http://www.commondreams.org/view/2013/02/08-1

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Appalachian Community Health Emergency Campaign

www.ACHEact.org

Contact: Bo Webb, Appalachian Community Health Emergency Campaign, 304.237.0065, webb.bo@gmail.com

Bob Kincaid, Appalachian Community Health Emergency Campaign, 304.640.6495, bobkincaid@gmail.com

Maria Gunnoe, Appalachian Community Health Emergency Campaign, 304-245-8481(o), 304-989-9581(c), wvhollowgirl@gmail.com

House Representatives Introduce Bill to Address Appalachian Health Crisis and Stop Mountaintop Removal

Bill would protect Appalachian families from extremely destructive coal mining practice

Washington, DC – Today a group of U.S. House of Representatives lawmakers introduced the Appalachian Community Health Emergency Act (ACHE Act, H.R. 526) to protect Appalachian families and communities from the nation’s most extreme form of coal mining, mountaintop removal. The Appalachian Community Health Emergency Act’s leading sponsors are Rep. John Yarmuth (D-KY) and Rep. Louise Slaughter (D-NY), joined by original cosponsors  Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR), Rep. John Conyers (D-MI), Rep. Rush Holt (D-NJ), Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-AZ), Rep. John Sarbanes (D-MD), Rep. Jim Moran (D-VA), Rep. Donna Edwards (D-MD), Rep. Judy Chu (D-CA), Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN), Rep. Charles Rangel (D-NY), Rep. Jared Huffman (D-CA), Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA), Rep. Michael Honda (D-CA), Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-OR), Rep. Matt Cartwright (D-PA), Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT), Rep. Lucille Roybal-Allard (D-CA), Rep. Chellie Pingree (D-ME), Rep. Janice Schakowksy (D-IL), Rep. Jim McDermott (D-WA), Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC), and Rep. Jared Polis (D-CO).

The ACHE Act responds to more than 20 peer-reviewed scientific studies published on the human health impacts of mountaintop removal by calling for a moratorium on mountaintop removal coal mining permits until health studies are conducted by the Department of Health and Human Services.

This quickly expanding body of science reveals significantly elevated rates of mortality, cancer, major organ disease, and birth defects in the areas closest to mountaintop removal mining, after controlling for all major contributing factors. One study even shows a 42 percent higher risk of birth defects in communities near mountaintop removal.
In a statement released today, leading sponsor Rep. John Yarmuth (D-KY) said:
“Mountaintop removal coal mining destroys entire ecosystems and contaminates the water supplies in mining communities, making people sick and jeopardizing their safety,” said Congressman John Yarmuth (KY-3). “This legislation will provide families in these communities the answers they need and the protection they deserve. If it can’t be proven that mountaintop removal mining is safe, we shouldn’t allow it to continue.”

Added ACHE Act cosponsor Rep. Louise Slaughter, a Kentucky native:
“Every American has a right to live and work in a community free from environmental health risks,” said Congresswoman Slaughter, “and it is our duty to ensure that this right is not infringed upon by industries that consider community health and environmental protection to be less important than their profit margins. There is mounting evidence that people living in communities near mountaintop removal coal mining sites are at an elevated risk for a range of major health problems, and until we can ensure there is no link between the mines and these risks, we should place a moratorium on further mountaintop coal removal activity.”

The following are statements from Appalachian citizens and members of the Appalachian Community Health Emergency Act (ACHE) Campaign:

Bo Webb, resident of the Coal River Valley in West Virginia and founder of the Appalachian Community Health Emergency Campaign:
“We applaud Representatives John Yarmuth, Louise Slaughter, and 22 other original co-sponsors of this bill for recognizing the science and making the choice to work for the protection of the people of Appalachia. This bill offers an opportunity to all House members to put politics aside and protect lives and families.”

Laura Antrim Caskey, founder of Appalachia Watch, Rock Creek, West Virginia:

“The U.S. Geological Survey has advised us not to eat the vegetables or fruits from our gardens because toxic fallout from mountaintop removal blasting has contaminated our soil! We need swift passage of the ACHE Act.”

Allen Johnson, founder of Christians For The Mountains:

“The ACHE Act addresses an emergency, a situation of immediate risk to health and life that requires prompt intervention. It is morally imperative to help in an emergency. We plead for Congress to quickly enact the ACHE Act and save lives.”

Maria Gunnoe, West Virginia–based organizer with Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition, 2009 North American Goldman Prize Winner, and 2012 Wallenberg Medal recipient in recognition of crucial human rights work:
“I have fought the impacts of mountaintop removal (MTR) on my home and health for 18 years. Now science is showing that it’s killing me and my community, and Congress needs to listen. Cancer here is as common as the cold. The fact is this is not about who is winning; it is about who is dying from the violent impacts of MTR.”

Bob Kincaid, West Virginia-based activist and radio broadcaster:
“Appalachia has suffered for over a hundred years. It’s time the suffering stopped. The ACHE Act represents the last, best hope for putting an end to the suffering and finally treating Appalachian people like full-fledged American citizens. We must pass it NOW.”

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Air collection filters, 2 week period.   Left, Williams home beneath MTR, Naoma, WV / Right, Webb home beneath MTR, Naoma / Center, Morgantown, WV no MTR

New Science in Mountaintop Removal: Community Health, Birth Defects, and the Latest on Threats to Water Quality

Washington, DC—Today Sens. Barbara Boxer (D-CA) and Benjamin Cardin (D-MD) and Rep. Ed Markey (D-MA) hosted four leading scientists for Senate and House briefings on the environmental and health impacts of destructive mountaintop removal (MTR) mining in Appalachia.

The scientists – Dr. Margaret Palmer of the University of Maryland, Dr. Emily Bernhardt of Duke University, Dr. Michael Hendryx of West Virginia University, and Dr. Melissa Ahern of Washington State University – presented a range and depth of peer-reviewed scientific studies and data that show severe water degradation and community health problems in mountaintop removal mining areas. Palmer opened by giving attendees an overview of MTR.

Bernhardt shared the cumulative impacts of MTR on an Appalachian watershed: complete ecosystem losses; biological (e.g., decreases in organism diversity); hyrdological (e.g., increases in flooding, disruptions in groundwater flow paths, water contamination). She also stated that 1385 square miles of forests have been converted to mines and 2400 miles of streams have been buried. When talking about land change, Bernhardt explained that mining has affected 6% of the land verses development, having only changed 3.5%. “A poor stream condition index is a strong predictor of worse human health,” said Bernhardt.

Hendryx shared the findings from air, water, and soil sampling near MTR sites. He’s found that silica and other elements are in high presence in the air. Preliminary laboratory tests, using air samples from areas where people are living in Appalachia, show mountaintop removal mining dust kills heart cells and impairs vascular function. Hendryx has also begun studying the diesel contaminant health impact in MTR environments.

Ahern has found that mortality rates in KY, TN, VA, and WV have increased in MTR regions. From 1999 to 2005, there were 4,432 “excess deaths” in Appalachia. It has also been found that babies born to mothers who live in areas with mountain top removal mining have a 26% higher rate of birth defects. That compares to babies born to mothers who smoke during pregnancy who only have an 18% higher risk of birth defects.

The following is a statement from Vernon Haltom, member of the Appalachian Community Health Emergency (ACHE) Campaign:

“We want to thank Sens. Boxer and Cardin and Rep. Markey for recognizing science, which is showing that mountaintop removal mining is inflicting tragic costs and sickness on Appalachian communities, and working to educate their colleagues in Congress on this emergency in Appalachia.

“Our communities in Appalachia are facing an emergency of life-threatening health problems because of the severe destruction and pollution of mountaintop removal mining.

“As our neighbors, children, and family members get sick and fight cancer, sometimes tragically losing that battle, most of our elected leaders are turning a blind eye to true cost of mountaintop removal mining and coal. We’re paying that cost with our lives and well-being in Appalachia.

“We need more leaders like Sens. Boxer and Cardin and Rep. Markey. And we need leaders in Congress to work together to protect Appalachian communities by ending mountaintop removal mining immediately.”

Health study compilation, with summaries:  http://www.crmw.net/content/health-impacts-mountaintop-removal-and-coal-mining.

Appalachian citizens take health plea to Washington; mounting scientific studies link mountaintop removal to Appalachian health crisis

Contacts:

Bo Webb, 304-854-7104 or 304-237-2688

Allen Johnson, 304-799-4137

Fayetteville, W.Va.—The Appalachian Community Health Emergency (ACHE) campaign launch team has completed its first week of educating congress and federal agencies about the growing health crisis associated with mountaintop removal coal extraction. Citing 19 peer-reviewed health studies, the area residents pled for a moratorium on mountaintop removal until a comprehensive federal investigation can determine more precisely the causes of greatly increased birth defects, cancer, and other health problems.

“We specifically visited Senator Jay Rockefeller’s office because he’s been a national leader in healthcare issues,” said Bob Kincaid, a Coal River Mountain Watch member from Fayette County, W.Va. “We need the senator to acknowledge these studies’ existence and recognize the emergency that is unfolding in his own state of West Virginia.”

A 2011 study demonstrated significantly higher rates of birth defects in communities near mountaintop removal.  A baby born to a mother living near mountaintop removal faces twice the risk of birth defects compared to a baby whose mother smoked during pregnancy, and more than ten times the risk of circulatory or respiratory birth defects.  The ACHE coalition formed from concerned citizens and existing groups to specifically address this and the other health impacts from mountaintop removal, seeking to keep the issue alive through a continual presence in Washington, D.C.

“All around me, family and neighbors in my community are dying of cancer,” said Bo Webb of Naoma, W.Va. “While the silica dust and blasting residue coat our homes, our supposed leaders actively promote the very activity linked to our health crisis. Such disregard for citizens’ lives is unacceptable.”

A scientific survey conducted in 2011 showed that residents of the Coal River Valley of West Virginia, an area heavily impacted by mountaintop removal, were more than twice as likely to report cancer as residents of a similar community without mountaintop removal.

“Sometimes I just think I can’t bear to see another sobbing mother holding her newborn with a birth defect or feel the loss of the death of another 4-year old with a rare form of cancer or hear the voice of another teenager expressing a feeling of hopelessness for a future, all from those living under the devastation of mountain top removal,” said Pat Drago, Mountain Health and Heritage Association (MHHA) member from Fayetteville, W.Va. “ But I have to believe that somewhere, somehow, maybe in Washington D.C., we’ll get enough support to help us stop the madness.”

In mountaintop removal, coal operators first clear-cut the forests, burning or burying most of the timber, and then begin removing the mountain with explosives and heavy equipment to get to the layers of coal.  According to data from the US Geological Survey, the net explosive force of a Hiroshima-style atomic bomb is used weekly in West Virginia and Kentucky.  The process has affected over a million acres of Kentucky, West Virginia, Virginia, and Tennessee.

“While we were in our nation’s capital, US Representative Hal Rogers of Kentucky lambasted the EPA, the only agency to take any measures to protect us from mountaintop removal,” said Eric Autenreith, an MHHA member from Fayetteville, W.Va.  “According to the Gallup-Healthways index, Rogers’ congressional district has the worst health in the country.  It also ranks among the top three in mountaintop removal.”

The ACHE coalition presently consists of participants from Coal River Mountain Watch, Mountain Health and Heritage Association, and Christians for the Mountains.  “We encourage you, if you’re concerned about mountaintop removal’s effect on your community’s health, to join us in making your voice heard,” said Allen Johnson, executive director of Christians for the Mountains. “Please contact us, learn about the issue, and take action to protect your community.”

Health study compilation, with summaries:  http://www.crmw.net/content/health-impacts-mountaintop-removal-and-coal-mining.