H2OKits.com Water Blog

Residents of several Mingo County communities are suing Massey Energy. They’ve been trying to push the lawsuit through for four years and could soon get their day in court. They say the coal company knowingly polluted their water with coal sludge, causing a multitude of health problems.  Residents of several Mingo County communities are suing Massey Energy. They’ve been trying to push the lawsuit through for four years and could soon get their day in court. They say the coal company knowingly polluted their water with coal sludge, causing a multitude of health problems.  After years of drawing clear water from their wells, families in the small communities clustered along the hill between Matewan and Williamson saw their good water turn bad. Sometimes it would be red, orange or coal-black. Even when it was clear, it often left a bad smell or a burning sensation on their skin.  “It burned little places in your skin,” said Ernie Brown, who has lived with his wife, Carmelita, in a house in Rawl since 1979. “Matter of fact, I’ve got places on my face right now where it burnt. You’d get out and you’d start to dry, and when the towel would hit it, it would strip your skin. Your skin would feel like it’d been stripped with acid.”  The Brown’s house is near the Rawl Sales and Coal Processing Plant. From a large picture window in the living room, they can see Massey CEO Don Blankenship’s house perched on a neighboring mountain.  The communities near the plant now have city water thanks to a Small City Block Grant. But they spent a decade lobbying for it. The Browns and their surrounding neighbors say their wells were contaminated from coal slurry. Coal slurry is a toxic liquid produced when coal is washed with chemicals to prepare it for sale.  The Rawl Sales and Coal Processing Plant had a permit from 1977 to 1986, allowing it to inject coal slurry into an underground abandoned mine nearby.  Ernie Brown thinks the slurry leaked out.  “And just imagine somebody drinking off of that. And bathe and cook and brush your teeth,” he said.  “And just imagine, for us here in these areas, our wells were actually in that. We were actually using off of the raw sludge. Not treated, but raw sludge. Every chemical they use, we were exposed to.”  Wheeling Jesuit University biology professor Ben Stout tested wells near the processing plant. The water contained lead, arsenic, manganese and iron. He says many of the heavy metals found in the water could have a negative impact on health but manganese may be the worst.  “Manganese is probably one that scares me more than any just because of the unique symptoms within these communities,” Stout said. “There’s several different potential consequences regarding dental care and also potentially dementia and I don’t think that much is well known about it.  “But those are really high levels of manganese down there in Williamson in those wells.”  The health problems throughout the Mingo County communities vary. Carmelita Brown had chronic kidney infections and kidney stones for years. Ernie Brown had a tumor removed from his sinuses. Both say they’ve developed memory problems.  The Browns say the water ruined more than their health. The water corroded their pipes and appliances. It filled their home with hydrogen sulfide gas, which smells like rotten eggs and carries with it its own health risks.  Carmelita Brown says more than two decades of living in a home filled with gas and polluted water was unbearable at times.  “Oh I tell you, if it was any day that I wanted to pack my stuff and leave, it was that day,” she said, remembering a day when the corrosion ate through yet another kitchen faucet. “I wanted to leave. I wanted to get away from the state of West Virginia and away from this problem.  “I sit now and I think about it. No one knows what I went through unless they’ve lived here and went through this. There were days I wished I could not even live. I was so sick. My kidneys, I thought they were actually going to fail me. I would never wish this on my worst enemy. But to think that the coal company would do something like this.”  The lawsuit alleges the coal company knowingly polluted the water. The plaintiffs are hoping to collect damages to monitor and treat health problems that they say stemmed from the pollution. Donetta Blankenship lives down the road from the Browns. The 40-year-old suffered liver disease twice over a two-year period. She says she’s never a touched a drink of alcohol in her life. She says financial compensation for her illness would be nice, but she hopes at the very least the lawsuit raises awareness.  “But the way that I feel about it, if it’s one of the biggest lawsuits you know in newspapers and everything, it’s going to get out all over the United States,” she said. “And if other people can see what’s going on, maybe they’ll start looking into their water and stuff.”  Blankenship, no relation to Massey CEO Don Blankenship, says to prevent similar problems in the future, coal companies will have to change their priorities.  “We just need to start looking out more for each other,” she said.  “And the coal companies…it’s not right that they can get by with letting the sludge go down in our wells and stuff. They need to start fessing up and pay out a little more money to do it right and consider people’s feelings, consider people’s health.”  The citizens filed their lawsuit in Mingo County Circuit Court. Jury selection begins February 17. Multiple requests to interview someone from Massey Energy Company for this story were not returned. After years of drawing clear water from their wells, families in the small communities clustered along the hill between Matewan and Williamson saw their good water turn bad. Sometimes it would be red, orange or coal-black. Even when it was clear, it often left a bad smell or a burning sensation on their skin.  “It burned little places in your skin,” said Ernie Brown, who has lived with his wife, Carmelita, in a house in Rawl since 1979. “Matter of fact, I’ve got places on my face right now where it burnt. You’d get out and you’d start to dry, and when the towel would hit it, it would strip your skin. Your skin would feel like it’d been stripped with acid.”  The Brown’s house is near the Rawl Sales and Coal Processing Plant. From a large picture window in the living room, they can see Massey CEO Don Blankenship’s house perched on a neighboring mountain.  The communities near the plant now have city water thanks to a Small City Block Grant. But they spent a decade lobbying for it. The Browns and their surrounding neighbors say their wells were contaminated from coal slurry. Coal slurry is a toxic liquid produced when coal is washed with chemicals to prepare it for sale.  The Rawl Sales and Coal Processing Plant had a permit from 1977 to 1986, allowing it to inject coal slurry into an underground abandoned mine nearby.  Ernie Brown thinks the slurry leaked out.  “And just imagine somebody drinking off of that. And bathe and cook and brush your teeth,” he said.  “And just imagine, for us here in these areas, our wells were actually in that. We were actually using off of the raw sludge. Not treated, but raw sludge. Every chemical they use, we were exposed to.”  Wheeling Jesuit University biology professor Ben Stout tested wells near the processing plant. The water contained lead, arsenic, manganese and iron. He says many of the heavy metals found in the water could have a negative impact on health but manganese may be the worst.  “Manganese is probably one that scares me more than any just because of the unique symptoms within these communities,” Stout said. “There’s several different potential consequences regarding dental care and also potentially dementia and I don’t think that much is well known about it.  “But those are really high levels of manganese down there in Williamson in those wells.”  The health problems throughout the Mingo County communities vary. Carmelita Brown had chronic kidney infections and kidney stones for years. Ernie Brown had a tumor removed from his sinuses. Both say they’ve developed memory problems.  The Browns say the water ruined more than their health. The water corroded their pipes and appliances. It filled their home with hydrogen sulfide gas, which smells like rotten eggs and carries with it its own health risks.  Carmelita Brown says more than two decades of living in a home filled with gas and polluted water was unbearable at times.  “Oh I tell you, if it was any day that I wanted to pack my stuff and leave, it was that day,” she said, remembering a day when the corrosion ate through yet another kitchen faucet. “I wanted to leave. I wanted to get away from the state of West Virginia and away from this problem.  “I sit now and I think about it. No one knows what I went through unless they’ve lived here and went through this. There were days I wished I could not even live. I was so sick. My kidneys, I thought they were actually going to fail me. I would never wish this on my worst enemy. But to think that the coal company would do something like this.”  The lawsuit alleges the coal company knowingly polluted the water. The plaintiffs are hoping to collect damages to monitor and treat health problems that they say stemmed from the pollution.  Donetta Blankenship lives down the road from the Browns. The 40-year-old suffered liver disease twice over a two-year period. She says she’s never a touched a drink of alcohol in her life. She says financial compensation for her illness would be nice, but she hopes at the very least the lawsuit raises awareness.  “But the way that I feel about it, if it’s one of the biggest lawsuits you know in newspapers and everything, it’s going to get out all over the United States,” she said. “And if other people can see what’s going on, maybe they’ll start looking into their water and stuff.”  Blankenship, no relation to Massey CEO Don Blankenship, says to prevent similar problems in the future, coal companies will have to change their priorities.  “We just need to start looking out more for each other,” she said.  “And the coal companies…it’s not right that they can get by with letting the sludge go down in our wells and stuff. They need to start fessing up and pay out a little more money to do it right and consider people’s feelings, consider people’s health.” The citizens filed their lawsuit in Mingo County Circuit Court. Jury selection begins February 17. Multiple requests to interview someone from Massey Energy Company for this story were not returned. WV Pubcast News January 24, 2009