"Bill at Highlands"

I read with interest the item in the Nov- Dec issue of the Voice regarding the wide- spread proliferation of phthlates, contained in plastic products, which cause hormonal imbalances in humans. Having lived at the same location here in St. Albans since 1954, I have been similarly concerned about the hundreds of chemical compounds emitted into the air in the Kanawha River Valley. It probably strikes a lot of people as an insurmountable, highly complex set of problems, but one which I think we can begin to get a handle on.

If one were to start a road trip at Gauley Bridge, and drive on down Rt. 60 to St. Albans, the problem of air pollution in the Kanawha River Valley begins to look more finite. The problem begins at Alloy with a metal smelter, then gets compounded by coal processing and loading facilities along the Kanawha River which contribute respirable coal dust. A little further along is the coal-fired power plant at Glasgow, then DuPont Chemicals, then the trash-and-God- knows-what incinerator in the junkyard at Campbell's Creek. There is a hospital waste incinerator in downtown Charleston, followed by Union Carbide, then Rhone-Poulenc, FMC, another junkyard at Institute, Monsanto, and so forth, finally coming to a bleak end in Nitro.

No one knows exactly what these plants are emitting. The companies have for many years issued essentially guesses of chemicals released into the air, based on engineering estimates, computer models, and pure guesswork. It is claimed that the volume of many emissions is declining, but it is the chemical and other industries that are doing the guessing, and our health is at stake.

Actual measurements of pollution levels in the air are possible, and in fact have been conducted in the past. These tests revealed alarming levels of toxic and carcinogenic chemicals in neighborhoods near, and not-so-near, chemical and other facilities. Chemical leaks have caused people to seek medical treatment after being dosed at a shopping center in Charleston, at State College, at Belle, and in other residential neighborhoods. And while it is a little easier to become alarmed when people actually keel over, what about the full-time dose we get every day, year after year? These very limited air sampling attempts in the past caused Carl Beard, the former Air Pollution Control Commission director, to plead for more testing and reduced chemical emissions when he retired. Since then, nothing has been done to put into place a full-time air monitoring system to tell us if we have a problem, and if so, if it is life-threatening to people anywhere from Gauley Bridge to Point Pleasant.

We would never accept such a lack of standardized testing in our public water systems. Anything like the levels of chemicals in our water, that have been documented in the Kanawha Valley air supply, would cause the water systems to be shut down until the pollution inputs are halted.

We need changes in the Clean Air Act that mandate comprehensive air sampling in areas threatened with chemical and particulate emissions such as here in the Kanawha Valley. I remain optimistic that the Kanawha Valley can be restored to a high degree of environmental integrity, and become a beautiful place for future generations, with room for sensible non-threatening economic development. As Jay Rockefeller likes to put it, we are at a crossroads with the future of industry in the Kanawha Valley. But before we can choose a direction, we need a lot more detail added to the map.

Yours,

Mike Harman November 24, 2000
St. Albans, WV (from e-mail) ª

I’m sorry but here on rt. 94 [between Racine and Marmet in Boone/Kanawha Counties] and other close areas their seems to be no effort to save anything. Mountains, virgin trees etc. are being destroyed fast. Timber thieves and coal companies seem to rule. And here you have to be careful what you say. Anyway it will never be the same, no matter what. ª