Is stuff like this headed toward your creek? Into your drinking water source? BE AFRAID. BE VERY AFRAID. Then do something about it. Vote for people, no matter the party, who will make sure West Virginians are not paying for corporate greed and carelessness with their lives and health, or the beauty of their properties.
We could be a state of gurgling trout fishing streams, clean swimming holes, and vast nature and hunting preserves. We have so many hiking, biking, riding, and cross-country skiing opportunities that, given this state's natural beauty, we should be a top vacation destination. Plus, we can foster real opportunities that will improve WV in the long term.
This year, they've wasted time repealing a film tax credit and looking at increasing the speed limit. Also, they want to open state parks to commercial logging. Are these really the things we want our legislators to prioritize right now?!! Of course not.
No longer do Robber Barons need to plunder villages with swords and arms. With regulatory and/or judicial complicity, the extraction industry can jab a siphon into our veins and drain our lives away. They simply appropriate our air and water, and transform them into wealth for themselves. In essence, Extraction Debt is the modern weapon of corporate pillage. Launch it at a community, and watch the fiscal destruction that follows.
Be aware that whenever you hear propaganda about "EPA overreach," you can be reasonably assured that the whining is originating from business interests who quite literally value your life and the lives of your children less than you do. Resource Barons prefer to frame the discussion as "higher costs" (for them) rather than accusing the EPA of valuing your life too much.
When businesses and politicians talk about "EPA Overreach," they're looking at what profits can be made where your life or your child's life is just a statistic.
Some extractors are not paying proper royalty payments, are filing fraudulent affidavits claiming mineral rights heirs are unfindable, and are using deceptive language in lease modifications and offers.
"It's not what they are sacrificing, it's that they have been sacrificed."
Holler from the Hollers! 