Outrage: Guess Which Company Has Over 12,000 Clean Water Violations
source: http://www.alternet.org/blogs/water/145081/outrage%3A_guess_which_company_has_over_12%2C000_...
Massey Energy has a bad reputation even in the dirty coal business and it's getting worse. A coalition of environmental groups is trying to get the company to come clean on over 12,000 violations of the Clean Water Act and surface mining laws in West Virginia.
This is an outrage. Where's the state and federal oversight?
The Sierra Club reported:
Massey has a long history of environmental and social irresponsibility-including one of the largest slurry spills ever to take place in the United States and a $1.5 million fine from the Mine Safety and Health Administration. In 2008 the company was fined $20 million for Clean Water Act violations, similar to those cited by the coalition, after the federal government documented over 4,600 cases of pollution being illegally dumped into local waters by Massey and its subsidiaries. Incredibly, Massey's violations have increased in frequency since its settlement with the federal government.
This comes just weeks after leading scientists determined that no amount of remediation could ever be enough to make up for the damage done by mountain top removal mining and the practice should be banned.
Dr Margaret Palmer of the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science is quoted as saying:
No longer can we risk human and environmental health in our never-ending search for inexpensive energy. We need to move beyond filling valleys with mountaintop mining waste and temporarily storing fly ash in containment ponds to a modern energy production process built upon sound science, environmental safety and economic common sense.
If only the EPA felt that way!
Funny, isn't the EPA from the same Government that wants to tax you for your carbon output? Will any efforts to save the planet ever work if the citizens must pay and change lifestyles but the companies get a pass? Maybe the first place we should look for change is from the same people pushing for it?
This is an outrage. Where's the state and federal oversight?
The Sierra Club reported:
Massey has a long history of environmental and social irresponsibility-including one of the largest slurry spills ever to take place in the United States and a $1.5 million fine from the Mine Safety and Health Administration. In 2008 the company was fined $20 million for Clean Water Act violations, similar to those cited by the coalition, after the federal government documented over 4,600 cases of pollution being illegally dumped into local waters by Massey and its subsidiaries. Incredibly, Massey's violations have increased in frequency since its settlement with the federal government.
This comes just weeks after leading scientists determined that no amount of remediation could ever be enough to make up for the damage done by mountain top removal mining and the practice should be banned.
Dr Margaret Palmer of the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science is quoted as saying:
No longer can we risk human and environmental health in our never-ending search for inexpensive energy. We need to move beyond filling valleys with mountaintop mining waste and temporarily storing fly ash in containment ponds to a modern energy production process built upon sound science, environmental safety and economic common sense.
If only the EPA felt that way!
Funny, isn't the EPA from the same Government that wants to tax you for your carbon output? Will any efforts to save the planet ever work if the citizens must pay and change lifestyles but the companies get a pass? Maybe the first place we should look for change is from the same people pushing for it?
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