‘State of emergency’ in West Virginia

[ProSense]

‘State of emergency’ in West Virginia

By Steve Benen

It’s been four days since a coal-processing chemical leaked into the Elk River, leaving 300,000 residents in West Virginia’s Kanawha Valley without water service. A nine-county area is still under a “state of emergency,” and Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin (D) cannot yet give locals a timeline of when conditions will return to normal.

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The crisis began Thursday when a business called Freedom Industries – that’s actually the company’s name – accidentally leaked 4-methylcyclohexane methanol from a ruptured storage tank near the Elk River. The chemical, known as MCHM, is used to wash coal. Government agencies have rushed to respond, addressing the spill and shipping bottled water to the area for local residents...because officials in West Virginia were aware of the hazardous chemicals being stored at the facilities, coupled with the fact that the storage tanks were not inspected regularly, it’s probably time for a broader conversation about the importance of government regulations.

Last week’s major chemical spill into West Virginia’s Elk River, which cut off water to more than 300,000 people, came in a state with a long and troubled history of regulating the coal and chemical companies that form the heart of its economy.

“We can’t just point a single finger at this company,” said Angela Rosser, the executive director of West Virginia Rivers Coalition. “We need to look at our entire system and give some serious thought to making some serious reform and valuing our natural resources over industry interests.”

She said lawmakers have yet to explain why the storage facility was allowed to sit on the river and so close to a water treatment plant that is the largest in the state.

If recent history is any guide, once the crisis is resolved, the policy debate will fall into a familiar pattern: conservatives and their industry allies will insist that government regulation of free enterprise must always be resisted.

But in this case, it was the private sector that caused the calamity, the public sector helping put things right, and government regulations that can help prevent similar crises in the future.

http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/state-emergency-west-virginia

Chemical Leak Into West Virginia River Far Larger Than Previously Estimated

By Joanna M. Foster

As over 300,000 people in West Virginia face a fourth day without water, state environmental officials are now estimating that as much as 7,500 gallons of a chemical used to process coal — Crude MGHM — may have spilled into the Elk River. That number is a substantial increase from early estimates of 2,000 to 5,000 gallons.

The chemical leak, first reported Thursday, was at a facility owned by Freedom Industries along the Elk River, just 1.5 miles upstream from a major intake used by the largest water utility in the state, West Virginia American Water.

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A team from the Chemical Safety Board will arrive in West Virginia on Monday to begin the long process of assessing the cause of the spill. The CSB is an independent federal agency with the authority to investigate industrial chemical accidents. The agency issues recommendations for prevention of future accidents.

To date, FEMA has brought in 1.4 million liters of water for residents. An additional 1.6 million liters are expected to come in over the course of the weekend.

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http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2014/01/12/3151421/fourth-day-water-west-virginia/

Whenever I think of West Virginia, this comes to mind: http://www.democraticunderground.com/1002662522

[ProSense]

1. Kick! n/t

[ProSense]

2. Another. n/t

[ProSense]

3. Boehner On W.Va. Chemical Spill: 'We Have Enough Regulations'

Boehner On W.Va. Chemical Spill: 'We Have Enough Regulations'

House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) doesn't believe the GOP should reconsider its deregulation agenda after a massive, coal-linked chemical spill left hundreds of thousands of West Virginians without tap water at a site state regulators last fully inspected in 1991.

"We have enough regulations on the books. What the administration ought to be doing is their jobs," Boehner said at a weekly press conference on Capitol Hill.

While Boehner said that somebody ought to be held accountable for the failure in oversight, the Speaker explained his party was focused on eliminating "cumbersome, over-the-top" regulations that were "costing the American people jobs."

The site's tanks, owned by Freedom Industries, don't fall under an inspection program and the chemicals stored there weren't considered hazardous enough to require permits before they leaked into the Elk River nearby.

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http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/boehner-on-w-va-chemical-spill-we-have-enough-regulations

[Berlum]

4. Boehner and the Republicons go AWOL from responsibility

As usual. Republicons believe in personal responsibility (for other people).

But they also believe that Republicons are special -- IOKIYAR -- and have a special right to go AWOL from responsibility. As they do over and over and over.

[El_Johns]

5. K&R