Ken Ward Jr. on the West Virginia Chemical Spill

It's been weeks and West Virginia is still struggling with the aftermath of the massive chemical spill that poisoned the drinking water of over 300,000 residents. Ken Ward, Jr. of the Charleston Gazette has been providing top-notch coverage of the spill, and continues to ask the tough questions about why it happened and who's responsible. He recently had an interview with NPR's Fresh Air, where he discussed the catastrophe and the problems with lax oversight and regulation of industrial chemicals: On Jan. 9, people in and around Charleston, W.Va., began showing up at hospitals: They had nausea, eye infections and some were vomiting. It was later discovered that around 10,000 gallons of toxic chemicals had leaked into the Elk River, just upstream from a water treatment plant that serves 300,000 people. Citizens were told not to drink or bathe in the water, and while some people are now using water from their taps, many still don't trust it or the information coming from public officials. Charleston Gazette reporter Ken Ward tells Fresh Air's Dave Davies that the spill included "a chemical called crude MCHM, which was sold by a company called Freedom Industries — sold to coal companies for use in the process of cleaning and washing the impurities out of coal before they ship that coal to market." For Ward, the episode is far more than the story of an accident and a cleanup: Ward says the spill and the sometimes confusing information authorities have provided about the risks to citizens...

Coal Severance Controversy

Coal severance has been in the news quite a bit lately, raising questions about how it’s being used and who is benefiting. Earlier this month, it was revealed that Kentucky would be using $2.5 million in coal severance dollars to fund the renovation of the University of Kentucky’s Rupp Arena, despite the fact that Lexington produces no coal nor is it even in Appalachia. A public outcry led one coalfield senator who supported the expenditure to issue an op-ed explaining his decision, stating that a reworking of how the severance tax is allocated means that more money overall is going back to coalfield counties, so the $2.5 million was a “surplus.” (How there can be a “surplus” of funds when so many coalfield counties are just barely scraping by is a good question.) The whole incident spurred some great commentary about who gets coal severance taxes and how they’re spent. “Has Eastern Kentucky had enough yet?” asked an editorial in the Hazard Herald, decrying the “outright theft” of badly-needed funds. The Lexington Herald-Leader called out some other questionable expenditures of severance tax funds – including Little League and football teams, as well as day-to-day county budget expenditures for which severance funds are supposed to be off-limits – and asked a bigger question: “Why is the potential for an economic reboot being squandered? And what would it take to spark reform?” Folks in West Virginia have been exploring the idea of creating a “future fund” for the coal severance tax, which...

West Virginia’s local food economy gets national attention...

To those working on local foods in Central Appalachia, it's no secret that West Virginia is making huge strides on building up their local food economy. They've been doing so well that recently the federal co-chair of the Appalachian Regional Commission paid them a visit to see what the rest of Appalachia could learn from West Virginia's success. And the Washington Post took notice, writing a recent article on the visit.  [I]n Philippi, they’re seeing how an out-of-business IGA is becoming a new kind of supermarket, one where jams, flowers, baked goods and produce are gathered from dozens of sources and sold at a single cash register. “Instead of 30 people marketing their wares, you have one person marketing the wares for everyone,” said Savanna Lyons, program director for the West Virginia Food & Farm Coalition. The concept is called aggregating, and it’s catching on. “Being small and isolated can be both an advantage and a disadvantage,” said Lyons, who’s trying to help federal officials understand the opportunities and the obstacles to using food as an economic development tool. "When it’s harder to get your products out there, you have to organize more. You have to get creative. You have to really talk to each other,” Lyons said. …What’s happening in West Virginia, he [Earl Gohl, federal co-chair of the ARC] said, is impressive in both scope and enthusiasm. Though it has just 1.8 million people, the state has emerged as a leader in the local-foods movement. Since 2005, the...

A West VA Town’s Community-Sponsored Rebirth

The little town of Williamson, WV is getting some great press these days, and deservedly so. Known as “the heart of the billion-dollar coalfield,” Williamson is proud of its coal heritage but is also actively preparing for what’s next. Sustainable Williamson is an initiative that has brought together the numerous community health, development and workforce training projects happening in the town. They’ve put together a fantastic video about their work, which you can – and should – watch at their website. Recently, the Charleston Gazette ran a lengthy story about Williamson. It’s an inspiring story, and the kind of thing we need more of throughout central Appalachia. And it began with people talking to each other: All those people – and others with their own dreams — started comparing notes. Sometimes they sat around the town’s little coffeehouse and talked. Sometimes they talked at meetings or on the street. They began to see they were working on pieces of the same picture. That was three years ago. “We saw we were all working on improving our quality of life and the local people’s health, and we shouldn’t just be looking at one little piece of the puzzle, like a campground or a 5K or a farmers market,” McCormick said. “Our project became more about the way all these smaller projects are related.” They saw that a health center would bring the city millions of dollars and lots of jobs. The city could help start the regular 5K run/walks Hatfield...

“Blueprint Communities” Initiative Expanding in Southern West Virginia...

From the West Virginia Community Development Hub: The Blueprint Communities initiative, which helps  smaller communities gain their second wind through a program of leadership training, capacity building, community planning and access to private and public funds, is expanding in southern West Virginia. The initiative, inaugurated in 2007 in ten West Virginia communities, is now recruiting other communities interested in gaining the tools they need to spur revitalization in their neighborhoods. Nominations to be a Blueprint Community are due Friday, September 28, 2012. Completed applications are due October 19. Three of the original Blueprint Communities organizers – the Federal Home Loan Bank (FHLBank) of Pittsburgh, West Virginia Community Development Hub, and the Claude Worthington Benedum Foundation – have decided to bring a second round of community building to the state in concert with other partners and have specifically targeted southern West Virginia due to ongoing area needs. Up to seven communities will be selected to participate in this second round, which gets under way in December and runs through late 2013. How communities can participate To be eligible to participate in the next round of Blueprint Communities, a community must have a population of 1,000-30,000; may be a neighborhood within a municipality, a single municipality, or a collection of contiguous municipalities; and must not have completed a community vision and comprehensive revitalization strategy within the last two years. In addition, communities must demonstrate local leadership, possess basic development capacity, and be able to assemble a diverse team of local leaders...

Wind vs. Bats in West Virginia

The New York Times’ Todd Woody reported in December that a federal judge’s ruling has stopped construction on a 119-turbine wind farm project in Greenbrier County, WV in an effort to protect the endangered Indiana bat population located near the project site. Judge Roger W. Titus described the situation saying, “This is a case about bats, wind turbines, and two federal polices, one favoring protection of endangered species and the other encouraging development of renewable energy resources.” Indeed wind projects throughout the country face potential obstacles in the form of uncertainty over effects on habitat and migration patterns for bats and birds, though the West Virginia case is thought to be the first decision on the issue. The decision is unlikely to constitute a domino effect for other projects, provided the individual projects do not violate the provisions of the Endangered Species Act. Many project developers are attempting to head off such controversy by partnering with conservation groups such as Bat Conservation International (BCI). BCI’s statement on wind energy, “We believe that minimizing harmful impacts to wildlife is an essential element of “green energy” and that developers of wind energy must substantially increase efforts to improve siting and develop and test methods to reduce harm to wildlife.” Such efforts to improve siting are drawing on information gained from studying bats killed by existing projects to learn more about migration patterns and habitat range. A study conducted by the University of Calgary’s Erin Baerwald and Robert Barclay informed heavily by...