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JANUARY 2015 Guest Commentary


Making Clean Water A Moral Issue By Angie Rosser


If you are like many West Virginians you remember where you were when you fi rst heard of the Elk River chemi- cal leak last January 9. Maybe you can still see it clearly: you were at work or starting a load of laundry or picking up your child at daycare. A lot has changed since then. We have new voices for clean water. A year later, thanks to those new voices, we have a strong law designed to protect drinking water sources and regulate aboveground storage tanks. The law passed unani-


mously; for this every senator and delegate should be com- mended.


There has been vis-


ible change in the executive branch. A year ago when Gov- ernor Tomblin called in water stakeholders for a meeting, the guest list included only in- dustry. More recently, when the Governor called a similar meeting, a range of commu- nity interests were invited to the table. And last summer, the Governor stood up for the time- table of reforms by refusing to call a special session.


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Randy Huffman took a lot of heat from the public during the crisis. Since then he has earned praise from many of his critics. He has faced down attempts to gut the law through the rulemaking process; and has stood up for reasonable regu- lation and fair enforcement of aboveground tanks. A year ago industry put up only token opposition to wa- ter protection laws. Now as the legislature convenes, they are gathered in full force seeking to not only undo the progress that was made but eliminate decades-standing policies that protect drinking water sourc- es. Here, nothing has changed. Consider this. The chemi- cal leak became a crisis in part because there were no second- ary intakes. A recommended remedy is to keep the Kanawha River, and most of our rivers across the state, clean as po- tential drinking water sources through what our state water quality standards call a Cat- egory A classifi cation. But the WV Manufacturers Association opposes it. They say keeping rivers clean is like mandating a 15 mph speed limit on every road—in case we might build a school there some day. Their comment reveals their


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self-interest to pollute. By their logic, industry seeks a system of roads without speed limits, without rules, and without en- forcement. It’s a road where, eventually, no place is safe for children, no entrepreneur of sound mind would invest in a new business, where recently minted college grads can’t imagine putting down roots. That’s the pre-January 9 status quo.


The status quo is an entitle- ment program for polluters, in which a few special interests believe their rights trump ev- eryone else’s. It’s a license to foul our water or, at best, a per- mission slip to be excused from the rules the rest of us live by. From the water crisis we learned that the narrow inter- ests of energy and manufactur- ing do not represent all West Virginia businesses. Thousands of small businesses depend on clean water—for their business use and for the peace of mind of their customers. Degrading our water is a dead end for attracting and keeping businesses and people in our state. No one wants to live or work where the water is toxic. A year ago, thousands of West Virginians who had never before been political suddenly


spoke up. They went to meet- ings, wrote letters, called their legislators, and directly infl u- enced change for the good. A year later, many still are active. They are church lead- ers, business owners, parents— regular folks who want some- thing better for West Virginia. They have shown that when people stand together and ex- pect more of their government, politicians can be persuaded to do the right thing. What do the people want? For starters, they want an hon- est method of accounting that recognizes when government allows industry to save pennies at the expense of clean water, the price is paid a thousand times over by the rest of us. It comes at the cost of our health, the cost of cleaning up care- less corporations’ messes, the loss of prospective businesses, and the continued drain of our young people who leave every year.


Right now, politicians, in-


dustry, and activists all share the same question: Will people stay involved?


Maintaining drinking wa-


ter protections will depend on people showing up. The special interests who would dismantle our water protections know this. They know when the crisis has passed, and people go back to attending to their everyday lives—it’s easy to lose sight of what’s at stake. Out of sight, out of mind. We know from history, water protections will backslide when we’re not pay- ing attention. We are hopeful. That people will keep speaking up, that politicians and regulators will hear them, and that one day water will not be treated as a political issue, but as a moral one.


Angie Rosser is the executive director of West Virginia Rivers Coalition, a statewide non-profi t organization working for drink- able, swimmable, fi shable waters.


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