Residents concerned about clean water in Appalachia are suing the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and asking for a response to past petitions arguing that Kentucky and West Virginia have failed to regulate “harmful” pollution caused by mountaintop removal coal mining. 
The legal action was filed on Jan. 7 by Kentuckians for the Commonwealth (KFTC) and the Sierra Club in U.S. District Court in Frankfort. The lawsuit stems from past petitions and concerns that people in Appalachia are sick because of this mining, streams are polluted and companies are not being held accountable.
The organizations and their supporters contend that administrators for the clean water programs in West Virginia and Kentucky are “bowing to pressure from the coal industry” and are not doing a sufficient job in stopping the contamination of water caused by this type of mining.
Residents and environmental groups filed their first petition in June 2009. They are asking the EPA to implement and enforce the Clean Water Act in West Virginia and Kentucky, instead of having state officials do so.
“There is no excuse for EPA not taking action long before now to safeguard our communities,” Mary Love, a Kentuckians for the Commonwealth member, said in a statement. “The people and communities of Kentucky and West Virginia deserve better than the legacy left us by uncontrolled, runaway coal mining – a broken economy and a polluted environment.”
Love is concerned that state leaders in Kentucky have cut the budget for environmental enforcement.
“Communities in Appalachia have been living with mountaintop removal pollution for too long,” Bill Price, an organizer with the Sierra Club who lives in West Virginia, said. “EPA needs to step up and seize the opportunity to protect Appalachian residents from rampant water pollution.”
This type of mining involves exposing coal seams by removing the tops of mountains, the EPA says. The tops of mountains are disposed in nearby valleys and can affect water sources, such as streams.
Cindy Rank, an environmentalist with the West Virginia Highlands Conservancy, said this type of mining is “killing off” the region’s streams, wildlife and heritage. Dianne Bady of the Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition observed that these problems are a poor reflection on the political process in which, as she said, sacrifices have been made so that coal mining can be profitable.
An EPA spokeswoman said Tuesday that the agency has no comment about the lawsuit.
Kentuckians for the Commonwealth is a community organization dedicated to equality, democracy and non-violent change. The group, which has more than 7,500 members, works on social, economic and environmental justice issues.