This morning Ken Ward of the WVGazette has reported that the DEP board has ruled that Massey energy can build a new coal silo 300feet from Marsh Creek Elementary School. The board split on the vote but a majority ruled that Massey could build it.
I cannot believe this. Imagine the dust, constant rumble of trucks, not to mention the sludge pond up the hollar from the school. I just can't image how folks could rationalize the placement of this silo there.
Do you think it is just a conicidence that Google Maps does not have a satellite picture available for viewing of this region?
Luckily Yahoo Maps does! If you look at the area you can see what looks like a large lake, that is a slurry pond. A collection of coal waste, ie slurry. It is thick and nasty. In 2000 a slurry pond in Inez, KY broke. It was a larger ecological disaster than Valdez, there 267,000 gallons of crude spilled in Prince William Sound, in Inez 250 MILLION gallons of sludge spilled into 60 miles of rivers and streams. Unfortunately there are no penguins in Appalachia. Fortunately for, you guessed it, Massey energy there aint no penguins in Appalachia, the story received scant coverage by the major news media. The largest ecological disaster in the nation and it barely received coverage in All the News that is Fit to Print!
here is a follow up story by salon.com
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