Environmental impact statement gives green light to Gilberton coal-to-oil project

Speaking of the horrors of coal, I recently received in the mail a big package from the U.S. Department of Energy, which I finally tore open the other night. Inside I found two fat spiral-bound documents -- together almost two inches thick -- that contained the final environmental impact statement for WMPI's planned coal-to-oil refinery in Gilberton, Pa.

After hearing numerous concerns about toxic emissions and greenhouse gas pollution that will be dumped from the plant into the local environment, the DOE is still proposing to go ahead and "provide cost-shared funding" for the project. In other words, to force you and me and all our fellow taxpayers to further enrich John W. Rich and further devastate the coal region's already fragile environmental health.

To add further insult to injury, the DOE's decision comes just as the federal Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry has confirmed the state's findings that residents of Schuylkill County and neighboring Luzerne County suffer from unusually high rates of polycythemia vera -- a rare blood cancer that's been linked to pollution from burning fossil fuels and petroleum refineries. Even more disturbing, several of the polycythemia vera clusters identified on an ATSDR map displayed at last Wednesday's public meeting appear to be very close to if not right on top of Gilberton (click on the maps below for larger images).

Though I'm still working my way through all the comments submitted about the coal-to-oil plant, I was struck by the remarkable story they tell about about the residents of the anthracite coal region, who in page after page of heartfelt testimony, e-mails and letters bear witness to their love of land and fellow man -- and to anger over the long history of the area's environmental abuse by corporate powers and the politicians they own.

This one is an excerpt from a handwritten letter submitted by Joan Chesonis of Shenandoah Heights, which I thought was particularly eloquent and to-the-point:

Northern Schuylkill County has been a dumping ground for decades with projects no others want in their area, i.e. landfills, prisons, and co-generation plants. Always using the You Need Jobs arguments, big business usually gets its way. The time to stop exploiting this area is long overdue.

And this is from from Geronimo Rafter, who attended one of the public meetings about the project and later send the DOE the following e-mail, which I have not edited because I thought it was powerful exactly as written:

HELLO I WAS AT THE SHENANDOAH MEETING AND EXPLAINED HOW RIGHT NOW THE WASTE FROM THE PLANTS ARE DUMPING RIGHT IN MY BACKYARD TEN TIMES THE AMOUNT ALLOWED IN THE AIR. SO BAD THAT IT EATS MY CLOTHES LINES UP AND EATS AT THE BRASS ON MY DOORS THE PROOF IS RIGHT IN MY BACK YARD AT THE LAST MEETING THEY SAID THEY WHERE GOING TO HAVE THE DOE GET IN TOUCH WITH ME AND SINCE THEN NO ONE HAS DONE ANYTHING. YOU PUT ONE OF THOSE MONITORS HERE AND YOU WILL GET A CORRECT READING. ALSO I READ THE DOE TOOK THE MONITOR OUT OF MAHANOY CITY WHY DO YOU NOT CHECK WHERE THE DUMPING IS GOING ON LIKE MY BACKYARD AND NOW YOUR GOING TO PUT FIVE MORE STACKS UP. MY WIFE LIVED HERE FOR A COUPLE YEARS AND GOT CANCER FROM THIS STUFF. DOES MILLIONS OF DOLLARS MEAN MORE THEN OUR LIFES AND WHY DO YOU ALWAYS DUMP ON THE POOR.

If you'd like to read the EIS, it will be available at the public libraries in Frackville (56 N. Lehigh Ave.), Mahanoy City (17-19 W. Mahanoy Ave.) and Pottsville (215 W. Market St.). It will also be available on DOE's National Environmental Policy Act Web site and on the National Energy Technology Laboratory's Web site. To get your own copy, you can contact Janice Bell at Janice.Bell@netl.doe.gov or call 412-386-4512.