toxic-waste law - on same day as W. Virginia chemical spill .

While that bill is not expected to pass in the Senate and the White House has vowed to veto it if passed, they do not have a good track record of doing what the promise, especially when the lobbyists have so much to gain if the bill passes.

stirling
reply to post by peaceblaster

 

Hardly surprising....
The captains of industry dont care about people......as people are their self renewing resource for getting more wealth......
Seems theres no end to em, they keep reproducing and making new dupes for the elite to divest of their wealth and their health.....

Very true. Our current culture allows large business to do what ever it wants with only the threat of possible fines if caught killing people. The leaders of these businesses are even allowed to hide personal responsibility behind the fictitious practice of corporation. Trust me, an actual person issued the orders to dump chemicals, not a piece of paper with signatures on it.

And speaking of people....

"I watched the coal industry poison our water for years. Now they're telling us not to drink the water? We've been dumping this stuff into unlined ponds and into old mines for years," he says. "This MCHM was just one of the chemicals we were told was highly toxic but that we dumped into old mine shafts and slurry ponds, and it's been seeping into the groundwater for years."

These miners were told the chemicals were highly toxic, yet dumped them anyway? How are they not just as responsible as the execs? What about being responsible for your actions? If you do something you KNOW is wrong on someone else's orders, you agree to be held at fault as well. Yeah you could lose your job. What you are doing could cause others to lose their LIFE and that would be on YOUR shoulders, not someone in an office a thousand miles away.

reply to post by peaceblaster


Oh my. I really hope this isn't true. If it is, then what are people thinking?! It seems the more I delve into topics like this the more I realize that people just do not care about the health of anyone. Money is the root of all evil I do believe.

Before folks spout off about "stupid-hippie-tree-huggers" and the like, they should give the material on pollution a going over or three... not that it will help them sleep, but perhaps the info will enable them to support the right kind of government representation, if that can even be found anymore. Money does trump all, lately, and the fact we created a world where we die without dollars exacerbates that fact.

When you see the super-fund areas, and read about mining practices and nuclear waste disposal and half-life, and know, for instance, a pool of concentrated highly toxic goo is a thin dirt restraining wall from the Colorado River, and that the oceans are receiving tons of toxic crap continually and that a gyre of plastic soup larger than the continental U.S. exists in the Pacific, and that the trees and algae we depend on to make the oxygen we all breath are disappearing due to pollution and logging ...well, the environmentalists don't seem so crazy and those that oppose them, do.

We live in a closed system... looking for cleaner alternatives to support our life-styles isn't crazy or too expensive.

jrod
The individual has lost their rights to the rights of corporations to make profits a long time ago. Look at the Supreme Court case of 260 U.S. 393 (1922) PENNSYLVANIA COAL COMPANY v. MAHON ET AL..

The same day this spill happened a bill was bases in the US House that essentially overturns the Clean Water Act of 1972 and if passed in the Senate will leave corporations off the hook for cleaning up their mess. US House passed bill ravaging toxic-waste law - on same day as W. Virginia chemical spill .

While that bill is not expected to pass in the Senate and the White House has vowed to veto it if passed, they do not have a good track record of doing what the promise, especially when the lobbyists have so much to gain if the bill passes.

Who in the House of Representatives would even consider voting for a Bill like this one? Who could possible be up there in D.C. claiming to represent the people when in actuality, they're voting to protect the interests of big money over those of the people?

Well bust my buttons again! I found the answer right there in the article you sourced and here it is;

The legislation was passed by a vote of 225 to 188, mostly along party lines, with all but four Republicans supporting the bill and all but five Democrats opposing it. One of those Democrats crossing party lines to support the changes to environmental law was Rep. Nick Rahall of West Virginia.

Crap like this makes me wonder if the GOP has even one redeeming quality left.