Well, another county heard from … Sen. Robert C. Byrd’s strong statement yesterday seems to have made other elected officials in West Virginia stop and think about whether they like the idea of more than 220 Raleigh County children attending school less than 300 feet from a huge coal processing plant and just downhill from a gigantic slurry impoundment.
Sen. Jay Rockfeller issued the following statement this afternoon:
“The hazards around Marsh Fork Elementary have been weighing heavily on the minds of parents in the Marsh Fork community for some time. Protecting our children is our first and most fundamental obligation, and it is right to expect the company to help pay for the solution.”
Read Massey’s response to Sen. Byrd’s statement here, and a statement from Congressman Rahall here.
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The Marsh Fork Elementary School situation has been in existence for years.
While it’s heartening to hear that the issue is finally getting wider attention, it should be pointed out that Ed Wiley, grandfather of one of the students, walked to Washington and personally informed Senator Byrd of the situation on September 13, 2006. See: http://www.ohvec.org/galleries/people_in_action/2006/09_14/index.html
And lest he too, should suddenly become aware of the school sitting beneath a leaking billion-gallon slurry impoundment, the fact is that Joe Manchin has known about this and done nothing for more than three years.
Of course Governor Manchin knew of the situation that existed at Marsh Fork Elementary School for years. He has even went so far as to arrest the peaceful protesters that tried to talk to him about this several years ago.
Governor Manchin’s response to everything that these people from Southern West Virginia try to do, is send in State Troopers to arrest them. No matter that many of them are living on the poverty level, he feels that if they can protest, then they can pay the fines.
If any governor has given West Virginia a bad name, and has industries from wanting to locate here, then I would have to say that it would be Governor Joe Manchin. Also many industries are closing their doors here and moving to other states. Way to go Joe.
I was told by the Governor’s office that “there is a process that we must go through that starts at the local level”.
The Governor can speak out about for the coal industry on the EPA permits but not Marsh Fork. We told the Governor that there is a process for the EPA permits as well and yet he spoke out. This really makes me wonder what is going on here with the Governor.