I took this video last night, Saturday, November 11 at the Winfield Quick Stop in Putnam County. The wind was blowing strong gusts of the “licorice” smell even though the spill was three days ago.
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Connie Lewis of Winfield, West Virginia describes having to travel to relatives’ homes for showers, the shortage of paper products during a time when dishwashing is difficult and ill-advised, and having friends hospitalized due to the effects of the West Virginia water crisis.
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This is my mom and me on our way to the store. We drive through Eleanor, WV where the National Guard and Red Cross set up a water filling/distribution station and across the Kanawha River and into Winfield, WV.
This morning, I heard unconfirmed reports on the ground that it will be three days before water is potable (safe to drink).
Sorry about the incorrect dates I stated at the beginning of the video. It’s been a crazy time reporting here and I barely know what day it is without a calendar. The chemical spill into the Elk River occurred the morning of Thursday, January 9 and was reported to the public at 5 pm that evening. I filmed this vlog the morning of Sunday, January 12. I spent all day yesterday filming and blogging about the #WaterCrisis and all day Friday live tweeting all news and on-the-ground updates. I have many more updates and stories to tell. So please keep checking back. I have some wonderful friends now helping me edit and upload new videos. Thanks, Jen and Meg!
I also plan to have a more formal reflection on the events of the past few days soon. There are much larger, long-term concerns that I want to talk about, especially within the context of history of the exploitation of the environment and people of West Virginia.
Thank you to everyone who has viewed and shared this blog. People need to know what is going on here in West Virginia and start thinking about what has been going on here for decades.
You can also follow me for updates on Twitter: @klbryson
I have been watching this situation very closely, and I have to say that I am quite upset. However, it’s not at WV American Water or Freedom Industries so much. I do hold them responsible, but I am more upset at this whole “Water Crisis” idea that has been swirling about. This my friends is not a crisis, it’s an inconvenience. This thing is being reported as a catastrophic event, but it is not. It is a symptom of a larger crisis, the real and true devastation in this area and this state. I’m talking about the chemical and mining industries. They have brought destruction, illness, and death, but they are treated as saviors.
To tell you my story, I have to go beyond this water situation and back several decades. My father past away in 2006. He worked at the chemical plant in Institute. He worked there most of his adult life, surrounded by chemical leaks and even had a job for many years burying the most hazardous chemical waste in the landfill on Goff Mountain. He had major health problems for most of my life. He was in and out of the hospital more times than I could even count. He had three heart attacks by the age of 60. And, he finally died at the age of 70 from numerous disorders. I know that it is all due to the time he spent in that plant.
I remember one particular incident that spells out the mindset of the chemical industry and the state government around here. When I was around eight years-old, there was a leak at the plant (as there were on many occasions). Some gas was released that was so toxic it peeled the paint on all the cars in the parking lots and surrounding areas. The workers and residents of the area complained to the governor and what they got was $100 to get their cars detailed, with no mention of health risks of inhaling this stuff.
When I was in my twenties I too worked in the chemical plant, because there were so few other jobs for non-skilled people like me who also had no access to higher education. I spent two years in the plant, and in that time I saw chemical leaks on a daily basis. And, each time some representative from the chemical company or the state government always insisted that the leak was “contained within the plant.” I always wondered, as most of the leaks were gases, how they managed to contain gases within the plant. Was there some magic force field around the plant that kept them in?
Let me share one last story about my decision to finally leave the chemical plant. One day I was up on a tower cleaning up some waste material that had leaked out (supposedly with protective gear, but I never felt entirely secure about its effectiveness). While I was up there the chemical alarm sounded for a gas leak of Methyl isocyanate (MIC), the same stuff that killed all those people in Bhopal, India in 1984. During the alarm everyone else sheltered in place, but I was up on a tower and couldn’t get down, so I was left there while all these chemicals swirled around me. Once the emergency was over, someone finally came to get me down, but only after they had me finish the job that I was doing up there. I sent letters to OSHA and my congressman about the incident and was assured that there would be a “thorough investigation.” That was in 1991, and I’m still waiting to hear anything further about it.
So, you see why I don’t regard this latest event as a major event. This sort of thing has been happening to the people of “Chemical Valley” for decades and the government is in support of the companies. I will guarantee now that promises of investigations and full accountability will be made, but a month from now, this will be like it never happened and every official from the government and the companies involved will have “forgotten” that it ever happened. And, that is my story.
Jesse Richardson speaks about the difficulty of caring for a small child during the West Virginia Water Crisis, as well as her frustration that she bathed, fed, and gave her child contaminated water before the public was informed of the chemical spill.
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Freedom Industries is responsible for leaking Eastmans Crude MCHC product into the Elk River Watershead.
West Virginia American Water is responsible for not removing it from the water they supply to their customers nor detecting it while first saying their plant was removing it.
Various city and state representatives are responsible for declaring a state of emergency and preventing 300K citizens the us of water without any evidence it is unsafe which has also crippled thousands of businesses. They are also liable for gross negligence for ignoring Freedom Industries Tier 2 form disclosure and not having any plans in place for a dealing with a leak when they were fully aware that the tank farm was situated on the Elk and less than 1.5 miles from WVAW’s water intake. Over the years they’ve accepted 10’s of millions of dollars of tax payers money to plan for events like these.
This is a terrible situation infinitely exacerbated by the negligence of many individuals. There will be a reckoning in the coming weeks and months and all will be held fully accountable for their failures.
I urge every body affected by this travesty to first secure water and food provisions for their family, check on your neighbors and then to seek legal representation as soon as possible. There will be lawsuits against a multitude of public and private entities. Please file your claim as soon as possible to ensure that you can be compensated before the bankruptcies and insurance limits.
What I don’t understand is why they waited so long to tell us about the water being contaminated. We, the public, had a right to know way before we were notified. Did they think that they could just sweep it under the rug?
How are they gonna flush each and every line when it is time and in a quick and timely manner,especially out here in the country? They say this can go on for weeks possibly even months…I don’t think so. The people that were affected by this chemical spill can’t live like this for months.
I am a 26 years old and my name is Kendra Meeks. I live in Winfield, WV, and I am a victim of the water crisis. I have two young sons who are both 6 years old (not twins…stepbrothers) but we have suffered a lot in the past three weeks. First our schools were closed two Christmas break for a week and a half and then both my sons went back to school on that Thursday like planned, but then that Friday the schools had to close due to bad weather (snow). Then the following Monday they were closed still for bad weather. Tuesday and Wednesday they were out due to no power, so they finally went back this past Thursday and we were all hoping they wouldn’t miss anymore school due to make-up days. Then we heard the news of this chemical leak, which of course closed school this past Friday. Talk about aggravating. My children have been in school for two days in the last three weeks, and who knows when they will be allowed to go back!!!
This isn’t the only reason I’m irritated though. The big issue to me is that we weren’t notified until 4 pm in the evening about this leak, and that the plant knew what happened but never told anyone is wrong. I babysit at home and I was letting my sitting children drink the water all day and I cooked them lunch with that water. What if it would’ve seriously hurt these children who are two to three years old?!!! That guilt would’ve never left my mind if I knew I was the reason that something happened to those precious babies. What the plant owner did was wrong.
Not to mention, I’m to worried to go to the grocery store because I don’t want to get trampled on by all these people out there that are worried and buying all the food and drinks they can. So now my question is who is going to feed my children when we run out of food cause there is none to buy?!! Somebody will because I will dig to the end of the earth if I have to for those plant owners to feed my kids if I have to and I’m sure there are plenty other parents out there that are worried about this same exact thing!!! How can you sit back and know that this is harmful but still not tell anyone and let people bathe and drink this crap?!!
All I know is I will NOT be paying my water bill this month bc it’s half their fault too for not communicating with the plant and vice versa!!!! We have been relying on our community for water and praise The Lord my sister who resides in St. Albans has their city water. My fiancé works at Diamond Electric and they were kind enough to bring portable showers in for their employees and their families so that’s where we have been bathing which is RIDICULOUS that I can’t bathe my own kids in my home!!!
Who’s going to pay for all the water we have bought or the laundry and dishes we can’t touch which are piling high bc we can’t find plastic or paper plates or silverware anywhere!!! So let me just say this if my children are out of school any longer than a week I’m going to be highly upset because not only did they interrupt our lives every day, but they also took away the ability for my children to learn, School is where children belong not locked up in a house that you can’t brush your teeth, take a bath, or even touch the water for that matter!!!
We need and want answers and I do believe that the plant needs to start talking instead of avoiding the situation this isn’t a minor issue it has affected around 300,000 people and it’s hard to tell how many of those people are infant newborn babies that are innocent and what if their mothers can’t find water to feed their children what are they supposed to do just let their baby’s starve to death!!!! I’m sure this has affected some of the workers at this plant so why they won’t speak is beyond me but also I think it’s quite rude when the owner is having a press conference with the news channel and he stops talking to take a drink of his bottled water. How about you quit being selfish since you started this problem and get out there and start handing your bottled water out to the people who are affected!!!
I want to thank whoever started this blog because this just lifted a huge weight off my shoulders because I have been highly upset for days now and it feels good to get this off my chest!!! I hope those that are affected by this issue have what they need and I hope they have friends and family as great as I do to help them out and don’t forget if you have pets do not give them tapwater give them bottled!!! Good luck everyone and you’re all in my prayers as I hope I am in yours!!!
I just wanted to say that I was very happy to see are community come together in this time of need because we need more people to help one another and not get out of control. This too will pass.
As for the people responsible for this, they need to pay for their actions — leaving the community in the dark like that by waiting forever to report this leak. You know this company tried to hide this. How can the community smell this odor but the people working there didn’t? Then they send their own investigators out there around 10:30 to 11:00 am for them to find the leak just for the company not to report it till 12:00 pm. Someone is hiding something and the truth will come out in the end. And I do hold the water company somewhat responsible too. Knowing damn well what’s was up river from them and had no sense to not be communicating with these people on a regular basis. I would think if it were me and I was responsible for hundreds of thousand of people’s safety I would have done a better job working on ways to prevent such a thing.
“IM JUST SAYING.”
My family is one of the 300,000 people without water. I have a toddler and had already bathed, cooked, washed his clothes, and served him water to drink. To my understanding, they had already known about the chemical leak a day before. The air had smelled funny for two days and the water also. I am upset that I brushed my child’s teeth and let him have contact and ingest such a dangerous substance.
My grandmother is 70 years old and her whole house smells of licorice! My mother and her brother are taking care of her but are expericing headaches and sore throats! My family and I have dry skin as we speak and it’s not due to the weather. We want answers! The president of the company was rude and has provided the public with nothing! I am concerned for my child’s safety at best!
West Virginia Water Crisis 