West Virginia has a
chemical spill last week that no one really cares about. But really, the coal
mines weren’t involved…well, they were, but we’re going to stress that they
weren’t until we can’t anymore. I have a particular kind of loathing for coal
companies, not the workers of course.
The chemical,
4-Methylcyclohexane Methanol, is in fact used by the coal industry and was
spilled in the Elk River outside of Charleston, which puts it way closer to my
family than I’m comfortable with. The spill triggeres a tap water ban for
300,000 people, which shut down schools, bars, and restaurants, and forced
residents to line up for bottled water (coming back to the dystopian future we
currently reside in). Governor Earl Ray Tomblin declared a state of emergency, “West
Virginians in the affected service areas are urged not to use tap water for
drinking, cooking, washing or bathing. Right now, our priorities are our
hospitals, nursing homes and schools.”
Emergency workers
were working on transporting water to distribution centers in the affected
counties. Of course, stores ran out quickly of water. Of course, this means
some people were able to hoard water and supplies while others (poor people)
couldn’t. The spill originated from Freedom Industries, a Charleston company.
The chemical, 4-Methylcyclohexane
Methanol, can have a variety of harmful consequences including it is harmful if
swallowed, but also if it has contact with the skin or eyes. Apparently, the authorities
were alerted to a strange order, and then discovered the leaking tank. Of course
the water is being tested to see the scope of the problem. Freedom Industries
is allegedly working with the state and feds to get water access to residents
of course they
didn’t have a statement.
ThinkProgress had a
piece on the chemical spill as well, but their’s focused on the terrifying
aspects people aren’t really paying attention to. It was written by Katie
Valentine. According to Valentine’s piece, five people were transported to
the hospital within hours of the spill and 9-1-1 received more than 1,000 calls
within hours.
Valentine wrote
about the West Virginia American Water Co. press conference which was on Friday.
Her six points of
concern:
- No one knows when the water will be safe enough to drink.
- At this point we don’t know when the leak began and we don’t know how much of the chemical was dumped into the Elk River. At last check at least 5,000 gallons.
- Freedom Industries hasn’t been in communication with the water company. Yep, that’s a thing.
- Apparently, we don’t have a standard process for testing the toxicity of the water. At first the water company was told it was a different chemical than it actually is, and water testing doesn’t usually test for it.
- We’re not really sure how damaging the chemical is when diluted. The reality is they don’t know how dangerous the chemical is, if the water is safe, or not.
- The chemical will leach into the soil. Valentine’s piece says “may”, but anyone who has seen West Virginia’s ecosystem will tell you if that leak has been going (and remember we don’t know how long it has been) then it is already in the soil. Now, we don’t know what that means. I’m not sure what the chemical does in the coal mining process, but I imagine any chemical used for coal mining will have some negative consequences on the environment.
At the bottom of
the post you’ll see a tweet from Monday saying the water is ban has been
lifted. I have no information if that means the water is safe to drink or if
they still have to boil it.
Now, back to the
dystopian future we find ourselves in. Anyone concerned that a corporation
leaked a chemical into the ecosystem, lied about chemicals uses and properties;
the government put a ban on water, closing school, and many businesses in the
process; and resulting in the mass consumption of bottled and distilled water
from other corporations (which was overseen by the police)? This could have been a scene in a dystopian
novel on how society looks immediately before the fall. Also, subtext “forced
consumerism brought to you by unregulated capitalism in a militarized state.”
Now, this sounds
like I’m crazy, I get it. But I’m not trying to sound alarmist, instead I’m
trying to point out the impact and consequences of deregulation and the
assumptions that corporations will do what is best for society and not
themselves. Unregulated corporations regardless of industry being able to
influence access to basic human needs (and I believe access to water is a
right) is a pretty big price to pay. Also, this wasn’t even intentional.
BREAKING: W.Va.
governor says a ban on tap water, after a chemical leaked into river,.has now
been lifted for parts of the state.
— The Associated Press
(@AP) January
13, 2014
