Promises of a Pennsylvanian paradise have ended in the largest unlined coal ash impoundment in the United States. For the community members of Chester, West Virginia, the damages of toxic waste are a reality. FirstEnergy advertised residential opportunities surrounding Little Blue Lake, a man-made lake supposed to be safe for people. FirstEnergy told the public that the lake would be formed by depositing coal ash. They claimed that the coal ash would harden to form a cement base for the water, making the lake safe and accessible. However, residents of the community eventually began to question the validity of FirstEnergy’s claims when Little Blue turned into Little Teal; the chemicals from the coal ash had changed the water to the color of a Caribbean beach. The residents also noticed the smell. Odors the residents describe as rotten eggs and sewer waste began to blow throughout the town.
Curt and Deb Havens began to track the changes in their community – and began to fight. Frequently spending time outside, Deb would often have to retreat to the house because she was having trouble breathing the air. This prompted Deb to record the dates, times, and weather conditions accompanying the smells, as Curt took photographs of the changing characteristics of the lake. After continually conducting research on the issue, Curt and Deb began organizing.
Lisa Evans of Earthjustice, a nonprofit organization of lawyers and advocates, describes the science behind the problem. She states: “When you burn the coal, the burning concentrates those elements in the ash, so that you have chemicals like arsenic, cadmium, chromium, selenium, thallium, deadly chemicals that were originally in the coal and get concentrated after burning” (Maz). In addition to the chemicals mentioned by Evans, coal ash includes many other chemicals, such as barium, beryllium, boron, cobalt, copper, lead, magnesium, manganese, molybdenum, nickel, potassium, silver, and strontium (Maz).
As I am currently taking the course, Energy and the Environment 101, I have been learning about the process of coal combustion and the production of coal ash. While coal-fired power plants have come to include many technologies to try to reduce harmful emissions, it is astonishing to me that companies today would attempt to simply dump coal ash, especially as encapsulated coal ash can be reused to create new materials, such as wallboard, concrete, roofing materials and bricks (Fionn-Bowman).
While the video about Little Blue Lake did not explicitly mention any health issues that have resulted from Little Blue Lake, there remains the possibility that the residents of the community may face health challenges in the future due to the toxicity of the water. Although First Energy now pumps city water into the homes in Chester, unpurified water is used for spraying vegetable gardens, and grazing cattle still drink the unpurified water from springs. The issue reaches further than one contained body of water. It’s an issue of national concern. I think that the EPA needs to receive more resources in order to be able to more closely regulate companies to avoid such environmental damages. Once the community members formed the Little Blue Regional Action Group and began working with a lawyer, they realized that all of the coal ash discharges from FirstEnergy were illegal. FirstEnergy was flagrantly ignoring EPA regulations, yet it has taken a great deal of time and citizen effort for the issue to gain the attention and proper action from the EPA. Somehow “our household garbage is better regulated than coal ash,” a huge hazard to the environment and people (Maz).
There has been a federal court order for the closure of the nation’s largest coal ash impoundment. However, Environmental Integrity Project continues to work to make sure that it is not only closed, but also actually cleaned. I can’t begin to understand why the reclamation of the land was not included in the initial court order, especially as all new mines are federally mandated to restore the land after drilling or mining.
At the end of the video, the following sentence appears on the screen: “Thanks to citizen activism and a lawsuit filed by Environmental Integrity Project and Public Justice, the state of Pennsylvania ruled that FirstEnergy will no longer be allowed to dump coal ash at Little Blue beginning in 2016.”
Let’s pause just a moment. So you mean to tell me that FirstEnergy can continue to pollute for another 13 months? I am very confused why the deposition of coal ash in the lake would not be stopped immediately. However, “an Earthjustice lawsuit against the EPA is forcing the agency to finalize the first-ever federal regulations for coal ash by December 2014 (Maz),” and I strongly hope that the regulation will pass. While the issue affecting the people of Chester, West Virginia is alarming, the case of Little Blue Lake is also an example of collective community action, and the power that citizens can have when working together for the benefit of their community.
Fionn-Bowman, Rhiannon. (2013). Setting the Record Straight on the ‘Beneficial Use’ of Coal Ash. Coal Ash Chronicles. Retrieved October 25, 2014, from http://www.coalashchronicles.com/beneficial-resuse/setting-the-record-straight-on-the-beneficial-use-of-coal-ash.
Ali, Maz. (2014). They Call It the ‘Pennsylvania Caribbean,’ but You Wouldn’t Catch Me Swimming in Those Waters. Upworthy. Retrieved October 25, 2014, from http://www.upworthy.com/they-call-it-the-pennsylvania-caribbean-but-you-wouldnt-catch-me-swimming-in-those-waters?g=2&c=ufb1.
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