SMALL TOWN STANDS UP TO BIG COAL

Why One Community's Cries for Help Against Cancer and Others Diseases Are Going Unanswered; Residents claim a coal waste dump is poisoning water, polluting air, and causing asthma and cancer among those who live nearby. But no one will help.
Joshua Frank, January 28, 2011 (AlterNet)

"…[S]mack dab in the middle of eastern Oklahoma there's an environmental rebellion afoot…Residents of the rural community of Bokoshe, population 450, are none too happy with [a] huge heap of blackened coal ash…They claim the combustion waste is poisoning water, polluting their air, and causing asthma and cancer…[O]f the 20 households in closest proximity to the dump, 14 people have been diagnosed with cancer and many others have died since the site was opened eight years ago.

"An outfit that goes by the shameless name of Making Money Having Fun LLC (MMHF) operates the toxic coal ash pit. MMHF hauls [up to 80 truckloads per day of] the noxious debris by truck to Bokoshe from the nearby AES Shady Point Generation Plant…[U.S.coal plants] produce almost 140 million tons [per year] of scrubber sludge…coal waste…[and] combustion waste…[It] contains numerous toxins such as arsenic and lead, is contaminating groundwater, drinking supplies and wetlands in hundreds of communities and in dozens of states. Currently there are no federal regulations of coal waste disposal, but some Oklahomans aren't having it…"

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"From the beginning, residents claim, the company has been flat out lying. It lied about what it was dumping and now it is lying about its potential harm to human and environmental health. MMHF and AES are simply not acknowledging that their waste site, which is also allowed to have oil and gas water, could potentially be killing the citizens of Bokoshe…[T]ownspeople invited Obama's regulatory czar Cass Sunstein to visit…signed petitions, wrote letters, lobbied their local officials and cried out for help in every way they knew…The Obama administration has not responded…[Representatives who visited Sunstein’s office were] only allocated a few minutes to make their case…Sunstein, a former law professor and close friend of the president, has a sordid history when it comes to environmental health problems…

"The response MMHF gives to critics of its operations in Bokoshe has been callous…but the real culprit has been the owner and operator of the plant itself. A global energy giant, with over 120 projects worldwide, AES has been working hard to keep coal ash waste from being regulated by the federal government…[It uses] the American Coal Ash Association (ACAA), an umbrella lobbying organization that represents all coal ash interests…[to argue] that the so-called "beneficial-use industry" would be eliminated if a "hazardous" designation was given for coal ash waste…

"The Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality has acknowledged that the coal ash may be impacting people in Bokoshe, but has refused to act. The state's Department of Mines has not been of much help either and has denied that MMHF's ash pit could possibly be leaking contaminated wastewater…Bokoshe citizens have also asked for help from Oklahoma Senator James Inhofe, a global warming denier, and Representative Dan Boren, to no avail…"

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[Senator Inhofe:] "The fly ash is temporarily mounded while it is mixed with water to form slurry. Ultimately, the mine will be transformed into a pasture. Therefore, the fly ash mound is temporary and will disappear once the reclamation is complete."

[Bokoshe resident Tim Tanskley:] "If you are going to an economically depressed area and killing people with this coal combustion waste just to feed the big cities with cheap electricity ... this is not right, this is not social justice…There is nothing right about that process."