Recently a team of researchers told West Virginia legislators that there is a desperate need to start monitoring coal slurry even though their study found no hazards to public health.
West Virginia University scientists cited that the waste water played a dramatic role in the increase in toxins that they found during research.
However the researchers did state the results left them unable to say whether the state should end or extend its ban on new sites for pumping slurry underground. The researchers also said that filling the data gap would require a long and costly study. The study would require much planning and federal funding.
Despite the environmental impacts the coal industry continues to use and defend slurry storage methods as safe. Researchers say that blasting added to the natural shifting beneath the earth allows the slurry to leak into water sheds that feed drinking supplies. Coalfield communities like Prenter Hollow and Rawl have filed suit against the coal industry alleging that coal slurry injection not only poisoned their wells, but made them sick.
It has been suggested to West Virginia legislators that a new, stronger monitoring system be put in place to check for a wide range of toxins which includes frequent testing and also testing to the area prior to slurry being injected into an underground site.
These new regulations may prevent new watersheds from becoming toxic, but they would come far too late to help those in Prenter and Rawl who are all ready suffering from the coal industries utter disrespect for human life.
source: Business Week magazine
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