I used to think even though our government is pretty corrupt and rarely makes decisions based on public opinion or public good, it at least actively tries to keep us from dying by doing things like ensuring clean water for its citizens. I mean, that’s pretty basic. I figured the politicians who represent us in our government wouldn’t possibly trade our well-being and even our lives for campaign contributions and lobbyists’ dollars, right? Looks like I was wrong.
Today I found a New York Times article about tap water in Appalachia being contaminated by coal mining. The article tells the tale of the Massey family’s ordeal as they try to deal with a contaminated water supply. Their tap water contains dangerous amounts of lead, arsenic, barium, manganese, and other toxins and heavy metals that lead to cancer, birth defects and other health issues. The entire family has rashes and lesions from bathing, while their teeth are being eaten away from brushing their teeth with the contaminated water. The Massey’s have resorted to having fresh water delivered to their house and brushing their teeth with bottled water.
Somebody’s doing something about this, right? Well, not exactly. The Environmental Protection agency should be regulating this kind of contamination under the Clean Water Act of 1972. Yet, during the presidency of George W. Bush, regulation has declined sharply. Indeed, over the last five years, factories, plants, refineries, and other businesses and corporations have violated EPA standards 500,000 times, but only about 3% of these violations led to punishment. Although the EPA boasts that it collected $14.7 million in fines from more than 70 mining companies since 2006, $14.7 million is how much those businesses’ parent companies make every 10 hours. So, thanks to loose or even completely lacking regulation, it pays to put peoples’ lives at risk. As it is, about 10% of Americans live with tap water that falls below EPA standards.
According to The New York Times, “Enforcement lapses were particularly bad under the administration of President George W. Bush, employees say. ‘For the last eight years, my hands have been tied,’ said one E.P.A. official who requested anonymity for fear of retribution. ‘We were told to take our clean water and clean air cases, put them in a box, and lock it shut. Everyone knew polluters were getting away with murder. But these polluters are some of the biggest campaign contributors in town, so no one really cared if they were dumping poisons into streams.’” In fact, over the last twenty years, coal mining corporations have donated $22,235,623 to political campaigns, with $3,446,336 of that in 2008 alone. And is it any surprise that we saw the sharpest decline in regulations during a Republican presidency when 80% of coal-funded contribution dollars have gone to the Republican Party? Indeed, in 2004, Bush’s reelection year, a full 90% of coal-funded contributions went to the Republican Party? We need to radically change how our greed-fueled political system operates. It’s becoming a matter of life and death.
