Tomblin Unsure How to Pay for Health Monitoring After Spill

Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin says he’s not sure about tapping state reserves to monitor people’s long-term health after chemicals spilled into their water supply last month.
 
Senate Majority Leader John Unger has said Tomblin should use $10 million from the state’s rainy day fund for 10 years of health monitoring. Unger said lawmakers could approve the money, but it’d be easier with Tomblin’s support.
 
Tomblin told reporters Tuesday he would make that decision “down the road.”
 
He is awaiting in-home testing results and research on the chemical’s odor threshold and what levels are safe to consume in drinking water. The Jan. 9 spill contaminated 300,000 people’s water for days.
 
West Virginia’s $915 million last-resort fund is one of the nation’s strongest. Tomblin’s proposed budget uses $83.8 million from the fund.
 

Listen: Voices From Frack Waste Hearing Tell A Story

The House Judiciary Committee heard thoughts and concerns during a public hearing over a piece of pending legislation: HB4411 – allowing the disposal of drill cuttings and associated drilling waste generated from fracking sites in commercial solid waste facilities.

Some History:

NormSteenstrom.mp3
Norm Steenstra who represents WV Citizen Action Group spoke about lobbying for the legislation two decades ago that put current solid waste law in place.
SilasTaylor.mp3
Silas Taylor, retired lawyer who worked for years in the Office of the Attorney General, remembers past struggles to secure solid waste laws that gave communities oversight of waste practices in their midst.

Some Recent History:

JulieArcher.mp3
Julie Archer representing the WV Surface Owners Rights Organization points out the reason for the change in waste policy which came came as a result of the The Horizontal Well Control Act of 2011. Former operator practices were dumping and burying it on site.
BillHughes.mp3
Bill Hughes of the Wetzel County Solid Waste Authority, an outspoken opponent of current fracking solid waste practices, talks about the 300 percent increase of largely uncharacterized waste his landfill has seen.

State-Wide Concern:

DawnDarling.mp3
A resounding sentiment at the hearing was the concern with cutting local solid waste authorities out of the decision-making process in individual counties. Dawn Darling lives in Morgan County—a county that hasn’t seen fracking activity but where landfills could accept the waste nonetheless.

Some Science:

YuriGorby.mp3
Under the Resource Conservation Recovery Act (RCRA) hazardous waste is differentiated from industrial solid waste based on tests that determine chemical properties. Interestingly, federal laws exempt drilling waste from regulation as hazardous waste—a point not lost on many of the speakers at the hearing, including Yuri Gorby, professor of civil and environmental engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute who hails from Bethany, WV.

The Advocate:

CharlieBurd.mp3
A single advocate rose in support of the bill and was the last to speak: Charlie Burd, executive director of the Independent Oil and Gas Association. He said commercial landfills in the state have some of the strongest and most comprehensive regulations in the country and as such, they are adequate for the disposal of fracking wastes.

W.Va. House Health Committee OKs Bill to Limit Abortions

A West Virginia House of Delegates committee has voted to pass a bill to limit abortions after 20 weeks.
 
The proposal passed Monday in the Committee on Health would prohibit abortions after 20 weeks unless a physician deems a woman’s medical complications pose a risk to her life or would cause irreversible physical impairment. This does not include a woman’s psychological or mental condition.
 
The bill would also compel physicians who perform abortions after 20 weeks to do so in such a way that provides the best opportunity for the unborn child to survive.
 
Under the bill, all abortions would be reported to the Division of Health and anyone who performs an abortion in violation of the bill would face felony charges.
 
The bill now goes to the Judiciary Committee.

Bulk Water Distribution Sites in Kanawha Co. for February 18-23

Kanawha County and City of Charleston  have announces Bulk Water Sites for Tuesday, February 18th through Sunday, February 23rd.
 
Bring Your Own Containers To:
 
Crossing Mall – Elkview
Walmart Parking Lot – Quincy
Shawnee Park – Institute
Old Big Sandy Parking Lot – Cross Lanes
Big Lots Parking Lot –Patrick Street – Charleston
100 Maywood Avenue-Across from Post Office – Clendenin
 
 
Bulk Water Tankers and Buffaloes will be begin to be deployed each morning at 9:00 a.m. Unless temperatures cause a delay and will remain at locations each day until [ x-apple-data-detectors://2 ]5:00 p.m.  The bulk tankers and buffaloes are being provided by West Virginia American Water Company and are being filled in Huntington and Montgomery.  If the tankers or buffaloes run out of water, they will be pulled and then driven to Huntington or Montgomery to be refilled.  Due to the travel time and filling time, the bulk containers may be offsite for several hours.
 
If temperatures are below freezing or there is substantial snow in the morning hours, it is possible that the deployment of the tankers and buffaloes will be delayed.
 

Grandview Elem. Closes Early Due to Odor in the Water

Concerns over the water in West Virginia persist 39 days after a coal scrubbing chemical spill affected the water supply of some 300,000 residents across…

Concerns over the water in West Virginia persist 39 days after a coal scrubbing chemical spill affected the water supply of some 300,000 residents across nine counties. One school in Kanawha Co. dismissed early  Monday.

According to the state Department of Education, Grandview Elementary in Kanawha Co. closed at 12:15 Monday due to an odor in the water and two school employees complaining of burning eyes and noses.

Spokesperson Liza Cordiero said the Rapid Response Team (made up of individuals from the West Virginia National Guard, the Kanawha Charleston Health Department, the West Virginia DEP’s Division of Air Quality, the Kanawha County Emergency Operations Center and the local school system) was dispatched to the school, detected a slight odor, collected samples, and then recommended early dismissal.

She said another round of sampling will occur after flushing. Previous tests did not detect the associated chemical, crude MCHM, in the school’s water.

In a news release, Kanawha Co. Superintendent Ron Duerring said Grandview is expected to resume classes Tuesday, Feb. 18.

Duerring also noted that the Rapid Response Team also visited Sharon Dawes Elementary, John Adams Middle School, and Alum Creek Elementary on Monday.  There were complaints of a slight licorice odor at Sharon Dawes and John Adams. Alum Creek reported oily water in one sink which does not appear to be related to the Jan. 9 chemical spill into the Elk River, according to Duerring.

Test results from Sharon Dawes Elementary and Alum Creek Elementary also retuned at non-detect levels. Results for John Adams Middle School are pending. 
 

Five schools in the county were forced to close in recent weeks due to similar concerns when faculty and staff complained of a strong licorice odor following a flushing process.

Local health department officials last week pulled a specific lot of bottled water sent to schools in the county from the Federal Emergency Management Agency despite testing indicating no presence of coliform. Those using the water had complained of a musty smell and an issue with taste.

Fayette Fracking Waste Permit Granted, National Group Reacts

The Natural Resource Defense Council is disappointed with the state Department of Environmental Protection’s decision to renew a permit for an underground…

The Natural Resource Defense Council is disappointed with the state Department of Environmental Protection’s decision to renew a permit for an underground injection well in Fayette County.

The permit allows Danny Webb Construction to accept fluids from oil and gas exploration, development drilling, and production fluids for another five years.

The DEP renewed the permit earlier this month for a class two UIC, or underground injection control disposal well owned by Danny Webb Construction. The permit had expired in 2012. Residents and even former construction workers testified at a public hearing in June 2013 strongly opposing the site.

Upon evaluation DEP workers found a pit filled with fracking water and other waste from oil and gas drilling. The pit was used to help remove sediments from the waste before injecting underground.

The DEP found that the pit or pond above ground does not meet the minimum pit and impoundment standards.

Although the DEP did not find the pit to be leaking, officials say it needs to be upgraded.

Underground Injection Control Permit Reviewer for the DEP Office of Oil and Natural Gas James Peterson told West Virginia Public Radio that the pit needs a leak detection system and a new liner. Peterson says the operator was told to submit a plan to fix the issues with the pit, but never did. Still while the DEP waited on the plan, the operator could continue to accept and inject waste underground in the well.

The Natural Resource Defense Council sent a letter to the DEP the same day our original story aired last month. In the statement, the council urged the department to shut down the wells since Danny Webb Construction was not operating with a valid permit.

Amy Mall is a Senior Policy Analyst with the Natural Resource Defense Council, a national environmental advocacy group.

“This is a site that should already have a plan,” Mall said. “The DEP, its inspectors have determined that there have been multiple violations for years at that site and it’s just unacceptable that they don’t have a plan now. That’s just laughable, really. It’s no way to protect public health and the environment.”

In an email, Peterson said the site has only been issued 5 citations or violations in the past 10 years.

Still a permit was granted for the injection well with the condition that the company close the above  ground waste pit.

Residents have spoken out against this well and the waste pond near the well for years.  The NRDC is not the only group that has spoken out in opposition of this site; the Plateau Action Network, West Virginia Highlands Conservancy, and the Sierra Club have also sent letters to the DEP.

Mall says the issues the NRDC takes with this pit in Fayette County is the same for wells across the country. Mall says federal law that governs hazardous waste has a loophole for oil and gas waste that was created in 1980’s through an amendment to the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act.

Mall says a bill introduced this past summer in Washington could help close this loophole. The NRDC is supporting the `CLEANER Act’ or the `Closing Loopholes and Ending Arbitrary and Needless Evasion of Regulations Act of 2013′.

Danny Web Construction currently has another UIC permit under consideration for renewal. It’s currently in the public comment period.  

In the meantime, the DEP is asking the operator to submit an engineered plan to properly close the above ground pond. 

This pit and the well have received waste from Pennsylvania, Virginia and other parts of West Virginia.

The DEP says there are 54 non-commercial and 17 commercial disposal wells in the state as of late last year.

Danny Webb Construction did not immediately return our request for comment.

Jessica Lilly can be reached at 304.384.5981, or by email jlilly@wvpublic.org. You can also follow her on twitter: @WVJessicaYLilly.

For updates from West Virginia Public Broadcasting’s statewide news team, follow @wvpubnews.

Exit mobile version