Thousands warned not to drink water after W. Va. spill

[Cherry]

Yes it has that brownish color from rust in the pipes, but this color of the water is yellowish and smells like Licorice. I'm not really surprised, a few years ago I went camping near Seneca Rocks and camped right on the river there.
I swear I had such an eerie feeling because there was not much wildlife. No little fishies, not many larger ones, no insects and I only saw one KingFisher skim the river for a fish.
Now, there were no tadpoles no frogs, and it was just too quiet. I couldn't get over that I felt it was contaminated even then; from either fracking or the coal industry. There were no bug bites to contend with either. It just...wasn't "right" and I knew it. There wasn't an odor, there was just silence and that was what started my thought process that something just isn't right and it must be all the mountain top removal that goes on around here.

 

[Reader]

A Century of Controversy, Accidents in West Virginia’s Chemical Valley in Lead-up to Spill

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/...hemical-spill-coal/?google_editors_picks=true

Even before last week's chemical spill fouled tap water in nine counties in West Virginia, where more than 200,000 people still cannot use their water after seven long days, it was not unusual to find black water running from kitchen faucets in homes outside Charleston.

Or to see children with chronic skin rashes. Or bathtub enamel eaten away, leaving locals to wonder what the same water was doing to their teeth.

"Welcome to our world," says Vivian Stockman, 52, a longtime resident of rural Roane County, north of Charleston, the state capital, and an activist with the Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition.

Indeed, people who live in the Kanawha River Valley, which much of the world learned recently is also known as Chemical Valley, have endured a long history of pollution of many kinds.

The coal-cleansing chemical that spilled from Freedom Industries' storage tank into the Elk River last Thursday is only the latest insult in what for some has been a lifetime of industrial accidents that have poisoned groundwater, spewed toxic gas emissions, and caused fires, explosions, and other disasters that neither state nor federal regulators have been able to protect against........more.......

Has a diagram of Chemical Valley showing all the chemical manufacturers along the river.

 

[jmix]

Wasn't it not that long ago when people were complaining that Obama was trying to "kill" the coal industry?

I guess that it is timing….or need…that causes people to wake and realize how dangerous for the environment that mining coal truly is

 

[Blondie in Spokane]

"Company files for bankruptcy after West Virginia chemical spill"

"The company blamed for a chemical spill that left 300,000 West Virginians without safe drinking water filed for bankruptcy Friday, temporarily shielding them from dozens of lawsuits, most by businesses that were forced to shut down for days."

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2014/01/1...y-after-wva-chemical-spill/?intcmp=latestnews

 

[Blondie in Spokane]

Don't Drink the Water, Whatever They say, Senator Says

http://abcnews.go.com/t/blogentry?id=22426687&source=hp