Do you remember when Gary Southern and Carl Kennedy poisoned the waters of West Virginia?  Their “Freedom Industries” chemical plant dumped toxic compounds into the rivers where folks obtained their drinking water.   Were they punished?  Not yet- and it’s been 5 years.

That’s kind of like a place near me- and when this happened, my office was almost directly across the street.  Star Enterprise, a Saudi Arabian big oil firm operated a tanker farm off Pickett Road in Fairfax- except the tanks leaked and polluted the groundwater.  And, the tony (read rich) community of Mantua (part of Fairfax County, Virginia) had to prohibit residents from drawing water from their wells.  Because they would be come ill; because leukemia could develop among the residents.

Star bought off the community by providing bottled water- and buying the 26 homes that were most damaged by the spill.  (At first, it was unclear who would be responsible.  The tanker farm that polluted the underground was owned by Star, Chevron, Amoco, and Citgo.  And, it’s pretty big- supplying some 40% of the total petroleum supply for Northern Virginia.  But, it became clear that Star was the offender.) Star also guaranteed the selling price for homes near ground zero- and it is thought that Star now owns of controls 20% of this tony neighborhood.

Don’t think these stories are aberrations.  The American Society of Civil Engineers has been warning America that its infrastructure is at best piss-poor. (Pun intended!) Our drinking water system barely earned a D on their most recent report.  Pipes that were considered to possess a 75 year life before they should be replaced are actually older than a century.  So, it’s not surprising that about 14% of our water supply seeps out of the pipes, never to reach a customer.

Which is why there are plenty of similar problems.  One of the newest problem areas (Y’all know about Flint by now) is in Appalachia.  And, it is a somewhat unique problem.  After all,  the high pressure that is needed to pump the water up to the  mountain tops provides a special problem.  Because now those leaking pipes that lose 14% of the water they pump are also creating a vacuum at the leak site.  That vacuum means  the surrounding dirt and chemicals in the soil get sucked in  and mixed with the piped water.  You know, the byproducts of coal plants long abandoned.

Which means those folks are guaranteed elevated rates of liver, kidney, and CNS (central nervous system) disorders, higher cancer risks- not to mention foul-tasting and smelling water at their taps.

In the meantime, Kentucky is more worried about punishing the poor, forcing them to look for work (for jobs that simply don’t exist in the Commonwealth) to receive Medicaid benefits.  And, our mendicant in chief is more interested in punishing the immigrant rather than rebuilding our infrastructure.

Don’t think you and I are not the next test dummies in this water debacle.

Share this: