CHARLESTON, WV — Protestors gathered outside the office of the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) on September 29 to call attention to the safety of drinking water sources throughout the state, according to a September 30 WSAZ News Channel 3 report.
They said mountaintop removal mining and coal slurry ponds are making water throughout the state unsafe.
They also called for the resignation of West Viriginia DEP Secretary Randy Huffman, saying that he either needs to resign or offer assurances that he is making sure DEP is “doing their job,” according to a September 29 MetroNews report.
To press their point, the protestors used jugs of black liquid they said represented the water quality in communities throughout West Virginia’s coalfields. “This is a gallon jug with black water and a poison sign on the outside because this is actually toxic material. Unfortunately, it is coming out of the tap water in southern West Virginia,” the Sierra Club’s Bill Price is quoted as saying in the MetroNews report.
Kathy Cosco, a spokeswoman for the DEP, said the agency enforces all of the rules and works closely with the US Environmental Protection Agency.
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