Briana Heaney, Author at West Virginia Public Broadcasting

Residents Along Contaminated Creek Just Want Clean Water

In Pineville, West Virginia, a town of 500, residents filled up the front rows of the county courtroom recently. They came to hear the latest legal update on a battle some have been fighting for generations – securing clean water. Bobby Lee Keen and his wife Patsy attended the hearing. “How come they have people living like they’re in a third world country in the United States of America?” asked Bobby Keen.

“How come they have people living like they’re in a third world country in the United States of America?” asked Bobby Keen.

The Keens have lived in their house for 20 years, but they have never had clean drinking water. They say the only way they can drink the orange water that comes out of the faucet is by using it to make coffee.

Keen said the water quality has gotten worse in the last year, and he and his wife have had stomach issues and rashes. Other residents have reported similar symptoms.

And they’re not sure what could be causing it. Regardless, Keen believes one thing to be true.

“There’s something getting in that water,” he said.

One of the three places along the creek where water started coming out, and with it, a white stringy slime.

*Courtesy of David Stover*

A year ago, down the street from the Keens’ house, water started flowing out of the ground in the middle of a field, forming a pool. All that water led to a mold infestation in a nearby property owner’s house. The water had a rotten egg smell and white stringy slime.

Who Is Responsible?

Just below the surface of that pungent pool is an old mine, previously owned by the now-defunct Pinnacle Mining Company.

The West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection (EPA) tested the water and said that the results indicated that it had been polluted by the abandoned mine.

Nicolas Zegre, a Mountain Hydrologist at West Virginia University (WVU), said holes like the one in Pineville are known as artesian wells. They naturally push water from aquifers to the surface.

“When you start mining, the geologic layers, the below ground layers,” Zegre said. “You’re fundamentally changing how water is going to flow through the earth.”

Now, the pool of smelly, murky water has become a steady stream that flows into Indian Creek.

The DEP ordered Pinnacle to remedy the situation. When Pinnacle failed to act, it took the company to court.

There is one major problem here. Pinnacle Mining Company no longer legally exists. As part of its bankruptcy, the company’s assets and liabilities were sold. But to whom?

“That’s the million dollar question,” Matt Hepler, a scientist with Appalachian Voices, said.

Court documents show Pinnacle was, at least in part, bought by Bluestone Mining Resources and is owned by Gov. Jim Justice. However, Justice said Bluestone is not responsible.

Justice answered this question: “Many people along Indian Creek in Wyoming county are sounding the alarms about water contamination possibly coming from a mine that your company purchased, and now owns. As both the governor and the owner of said company is there anything you are planning on doing for these folks so that they can have clean drinking water?” by saying he is not responsible.

*Photo Credit: WV Governor’s Office*

“I’m all for them having good clean drinking water. But you can’t, you can’t blame me on this one,” Justice said at one of his regular press briefings. “The companies that we have are so distantly involved in this, it’s unbelievable. You know, the DEP is working on the issue.”

Hepler said this fits into a bigger context of the mess that ensues after a coal company goes bankrupt.

“They can’t even figure out, they’re arguing who that new owner is. So they’re not even sure. They’re just pointing fingers at each other,” Hepler said.

Which raises another big picture question.

“Who gets left holding the liability when these coal companies go out?” Hepler asked.

Will The Problem Be Fixed?

In court on April 4, the presiding Wyoming County Judge Derek Swope demanded the companies figure out who is responsible by their next court date in May.

Outside the courthouse, community members said they felt disappointed. Richard Altizer has been delivering water bottles to some of the residents affected by the water crisis. He and others were hoping the courts would have ordered Bluestone and Alpha Metallurgical Resources to cease all operations until they fixed some of the problems associated with Pinnacle’s abandoned mine.

Disappointed residents, some affected by the water crisis, leave the court room.

*Photo Credit: Briana Heaney/West Virginia Public Broadcasting*

“If that judge were to order that mines and the gas companies shut down until that is fixed they’d be out there tomorrow fixing it,” Altizer said.

In their lawsuit, the DEP and the man whose house was flooded, are asking for injunctive relief. They don’t want money for the damaged property or the health issues the water has caused, they only want what has been broken to be fixed. But residents are frustrated by what they say is a year of inaction.

“Now that the mine gets to operate, and the gas wells keep doing what they’re doing, everything’s hunky-dory with the poor people down here. And it’s frustrating,” Altizer said. “But like I said, we still got legal rights.”

The community is considering a class action lawsuit.

Richard Altizer has been delivering water bottles to community members paid for through crowd funding sites and city officials.

*Photo Credit: Briana Heaney/West Virginia Public Broadcasting*

Is The Water Toxic?

In the meantime, the question looms, is the water safe?

Grace Dever, an expert on water and its connection to people’s lives, works at WVU’s Center For Resilient Communities. She affirmed what residents have been saying about their everyday use of the water from contaminated wells.

“That can result in huge GI issues, skin rashes,” Dever said. “It can even lead to longer-term things like cancer and things like that.”

Patsy Keen brought photos with her to court in hoping to show someone involved in the legal process what the water was doing to her skin while she was routinely showering in it.

*Photo Credit: Briana Heaney/West Virginia Public Broadcasting*

Even though the DEP found the mine was the source of the contamination, it said the water quality passes all mine reclamation standards. But members of the community are skeptical. Terry Fletcher, with the DEP, said the agency is doing everything within its power to take on the issue.

“I know, there’s been kind of a narrative pushed out there that we’re only testing for one to two, three to four things when we’re testing for dozens and dozens of parameters,” Fletcher said.

But Hepler from Appalachian Voices said the tests that the department has done so far might not show the true water condition.

“Now when you test the water column, which is just to say test the water without any of that slime in it,” Hepler said. “The water has been coming back fine, according to West Virginia DEP standards.”

Hapler believes the water does pass mine reclamation standards, as well as Clean Water Act standards, but he said that even still that doesn’t translate to the water being safe.

And there is another set of data that is being ignored, said WVU’s Grace Dever.

“Community members are experts of their own lives,” Dever said. “And so I think like their lived experience of knowing, like recognizing the smell, noticing the color change in their community, and recognizing also if any rashes are appearing, or if they’re feeling funky, I think that is scientific knowledge. And I think that we should be taking these observations from the community a lot more seriously.”

For Bobby Keen, whose faucet still has orange water coming out, he said he isn’t angry at anyone, he just wants his family and community to have access to safe water.

**Editor’s Note: A previous version of this story said even though the DEP found the mine was the source of the contamination, it said the water quality passes all mine reclamation standards. It has been changed to: Even though the DEP found the mine was the source of what residents believe is contaminated water, it says the water quality passes all state water quality standards.

University Board Of Governors Makes Way For Concealed Carry On Campus

Updated: April 16, 9:45 a.m.

West Virginia’s colleges and universities will be required by a new law to allow students to carry concealed deadly weapons on campus starting July 1.

In March, Gov. Jim Justice signed the Campus Self-Defense Act into law. It allows, with some exceptions, anyone with a permit to concealed carry on the campus of any public institution of higher education.

On April 12, WVU’s Board of Governors approved a rule initiated by the law. Handheld guns like revolvers and pistols will be allowed on campus and must be concealed and carried by a person licensed to do so.

Concealed Carry will still not be allowed at many places on campus including most university stadiums or arenas, daycares, some health care facilities, and anywhere on campus where possession of a firearm is prohibited by state law.

For non-employees, handheld firearms will still be banned from dorms but will be allowed in common areas.

The law will take effect on July 1. A webinar is scheduled for Thursday to update students, faculty and staff on the implementation of this rule.

Updated to reflect that it requires a concealed carry permit to carry on campus.

Wood Flooring Company Acquires Two Closed Allegheny Wood Product Sawmills

Allegheny Wood Products announced it was closing its doors in February, laying off more than 900 employees. AHF Products, a wood flooring company, has agreed to acquire two sawmills from the defunct company.

Chief Operating Officer Jake Loftis said the acquisition will save an estimated 80 jobs that would have been lost last week.

“We are excited to add this capability to AHF and operate the mills at a capacity that will positively impact people and these two communities,” Loftis said.

Allegheny Wood Products was a supplier of lumber to the flooring company.

“It’s another key step to ensure AHF’s success now and in the future,” Lofits said.

The sawmills will now continue to supply lumber for AHF, a step the wood flooring company said was necessary for securing lumber supplies for current and future operations. The sawmills that will reopen are located in Greenbrier and Randolph counties.

AHF said West Virginia lumber could be used for other company locations in the future, although currently, it is not economical to do so.

Eastern hardwood has steeply declined in the last two decades, sitting at 40 percent of what it was in 2007.

Severe Weather Covers The State, IDD Waivers Cut From Budget, And Warmer Weather Brings Out Cyclist

On this West Virginia Week severe weather pounded the state, from destructive tornadoes in the south to historic floods in the north.

On this West Virginia Week, severe weather pounded the state, from destructive tornadoes in the south, to historic floods in the north.

Jobs in the state saw some losses, and some possible wins, while a program for people with disabilities was cut from the recent Budget. Chris Schulz takes listeners on a bike ride through the hills of Morgantown.

Also, Friday marked the 14th anniversary of the Upper Big Branch Mine disaster. Briana Heaney sat down with former WVPB reporter Ashton Marra to discuss her reporting on the trial that followed the disaster.

Brina Heaney is our host this week. Our theme music is by Matt Jackfert.

West Virginia Week is a web-only podcast that explores the week’s biggest news in the Mountain State. It’s produced with help from Bill Lynch, Briana Heaney, Chris Schulz, Curtis Tate, Emily Rice, Eric Douglas, Jack Walker, Liz McCormick and Randy Yohe.

Learn more about West Virginia Week.

Big Branch 14th Anniversary: Former WVPB Reporter Recounts Covering The Blankenship Trial

The Upper Big Branch Mining Disaster, which caused the death of 29 miners, happened 14 years ago today. Briana Heaney sat down with Ashton Marra, who worked for WVPB and covered the consequential trial of Don Blankenship, CEO of Massey Energy, the company that owned the mine.

The Upper Big Branch Mining Disaster, which caused the death of 29 miners, happened 14 years ago Friday. Briana Heaney sat down with Ashton Marra, who worked for WVPB and covered the consequential trial of Don Blankenship, CEO of Massey Energy, the company that owned the mine.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Heaney: Many years ago, you were a reporter covering the trials that precipitated from the Upper Big Branch mine explosion. Those court proceedings sought to hold management of the mine accountable, namely, the Blankenship trial. What is it like looking back on that time in history and in your career?

Marra: The Blankenship trial I think in the newsroom, we knew and in public broadcasting in general, we knew that it was going to be a really important story for us to cover. So I was very lucky at the time that our executive director and our news director kind of agreed to this idea that I had, to let me be there every single day. I think going into it, maybe they didn’t kind of realize what every day was gonna be. But it ultimately ended up being 16 weeks, that I sat in that courtroom from 8am to 5pm, with members of the media from other parts of the state, from Charleston and Beckley, and other parts of southern West Virginia who were covering it. I went in with this idea, knowing how important this story was to the people of West Virginia. At the time I was the politics Reporter. I was covering the government and that was a really important topic too. But our leadership ultimately decided that it was too important for us to really miss even just a single day. it was the first time I really gotta cover a big trial like that. I covered the court system quite often, but it would be for a day or two for a hearing in Kanawha County Court ora quick hearing at the federal court there in Charleston.

For this we are really fully committed to the story. And I think the people of West Virginia really appreciated that, or at least I hope they did.

Heaney: What was it like for 16 weeks listening to such an emotional trial?

Marra: It was hard. It was really hard. And I think that any court reporter who does that full time will tell you that there are lots of different things that make it hard.

One of them is that not every witness who takes the stand is that interesting. Sometimes it’s very tedious, with really difficult concepts to understand. The experts in this case, well there were several experts, who were there to explain to us how longwall mining worked, and how these things could have gone wrong. Tat was days of testimony, sometimes days of us trying to understand what could potentially have happened and what mine safety officials are doing to make sure it doesn’t happen.

There are days that are difficult because it’s so emotionally hard. We heard from family members, we heard from friends about the loss of their loved ones. Those were incredibly difficult days where you know, as a journalist you want… It’s impossible for us to be totally objective, right? We’re human beings. And that’s how it goes. Sometimes it was hard to sit through emotional testimony. It was hard to sit through emotional testimony with family members in the audience with you. There were several sisters and parents that were there every single day sitting right next to us, that we got to know fairly well. Those were emotionally difficult days.

And then it was hard just because it was like a marathon. It was a marathon to figure out how to consistently cover, especially as a radio and television reporter, a story in a way that was compelling — where I was not allowed to have anything in the courtroom but a pen and a piece of paper. I couldn’t have my phone. I couldn’t record audio. I couldn’t record video. We couldn’t take photos. And so there’s this layer of complexity when all we have is my voice. All we have is my memory of the day’s happenings and how do we keep people in West Virginia? How do we make sure that they understand the importance and the emotional salience of this story when all they have is me and my voice?

Heaney: I assume that you met and talked to those family members.

Marra: Yeah, there were a pair of sisters that were there every single day from Raleigh County. This trial was five years later in time. But for the Pearsons ( sisters) it was, as if no time had passed, they were still deep in the emotion of this loss. And it was so difficult in the courtroom.

There were moments with Judy, and there were moments with Shirly that at that point, I didn’t feel like I could be impartial.

The emotion of and the trauma of losing a loved one in that way, I don’t think that we as journalists can disregard that, and kind of glaze over that, in an effort to seem like we are impartial and fair and separated from our stories.

I think we have to recognize the trauma that these people experienced. Getting to be with them every day, there was also a mother and father who had lost their son, and they were there every day, it was a reminder that this is real. Even though it was me and five or six reporters every single day, and attorneys in and out, here’s this, when you’re stuck in that kind of bubble, you can become very emotionally removed from the impact of this story. Getting to spend that time with them and see them there every single day was just this reminder that these are real people. It’s their lives, it has a real impact, and was a great reminder for me why I’m doing this work. I did that work because I wanted the people of West Virginia to know and to understand the impact of that story.

Heaney: 12 years out, do you still hear from those families? How are they doing?

Marra: I haven’t heard from them as in a phone call or a text message. We had kept in touch for a while after the trial itself. But I’m still Facebook friends with them and so even though I may be not be personally in touch with them, I see them posting the photos of their grandkids and their great nieces and nephews and usually every year a reminder of their loved one that they lost, and who they are, and the impact that their lives had on their families and their communities. So I still get to see them in that way. And every year I see those posts, it reminds me that I was so lucky to get to do this job and to get to meet people like them.

Heaney: In the trial you covered, Don Blankenship was found guilty. He was convicted of a misdemeanor and served one year in prison. In 2018 he ran as a Republican for the US Senate seat. He did not win the primary. Now he is running as a Democrat for this year’s open Senate seat. What do you hear from the families and the community of the Upper Big Branch Mine and other people you connected with while covering the trial about his latest political run?

Marra: I haven’t heard from the families and I’m a little bit disconnected from this community because I live in North Central West Virginia now. But I still hear from journalistswho were covering the trial with me at the time, and journalists who are still covering politics and government in the state of West Virginia today. I think for them, it continues to be a difficult story to cover because fairness in election coverage is hard, just in general. It’s difficult. I think it’s something that we are and we continue to grapple with, as a professional community because for decades, even for generations, political reporters believed so deeply in this idea of balance, and everyone deserves equal time, and candidates should all have the right to access voters and journalists, and have access to most of our communities. And I do think that, in my time at West Virginia Public Broadcasting, we had to find ways to make sure that candidates and alternate parties, and libertarian parties, and the Green Party, that they had their own debate., We used to host those debates for gubernatorial races and senatorial races. We wanted them to feel like they had space and they had a platform and that their stances were important and that West Virginians deserve to hear those.

But I think politics has changed, and the way that journalists cover politics is changing. We’re grappling with this idea of what is balance. If we give time and space to mis- and dis- information and harmful information, is that still doing our jobs? Are we still ethically bound by those things that we say we want to be bound by as journalists to be fair, but also not harming our communities? And while I don’t mean to say that I think the Don Blankenship campaign is harming his community, because personally, I’ve not been following it that closely. What I will say is, I do think that the journalists who are covering politics today have one of the most difficult jobs in the world, because we have to figure out how to get the information to our communities that they need in order to be informed voters, while we are dealing with such an intense political climate that is full of candidates that have very strong positions. We have to figure out how to do our jobs in a climate that is trying to protect our communities, while also making sure they have the information that they need.

Heaney: Since the Big Branch Mine explosion, there has been a decrease in mining disaster deaths. There has not even been a disaster since Big Branch. What do you think is the primary driver to this?

Marra: I will say that in the wake of things like the Sago Mine disaster and the Upper Big Branch Mine disaster, where we lost way too many lives, I think that part of the reason we’ve seen so much push for increased mine safety regulations is in the smallest way – and I don’t want to say that this outweighs any of the work that safety advocates are doing, or regulators who work in the federal government are doing – but at the very least, what I can say is that journalists have taken these stories very seriously. And continue to cover these stories. We have some journalists in this state who have been covering mine safety regulations for decades, and have levels of expertise that are far beyond mine. I think it’s because people like Ken Ward refused to stop covering these topics, because the Charleston Gazette, because West Virginia Public Broadcasting, because insert almost any news outlet in the state, because they refuse to stop covering these stories. Because of that I think we are, hopefully, seeing some improvements in this industry, and in lots of industries. I think West Virginia has a fantastic group of journalists that are not afraid to do accountability stories. And they are not afraid to push back against government officials. And we see that happening at the statehouse, with legislative coverage this year, and all through COVID. We saw that where we had brave journalists taking on really hard and difficult stories. I think that this is an example of a space where there are fantastic journalists in this state who refuse to give up on this story. Hopefully, hopefully, that’s having a positive impact on the environments of these workplaces.

DEP Sues Pinnacle Mining; Residents Say Toxic Creek Is Poisoning Them

Around sundown, residents said you used to hear a roar of frogs. Now it’s silent.

They said they have broken out in rashes and had medical symptoms they had never experienced before like frequent headaches and stomach aches.

The West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection filed a lawsuit against Pinnacle Mining, a defunct coal mining company that was bought by a company owned by Gov. Jim Justice. A hearing is scheduled for Wednesday at 1 p.m. in Pineville.

In the lawsuit, the DEP, accuses Pinnacle of discharging harmful chemicals into Indian Creek.

Around sundown, residents said you used to hear a roar of frogs. Now it’s silent.

They said they have broken out in rashes and had medical symptoms they had never experienced before like frequent headaches and stomach aches.

Along the creek bed, there are greasy pools, tongs of white slimy strings, and yellow foam. A woman who lives along the creek had 100 chickens die around the same time the frogs stopped singing.

Resident Richard Altizer said he doesn’t know what chemicals are causing the putrid sulfur smell that comes out of his neighbors well, but he knows it’s not natural. He said that someone should go to jail for poisoning people’s wells.

Altizer said he doesn’t trust the DEP even though in the lawsuit they filed the agency is requesting relief in the form of asking the companies to clean up the water sources and to prevent any more unauthorized discharges from entering the stream.

“It’s the DEP that is not protecting us like they were supposed to be,” Altizer said. “They did not protect us. And there will be no accountability.”

There will likely be more court dates in the future regarding Indian Creek. The Environmental Protection Agency just settled with conservation advocacy groups for its alleged failure to monitor chemical levels in the Guyandotte River, which Indian Creek feeds into.

Pinnacle Mining was purchased by Bluestone Resources, a coal company owned by Justice.