“The water runs out of the pipe like tomato soup: thick with orange sediment.” - Donetta Blankenship, resident of Rawl, WV
Donetta Blankenship has lived in Rawl for about six years. Before she and her family moved to Rawl, they had no health problems. Since moving there, Donetta has been hospitalized for liver failure twice in the last year. Her mother-in-law suffers from pancreatitis. And whenever anyone in the family showers, they get a headache from the rotten egg smell caused by nitrogen sulfate in the water. Donetta has two children, a thirteen-year-old girl and a fourteen-year-old boy, and two stepchildren. Her stepdaughter, at the age of 19, had her gallbladder removed. Since they’ve moved to Rawl, both her children have developed asthma. Her daughter has stomach problems; her son has bumps all over his back and refuses to bathe in the contaminated water that makes it worse. He also has trouble sleeping at night, worrying that the sludge impoundment above their home will give way. Donetta stays because she can’t afford to move her family elsewhere.
In 2005, scientists at Wheeling Jesuit University released a study indicating that water tested in private wells in Rawl, West Virginia exceeded federal drinking water standards for arsenic, lead, iron, aluminum, beryllium, barium, manganese and selenium. Though Massey Energy denied any correlation between nearby mountaintop removal mining operations and the elevated toxin levels, the toxins found in the water are commonly found in coal sludge.
A branch of Massey energy admitted to having pumped millions of gallons of coal sludge into underground reservoirs near Rawl in the 1980s. Ten years ago, a blast powerful enough to shatter windows in a nearby church and homes resonated throughout the Rawl area. Shortly after, the water started to go bad, and residents believe the same blast that destroyed the foundations of dozens of homes may have cracked the barrier between the buried sludge and the aquifer that provides Rawl’s city water. Currently, Donetta says, sometimes the water, “runs out of the pipe like tomato soup: thick with orange sediment.”
Donetta and over 700 other residents of the area filed a lawsuit against Massey Energy, but to date have not received any relief. Donetta says that if they win, they’ll use the money to move elsewhere. They have been working with the Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition and the Sludge Safety Project to safeguard the health of their families and community.
Story written by Lauren Benningfield and Anna Santo and provided courtesy of Appalachian Voices. Photo by Kent Kessinger provided courtesy of Appalachian Voices and Southwings
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November 26th, 2007 at 10:33 pm
Currently, I live in Marquette, MI which is way up north in the Upper Peninsula. Our local power company is Marquette Board of Light & Power and they own the local Shiras Power Plant at the south end of town. Needless to say, I was appalled to learn our power company is purchasing coal produced by the mountaintop removal mining project at Rawl, W. Virginia. I’m currently gathering information so I can send a lettter to the power company, the County Board of Commissioners, our representatives in Congress, and the local newspaper. To make matters worse, the Shiras Power Plant is a technological dinosaur with an intensity index of 2794!
December 30th, 2007 at 12:09 pm
Super, super information on a devestating problem.
thank you.
August 21st, 2008 at 11:57 am
i had no idea! thank you for this information. i LOVE the mountains! i LOVE the trees! we are losing more and more of our natural resources, forests included. we NEED the forests!
let’s keep the coal mining underground where possible.
using the wind for energy … sounds good. i know there are pros and cons to everything. i also think that whoever ‘owns the power’ can practically own the people’s pocket book, and that much of their lives, no matter what the source.
what are ya gonna do, ya know? wind is better than a lot of other sources, but there is still more to ponder.
October 17th, 2008 at 2:49 pm
I am from Bennington, Vermont and in southern Vermont. We get our power from Central Vermont Pub Service Corp. and I had no idea that we get the power from the mountain top removal in Rawl, West Virginia. Without my class at the University of Hartford I would have never known. I can’t believe all the pain and suffering these people are having to deal with just for us to have power. I am so sorry to all of those peoples lives I am hurting everyday.
March 17th, 2009 at 9:12 pm
I live in Norwich Connecticut. We are forming an energy task force here in Norwich and I look forward to ending our use of coal produced by mountaintop removal mining in Rawl, W. Virginia.
May 18th, 2009 at 12:51 am
Please earnestly support S696, HR1310, & HR2169.
Thank you.
January 19th, 2010 at 12:52 am
I think is great to keep people informed about this and other very important environment issues to create sensitivity in our population, which is undoubtely required nowadays when people is selfish and apathic to nature’s and society’s pain. I will e-mail my contacts information about this important issue, i am sure the great majority of our countrymen do not approve these practices.
February 4th, 2010 at 4:59 pm
Where are the pros and cons?
April 7th, 2010 at 9:04 am
I live in Ohio. I have been following the story of MTR destruction for some time and I am a member and supporter of OVEC. I simply wish to offer sincere and heartfelt thanks to the people at OVEC, the West Virginia Highlands Conservancy, and other organizations and people who are joined in opposing MTR, and who wish to bring a better quality of life to the people of this region of the country. I intend to continue to help support this important work.
April 29th, 2010 at 9:48 pm
I live in New Hampshire where we have an old and filthy old coal plant in Bow. I have spoken out against keeping it open at meetings at the state house in Concord. The air pollution and smog in our white mountains is so thick sometimes you can’t even see near by mountains when you are top of them. I have been educating people about the use of coal and MTR for years . This Earth Day I worked with students at Pelham High School. Very few students new about MTR or that we even burn coal in NH for 52% of our energy. We made 6 “Healing Blankets” for the earth. This summer I will be traveling with a group of people from my area and bring them to Larry Gibson’s to see for themselves.
May 14th, 2010 at 8:42 pm
This surprised me, just how close this is to a major feed line into New England. IT goes to show just how close Mountaintop Removal is to everyone.