It is hard to imagine how heavy metals like mercury that are listed as a hazardous element by the EPA are not considered hazardous when it called coal sludge. The may sludge ponds in Kentucky and West Virginia are really a larger environmental threat than the Ash storage slurry pond that just failed in Tennessee. Thay have the same heavy metal content plus most are repositories for the sludge left over from the coal cleaning process. The chemicals added to the coal preparation process is used mainly for separating the coal from the dirt mixed in with the coal during the mining process or just the plain old dirty coal that is typical in the Eastern coalfields. The chemicals used eventually enter the water table one way or another the spectacular spills are just the method that gets the most media attention. A large impoundment in Virginia was turned loose on the midnight shift for years at times when the morning work crowd would not see the black water in the river. Sometimes they would not time it right and the water would still be running coal black at 7 AM. I reported it several times to no avail.

After Mountain Top Removal is stopped a serious study is going to have to be done on the cleaning of coal and the sludge impoundments located in Ky. and W.Va.

The eons of time and nature was good to us down here. It was not until we become civilized that destroying our habitat become fathomable or fashionable.

As bad as all of this is, I find it very hard to believe that anything will get done as long as the coal industry controls West Virginia politics and the West Virginia politicians are well placed to do their bidding.

Who really believes that West Virginia Congressman Nick Rahall will do anything to stop Mountain Rop Removal mining or to force action on the toxic cleanup.  After all, as Chair of the House Committee on Natural Resources he can keep any legislation bottled up tighter that a TVA dam. Rahall is better than his predecessor (Pombo) but that is not a high standard.

Then, when we begin to look at Science in government and how money is spent, you find another West Virginia Congressman right there to give coal their big dollar stimulus for the Clean Coal Ad Campaign. That is Alan Mollohan, Chair of the Appropriations SubCommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies.

Since both Rahall and Mollohan are Democrats, what we get is going to be a Democratic stew with lots of good words but Massey Energy should sleep well tonight.

It is no wonder that PompeyRoad got no reaction. It was all taken care of.

Wes Rolley CoChair - EcoAction Committee Green Party US

One thing I forgot to mention.  This pond and the Marshfork Elementary School, is in the 3rd Congressional District. That is Nick Rahall's District... as in the Chair of the House Committee on Natural Resources.

Wes Rolley CoChair - EcoAction Committee Green Party US

"A couple weeks ago an earthen damn (sic) holding back billions of gallons of coal sludge..."

There, that fixes it.  No coal sludge-water-boarding necessary!

http://amazngdrx.blogharbor.com/blog John Schneider, Northern Wisconsin