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PAN Volunteers Visit Prenter, WV PDF Print E-mail

ImageOn Sunday, January 11, Plateau Action Network Volunteers from Thurmond, Fayetteville and Oak Hill- and three organizers from Raleigh county traveled 1 1/2 hours to Prenter, WV . Boone County, to help insulate and attach plug in heat tape to drinking water barrels. Barrels of drinking water are needed in Prenter because wells have been poisoned from mining activity in the area. We got 40 out of about 250 barrels done. Some barrels are inside but most are outside on porches. Tonight and tomorrow temps are to be in the single digits.

Click Here to view Prenter, WV in Google Maps and note the extensive mountain top removal strip mining surrounding the town and the massive coal sludge impoundment at the head of the valley where Prenter residents live. 

Maria Lambert seems to be the main person in the Prenter community making an effort to get clean water to the residents. She prepared a hot lunch for us and invited us into her home to warm up. Maria told us the history of the Prenter coal camps and her childhood when well water and the streams were clean and full. Before  the mid 80s or so, coal slurry was unregulated and was disposed of by pumping it into abandoned underground mines. Starting about ten years ago, when serious blasting and mountain-top removal mining got going and got closer to the communities, well levels started to drop, went dry on occasion and turned black, pink or some other shade of pollution.
 
She told of the slow realization in the community that many residents had the same illnesses- cancers and diseases of the nerves(manganese poisoning), gums, skin, gall bladder etc. Children are no longer allowed to play in Big Jarrells Creek. She told of the dilemma the people face where most residents are somehow dependent on the coal mines for their living yet realizing that it is the mining activity that was poisoning them and their children- How to speak out and not be punished? Slowly, some are doing  something.

 

ImageThere is to be a water-line installed at taxpayer expense, the governor has recently announced, and the residents will then have to pay to be hooked up to it and then pay the water company for water that they once got from the true public water supply- springs, groundwater and streams.
 
We stopped by the Marsh Fork Elementary School on the way home. It was dark by then, but we could easily see the school, the coal silo and the mammoth coal operation that we  have  heard about for years- It was all lit up from the coal operation lights lining the conveyor lines a hundred feet in the air crossing the road, creek and valley.
 
Fayette County is honeycombed with underground mines from the past 150 years and the daily explosions noon and 5 PM from the area towards Page and Kincaid should be a reminder that Fayette County may face similar disasters... if one looks at all the damage done to the Prenter community, it really is a disaster. Remember  that the at least one state delegate, the County Commission, town of Oak Hill, Trout Unlimited, PAN and others recognized the value of Loop Creek when we tried to have it protected with the anti-degradation  law and Tier 2.5 designation. Loop Creek drains a large area of Fayette County around Page and Kincaid. though
 
Gauley Mountain- a prominent part of our scenic landscape in the heart of a prime recreation and tourism area- mountain-top removal is well underway. Two national river parks, one state park, and the town  of Ansted surround this operation. Rich Creek is a known high quality stream draining this area.  
 
We need coal but we also need clean water and healthy places to live. The anti-degradation law passed last year stipulated certain waterways surrounded by public lands would have strong anti-degradation protection. It also provides for waterways to be nominated for the protection. Loop Creek was a high quality stream several years ago- good enough to support stocked trout.  We might consider petitioning the DEP to have it protected by the Anti-degradation regulations.  
 
Cleaning up is far more costly in dollars and illness than the costs of prevention. Congressman Rahall is introducing coal slurry regulations and there are all the other existing county and state regulations that require best management practices in mining and land use. These things do no good if not enforced to prevent the environmental/ community damage from occurring in the first place.
 
There are many efforts already underway to protect people and the environment and to develop diverse sustainable economies, including coal minng. Let us know if you would like to be part of the solution or if you already have a place for people to plug in.
 

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