Congratulations to Voters in West Virginia and Kentucky – You Put the Republicans in Control

And Now They Are Going to Pollute the Hell Out of You

One of the problems of coal mining, one of the many problems, is that mine operators scrape off the tops of mountains and just dump the crap into nearby streams.  And when we say ‘crap’ we don’t just mean dirt and rocks,  we mean stuff that can pollute the waterways and cause major health problems down stream.  To stop this the Obama administration implemented rules to stop this. 

Now the Republican Congress is going to gut the regulation.

Your future,West Virginia and Kentucky - Thanks to Your Voting

Using an obscure law that allows Congress to review regulations before they take effect, the Senate voted to reverse the Stream Protection Rule, which seeks to protect the nation’s waterways from debris generated by a practice called surface mining. The Interior Department had said the rule would protect 6,000 miles of streams and 52,000 acres of forests by keeping coal mining debris away from nearby waters.

So yeah people of coal mining Appalachia, your rivers and streams are going to be full of toxic waste.  Later you are going to have horrific illnesses.  Future generations will curse your memory, not understanding how you can impose disease and illness on them and leave them with a massive clean up bill all in return for a few jobs that may or may not be created.

Feel good about yourselves?  You shouldn’t, no one else does.