BREAKING: Pipe Break At Patriot Coal Facility Contaminates West Virginia Waterway

[Adenoid_Hynkel]

Source: Think Progress



A coal preparation facility spilled an unknown quantity of coal slurry into a creek in Kanawha County, W.V. Tuesday morning, according to West Virginia officials.

As the Charleston Gazette reports, the spill occurred at Patriot Coal’s Kanawha Eagle operation, which is located near Fields Creek. The operation is near Winifrede, WV — southeast of Charleston, the state’s capitol and site of last month’s major chemical spill. The amount of coal slurry that spilled is still unknown, but a West Virginia DEP spokesman told the Charleston Gazette that the spill could probably be characterized as “significant.”

According to the county’s emergency services director, the spill was caused by a break in the eight-inch slurry line that ran between the preparation plant and the company’s refuse impoundment, which occurred sometime between midnight and 5:30 in the morning.

According to the DEP, the company in charge of the facility reported the spill to the DEP at 7:30 a.m.



Read more: http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2014/02/11/3277541/west-virginia-coal-slurry-spill/

---

First Freedom Industries, now Patriot Coal.
At least when they decide to poison my hometown, they take the time to wrap it in the American flag.

[malthaussen]

1. Oh, those poor freakin' people.

Isn't dumping on others the American Way?

-- Mal

[meegbear]

2. I hope you guys don't have a Liberty Oil

[Ikonoklast]

6. If there is a Constitution High Explosives plant anywhere nearby, they better run.

[AtheistCrusader]

20. Or Exceptionalism Fertilizer Plant

[Squinch]

26. Rocket's Red Glare Nuclear Power Plant (Run away!!!! Run away!!!!)

[muriel_volestrangler]

23. Lehighton, PA has that honor - with the ominously named 'Port Carbon'

http://www.libertyoilcompany.com/loc/default.aspx

oh, plus Baltimore: http://www.libertyoil.net/

double the chance of something going wrong ...

[alp227]

3. Charleston Gazette story. K&R. Can't believe another one occurred there!

'Significant' coal slurry spill blackens Kanawha County creek

[liberal N proud]

4. Those big billboard all over West Virgina - anti Obama, pro Coal

and the bumper stickers.

This is what deregulation creates, toxic environment. Now the people of West Virginia who have been duped by big corporate interest will pay the price.

[malthaussen]

5. And of course we all want our children to grow up to be coal miners.

"Pro-coal," forsooth! The only people pro-coal are those who make money off it.

(To be clear: not directed at you, but those billboards and bumper stickers)

-- Mal

[arcane1]

7. The Onion could never come up with names better than these.

[Populist_Prole]

8. Ever notice the didactic names right wingers give themselves?

"Freedom" this, "Patriot" that, "Liberty" Inc, "Enterprise" enterprises. Do they actually believe that they'll garner all support they need from a bottomless supply of flag waving imbeciles by using stupid semantics? Or do they actually believe all the semantic bullshit themselves?

[slumcamper]

18. Yes--good observation! And...

...whether attributable to Sinclair Lewis, Huey Long, or some other person, the fact of the matter reminds me of the qoute, "When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross." I suspect that these self-righteous, Ayn Randian-types types believe that the Bill of Rights and the Bible are license to operate at will, according to their own individual self-interest, and irregardless of any borader consideration for neighbors, community, or society. Extreme self-centeredness devoid of empathy or conscience while in pursuit of individual profit is their modus operandi.

[JoeyT]

32. "Believe"?

They pretty much do garner support from a bottomless supply of flag waving imbeciles by using stupid semantics.

If there weren't that many flag waving imbeciles, Republicans would've long since dialed down the nationalistic nonsense. They do it because it works.

[Nihil]

33. Exactly right: "They do it because it works"

> They pretty much do garner support from a bottomless supply of
> flag waving imbeciles by using stupid semantics.

They have been poisoning, cheating & exploiting those same morons
for generations and none have woken up sufficiently to stop the cycle.

[didact]

36. Yes...yes I have

[Blue Owl]

9. Some real patriotic duty there...

[jeff47]

10. Quick! Inspect all the facilities of chemical companies with patriotic names!! (nt)

[Rider3]

11. Oversight?

Any chance that these people will now see how much oversight is needed to protect our environment? Huh.. probably not. Silly thought.

[damyank913]

37. Haven't you been paying attention?

If these companies weren't so heavily regulated, they could afford to hire the staff to inspect they're own facilities and keep us all safer. They're just asking us to trust them...

[Solly Mack]

12. K&R

[TheMathieu]

13. Check out their PAC donations... the usual suspects:

http://docquery.fec.gov/cgi-bin/com_supopp/C00452524/

[adirondacker]

27. WV State Democratic Executive Committee, Jay Rockafeller (D), Joe Manchin (D)...

Hey at least they know how to hedge their funding.

[Earth_First]

14. Bankruptcy paperwork is being drawn as we speak... nt

[truedelphi]

15. And Golden Parachute insurance papers are being filled out as well.

Surely those who are currently in the executive offices can't be expected to pay for mere mistakes!

[Enthusiast]

17. Exactly............nt

[muriel_volestrangler]

19. 2 months ago: Patriot Coal to exit bankruptcy on Dec. 18

Dec 17 (Reuters) - Patriot Coal Corp said it would emerge from Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Wednesday, after months of wrangling with its unionized workforce and former parent Peabody Energy Corp over cost cuts.

Patriot declared bankruptcy in July 2012, saying it needed to cut $150 million a year in employment costs to return to profit.

"This marks the final step in Patriot's financial restructuring," Chief Executive Bennett Hatfield said in a statement on Tuesday.

The company, which produces coal for both steel and power industries, received court permission earlier this year to scrap collective bargaining agreements with its union and draw up new, cost-saving contracts.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/12/17/patriotcoal-bankruptcy-idUSL3N0JW3BE20131217

[Enthusiast]

16. This sucks!

[AtheistCrusader]

21. Whatever happened to the concept of not shitting where you eat?

I mean, how hard is it for the fuckwits that run this company to realize, they have water taps in their mansions too?

[Lancero]

28. They can afford high end filtration systems...

[stillwaiting]

35. They can also easily and readily afford to relocate.

Not so much most everyone else.

[jsr]

22. There can be no more patriotic contamination

[stg81]

24. Clean Coal

[olddad56]

25. okay, move along folks. Nothing here to see.

[Lancero]

29. I do love me a glass of chemical waste...

It's the perfect way to wash down a big meal filled with GMO's, steroids, and antibiotics.

[Ash_F]

30. I've lost track. /nt

[Enrique]

31. remember Don Blankenship?

from Massey Mines?

[Sunlei]

34. makes me wonder where the past 100 yrs of mine waste went to. CNN pic show larger drain pipe

guess? they 'filter' the slurry on site, do something with what they filter out and dump the rest into the creeks, it goes to rivers and out to the sea This can never be 'clean water' ever, can it?

CNN http://www.cnn.com/2014/02/11/us/west-virginia-slurry-spill/

[Z-RO]

38. Solar, wind, and geothermal anyone? There is no "clean" coal.

[Kali]

40. welcome to DU

what is the meaning of your username?

[Z-RO]

41. It's from an early 1950's SciFi TV show called "Captain Z-RO"

He experiments in time and space. Mostly it is historical in nature with time teleportation to intervene, presumably to keep things to the story when it seems to be going wrong. The history is rather accurate.

[Kali]

42. OK

was a little concerned as some on the wacko right call the President a similar name. Carry on and enjoy DU.

[Z-RO]

43. I wasn't aware of the wingnut use of "zero" (which is how "Z-RO" is pronounced). I like the TV show.

[truebluegreen]

39. "Patriot Coal"? "Freedom Industries"?

Can these ecoterrorists be any more Orwellian?