West Virginia wants more disaster funding, FEMA says no

[okaawhatever]

West Virginia Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin is appealing a decision by the Federal Emergency Management Agency to end assistance to state and local agencies a month after a chemical spill contaminated drinking water for more than 300,000 residents.
In a letter to Tomblin earlier this week, FEMA deputy associate administrator Elizabeth Zimmerman said the spill didn’t rise to disaster status.

SNIP

FEMA granted emergency assistance to nine counties impacted by the spill, in the Elk River, on Jan. 10. But the agency denied Tomblin’s Jan. 27 request to extend that aid to cover spending by local agencies to mitigate threats to life, safety and health.

SNIP

A FEMA spokesman told the Charleston Gazette that the agency has already provided 7 million liters of water to the state, and 130,000 meals. But, the spokesman said, the agency decided the ongoing recovery costs were not beyond local and state capabilities.

“I am appalled that FEMA feels that an emergency that leaves 300,000 people without access to clean water is not severe enough to warrant additional federal assistance,” Rep. Shelley Moore Capito (R), who represents the heart of the impacted area, told the Gazette in a statement.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/govbeat/wp/2014/02/13/west-virginia-wants-more-disaster-funding-fema-says-no/

Ms. Shelley Moore Capito (R) I'm appalled that you're looking to the federal government to help clean up the multi-million dollar mess that your policies created. Maybe you should be talking to Freedom Industries about help with the disaster. Governor Tomblin is a Dem so at least he'd support legislation to stop this from happening in the future. Moore-Capito I think would take the money and run. As soon as the taxpayers of W Virgina and the federal gov't pick up the multi-million dollar tab she'll be right back to "small government" and "job killing regulations."

[TheBlackAdder]

1. Asshole Gov. wasted time and money while endangering lives. It's his duty to fund it now. nt

[truedelphi]

3. Huh?

You are aware that the cleverly crafted Oil and Big Energy "Reform" Measure that came about in 2005, and was probably mostly authored by Dick Cheney and his henchmen, actually removed various protections that had traditionally forced energy companies to assume liabilities for whatever damages they were responsible for. Those protections were among the items that kept this nation from being similar to a third world nation.

And Congress was under Democratic control from Jan 2007 to January 2011, so if at any point in that time any of our elected puppetry members had wanted to change this, and put the onus on the Big Energy firms themselves, it could have been done.

[geek tragedy]

20. West Virginia's DEP is owned by the coal companies and that's the real problem nt

[truedelphi]

37. Last time I looked, West Virginia is inside the USA.

And we all know that the Department of Justice can go anywhere inside the USA and enforce Federal Laws and Regulations. (We Californians know this from the recent months when DOJ officials came in to teach Californians that Fed Law trumps state law with regards to medical marijuana.)

But once the Big Oil and Big Energy Reform Act stripped away all the Fed protections, protections which came about during a fifteen year period of environmentalism, 1970 to 1985,
then it becomes a matter for each individual state. Which is a very bad way to run things, because if State X doesn't care if the water in their state, or the air over their companies is destroyed, that water and air goes on and pollutes the water and air in other places.

[geek tragedy]

38. And WV is responsible for those Bush-Cheney

policies, as their electoral votes put Bush over the top, and they voted for Bush precisely because they hoped he'd gut environmental restrictions on Big Coal.

Elections have consequences.

[okaawhatever]

5. Wasted time and money? What do you mean? I haven't been paying a lot of attention. nt

[TheBlackAdder]

9. By not deploying HazMat Teams, allowing the spread, telling folks to decide the water safety, etc.

WV American Water seems to be a shambles, too.

The state has no disaster plan, no one to run the state's response team. Just a bunch of Non-Com-Poops!

It's a state that's run amok with incompetence and corporate favoritism.

[nadinbrzezinski]

13. Maybe it does not work this way there

but here in California HAZMAT teams is far from a state level responsibility, but rather a COUNTY level, and CITY LEVEL.

Of course the state can require those teams to be formed under law, but hardly are formed by the state.

Yes, yes, the NatGuard will have some teams, Biological warfare and all that, and could be mobilized, but.

Also here in California, them regulations and shit, a company like Freedom Industries would have been required to have a disaster plan in place and to either have a HAZMAT team in situ or pay into the county kettle. But then again we have way too much regulation, I know.



Why usually we do not have disasters involving clean coal, and some of our wayward inland counties want to break from the state because, shit, that dang regulation makes it too expensive to socialize risks.

[TheBlackAdder]

15. So WV does not have an Dept. of Environmental Protection Response Team either? nt

[nadinbrzezinski]

22. That is different than a hazmat team

And for the record, the FEDS have them, but the FEDS might be required to respond to FEDERAL facilities, and yes national parks and forests.

I am not saying diddling did not happen. Just pointing out that weak regulations tend to lead to these results, including the weak response. Those regulations also help to pay for the teams.

I will give you a stupid example. Miller's Yard went up in flames AGAIN. They are a wrecking operation on I-8 in Flinn Springs. Here in San Diego the state did not respond. And mind you they had crap that was going into the creek. Who responded were the County of San Diego HAZMAT Team, and just because they have signed every mutual aid agreement in the county (and was part of the feds requirement to fund the team in the first place as a part of a Federal Grant) the far more extensive mobile lab, called the San Diego Fire Department Hazmat team. Those guys go almost everywhere. There are times only the county responds, it's a matter of geography, and the SDFD team has a very pretty but very heavy truck. Some rural roads are too much for them.

A facility like Freedom Industries in California would have a perimeter wall, damn regulations I know, just for starters, and control entry points.

Of course the company has filed bankruptcy, and the tax payer is going to be left holding the bag. I am betting that not even this though will lead to ANY regulations. Coal is king, and any regulations would make them flee the state... never mimd the coal veins are there. As they say, all politics are local. Never mind the California regulations make sense, they will never pass in the modern day state of WV. I fear not even five Freedom Industry leaks will do it.

[okaawhatever]

29. Oh thanks for that. I wasn't aware of a delayed response. I knew that Freedom industries didn't

report it right away and they said that the chemicals weren't hazardous, or something similar. I remember listening to that report, but honestly from there I kind of faded out on the facts and was paying more attention to the people affected. I didn't realize the Gov dropped the ball on not stopping the damage sooner. I did read today that WV American water said pretty early on that the water was safe, but the gov't officials never officially agreed with it. They maybe should have disagreed more vocally, but I couldn't find an example of the politicians saying it was okay to drink the water.

[truedelphi]

2. Damn that George W Bush.

And his deplorable FEMA appointees!

Meanwhile my email box had several photos of the motor oil sludge that comes out of people's faucets, there in West Virginia. It is a very pretty and toasty yellow brown color, and officialdom states it is safe to drink.

[geek tragedy]

4. Hey, they wanted Obama's EPA to get out of WV.

So, they're getting the results they voted for.

Maybe they can use their bibles and guns to make the problem go away.

[DURHAM D]

6. I guess I am not following your logic.

The situation in WV was not a natural disaster so FEMA doesn't really have a role to play.

[KamaAina]

26. Nonsense. FEMA has responded to plenty of manmade disasters.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FEMA#FEMA_as_an_independent_agency_.281979.E2.80.932003.29

One of the disasters FEMA responded to was the dumping of toxic waste into Love Canal in Niagara Falls, New York, in the late 1970s. FEMA also responded to the Three Mile Island nuclear accident where the nuclear generating station suffered a partial core meltdown. These disasters, while showing the agency could function properly, also uncovered some inefficiencies.

[DURHAM D]

28. From you link -

The end of the Cold War also allowed the agency’s resources to be turned away from civil defense to natural disaster preparedness.

FEMA does emergency response but they don't have an obligation to stay and take care of matters that the State needs to address. I believe that in the Texas explosion last year, also caused by a private corporation that was not being monitored by the state, FEMA came into help with housing and medical issues and left the rest up to the state.

[okaawhatever]

33. Exactly, and FEMA is supposed to help when the disaster is greater than the state's capacity to

handle it. The FEMA director is saying this is something the state can handle. It was the same for continued aide for the factory in Texas. That was absolute b.s. for the American taxpayer. There is no reason the state of Texas couldn't handle that.

FEMA and state emergency response each have a responsibility. FEMA is like homeowners insurance. If it's something catastrophic, the insurance company will pay but you still have your deductible. If it's something smaller, than you have to pay yourself.

Most of these emergency plans are in writing. It lays out the state and federal response requirements. I know Texas played on Obama's unpopularity there and were going to deny any help knowing he would get blamed for it. I hope WV doesn't do the same thing. They need to take some responsibility for this.

[Brigid]

7. A poisoned water supply isn't an emergency??

[DURHAM D]

8. That is not the issue.

The state is responsible, not the Feds and not FEMA.

[no_hypocrisy]

10. And the company that produced and stored the coal waste water.

[DURHAM D]

11. Yes. They should be 100% responsible but

didn't they file for bankruptcy right after the leak? Next in line- the state that failed to regulate them.

[Brigid]

12. According to wikipedia's FEMA entry,

"The agency's primary purpose is to coordinate the response to a disaster that has occurred in the United States and that overwhelms the resources of local and state authorities."

I think this qualifies.

[DURHAM D]

14. I don't.

Every State can set themselves up to go to the Feds for EVERYTHING just by being totally incompetent and corrupt. West Virginia's failure to govern is their problem. North Carolina is rapidly falling into the same black hole.

[Brigid]

16. I think you would change your tune real quick . . .

If you lived there.

[DURHAM D]

18. Why don't you hold the government of WV responsible?

[Brigid]

21. This has gone beyond what the third poorest state in the country can do.

Help the people, and deal with the state government's failures later. The federal government has once again let down the people of WV; no wonder they are
skeptical of it.

[geek tragedy]

23. Oh please. WV gets more handouts from the federal government than 90% of other states

Maybe West Virginians should take some responsibility for their own status and, I dunno, regulate the coal industry and protect their own drinking water.

West Virginians are skeptical of the federal government because it's headed by a black guy who cares about climate change.

[okaawhatever]

34. That is an older chart you're showing. The last one I saw had all top ten "givers" as blue states

and 9 of the top ten "takers" as red states. The exception was New Mexico. This is more flattering than reality.

[geek tragedy]

36. Ah, you are correct. But, WV is definitely

still a taker state.

[geek tragedy]

19. Sure, every state wants someone else to pay for their problems

But, this is WV's problem. It's not the federal government's job to come in and pay for everything.

[geek tragedy]

17. it's not a bailout fund, it's a response team. there are no longer evacuations etc

to be done. now it's longer-term problems, and WV is on its own for that. They could start by actually protecting their drinking water, something they've really not bothered to do for decades.

[doc03]

24. Visit WV and you will see thousands and thousands of signs

"Stop the War on Coal" "Fire Obama". They don't want the damn govment meddling in their
affairs. They don't want no EPA, MSHA or OSHA regulations picking on their coal industry. That's not everyone but a majority of the state has gone red..

[geek tragedy]

25. they voted for George W Bush and Dick Cheney over Al Gore and John Kerry

precisely because Bush and Cheney wanted to let the coal industry do whatever the fuck it wanted to.

They voted for McCain and Romney for those reasons, plus the fact they were being opposed by a black guy.

[doc03]

31. I am not condemning the whole state, I was born there and my mother

and father are both from WV. This area and I include eastern Ohio, western PA and WV is a redneck shit-hole. Just today I ran into a couple my mother knew from church in a restaurant. I asked them how they were doing with the new church they want to build. The guy said they have to sell their old church first to get the money to build the new one. Then before they left he comes over and says in a low voice what we need to do now is get that Obama out off office. These people seem to have a need to let everyone know their political opinion for some reason.

[KansDem]

27. Gov. Tomblin on Energy and Oil

Fight the federal government's war on coal. (Jan 2012)
I fight against the EPA to protect energy jobs. (Oct 2011)
We should be looking for more ways to use coal, not less. (Jan 2011)
Develop natural gas from the Marcellus Shale. (Jan 2011)
Letter to Congress supporting renewable energy tax credit. (Nov 2011)

http://www.ontheissues.org/Earl_Ray_Tomblin.htm

[justiceischeap]

30. Why isn't the company that caused the disaster responsible for the clean-up costs?

It doesn't make sense to put every tax payer in America on the hook for a companies mess. We did it with the banks and now all corporations think we should help them out of a bind? I'm more than sure the Koch brothers can afford to clean up their own mess.

[okaawhatever]

35. The company filed bankruptcy. I think the question will be how much insurance they had in place.

In the West, Texas situation, the company was only required to carry $1 million in liability insurance. The company had all their assets in a subsidiary so even suing them wouldn't have done any good. It will be interesting to see what happens here with the insurance company. A lot of those laws are state laws, so it will depend on what WV has on their books.

[Squinch]

39. And the right thing is a REGULATION that requires that companies carry sufficient insurance to

cover a major disaster, and REGULATIONS that attempt to prevent the disasters to begin with.

[freshwest]

32. Rep. Shelley Moore Capito (R-party of crony capitalists), just contact your contributors:

Powell Construction, who gave you $65,000;

Sullivan & Cromwell, who gave you $43,500;

FirstEnergy Corp who gave you $31,150;

Jackson Kelly Pllc who gave you $29,350.

Be sure to tap your good friends at Alpha Natural Resources, who gave you the helpful amounts of $28,475, $19,100 and $9,375.

Somehow you got $1,562,234 in your last run for office. Between 2013 and 2014, you managed to get $3,317,267.

The FEC reports this about your own official WILD AND WONDERFUL PAC:

Location: POTOMAC FALLS, VA 20165

Industry: Leadership PACs; Republican leadership PAC

Treasurer: RALLS, STEVE

http://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/summary.php?cid=N00009771

Looks like you have a big future in the GOP. You were first elected 14 years ago, what happened to create this mess occured on your watch. Now you are running for the Senate. What have you done to stop polluters in WV?