Forced consumerism brought to you by unregulated capitalism in a militarized state

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

West Virginia Delegate thinks kids should work for meals, well they do have tiny hands so better quality, right?

Tyler Kingkade wrote a brief piece for the Huffington Post, and yeah, I don’t like them either, but brevity is key. Kingkade wrote about West Virginia Republicans who proposed making kids work for food in schools. Take a minute.

Delegate Ray Canterbury (R-Greenbrier) has floated the idea in West Virginia’s House of Delegates of having school children work as janitors during a floor debate. The West Virginia House passed a school lunch bill (89-9), which is amazing. This bill is going to Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin who is expected to sign it. The Feed to Achieve Act establishes nonprofits to solicit private donations to go toward providing every child breakfast at no cost. However, there are a lot of poor people in West Virginia so I can’t imagine funding through donation is going to feed every child, but hey, step in the right direction (pun!).

Naturally, a republican thought this was going too far. Those kids being lazy and needing food. Del. Canterbury said, “I think it would be a good idea if perhaps we had the kids work for their lunches: trash to be taken out hallways to be swept, lawns to be mowed, make them earn it. If they miss a lunch or they miss a meal they might not, in that class that afternoon, learn to add, they might not learn to diagram a sentence, but they’ll learn a more important lesson.”

Kids, they’ve had it too easy for too long. So, silly me, a few questions. How do the paid janitors feel about this proposal? How many hours or “labor actions” will an individual child be forced to work? The cost of the meal? What is the pay rate for each “labor action”? If the child does too many or works too many hours will he/she be compensated with money? What if the child has a balance of "labor actions"?

Canterbury’s argument is rooted in the poor people are lazy myth. Feed children and they won’t have a work ethic. I’d argue that importance lesson is ostracize your poor peers. After all they are destined to be burdens on the system, which will be ensured if they don’t I don’t know learn to add. Fuck you buddy. Fuck you. But don’t worry, Canterbury will create an impoverished serving class. Bastard. Also, though is shouldn't need to be said: THE POOR GENERALLY WORKER HARDER THAN EVERYONE ELSE. For real, often multiple low-wage, physically demanding jobs. But anyone who wants to try me on this is welcome to a punch in the face.

Not everyone is sold, Del. Meshea (D-Kanawha) was pretty offended, saying, “I'm offended anybody in this body would dare say a child has to work for their meals. I can’t believe someone would say a first-grader, a second-grader…a fifth grader has to labor before they eat. This isn’t an entitlement bill.”

In 2004, a report from the Annie E. Casey Foundation found children were twice as likely to live in neighborhood with high poverty rates compared to the national average. This group also ranks West Virginia as 47^th nationally for education with 79% of eighth graders not proficient in math and 73% of fourth graders not proficient in reading. So you know, you can only go up. Oh, and free meals will help with these figures. We know a majority of teachers report their students are coming to school hungry, which makes it more difficult for them to learn.

Oh my rage.