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Pierce writes: "The formaldehyde in your water is not from the spill. The formaldehyde in your water is from ... somewhere else."

West Virginia faces a new water crisis. (photo: Tom Hindman/Getty Images)
West Virginia faces a new water crisis. (photo: Tom Hindman/Getty Images)


More Water Woes in West Virginia, This Time With Formaldehyde

By Charles Pierce, Esquire

01 February 14

 

t has been amusing to watch the local politicians and government officials in West Virginia try to comfort their constituents, while simultaneously keeping faith with the corporations to whom they have been whoring out the state for two centuries, including the hilariously named -- and now conveniently bankrupt -- Freedom Industries, which poisoned all the water in the state.

Scott Simonton, a Marshall University environmental engineer, told a legislative committee Wednesday that he found cancer-causing formaldehyde -- which he said is one possible breakdown product from the chemical -- in one local water sample and that the continued lack of data on the chemicals that leaked into the Elk is very concerning. "It's frightening, it really is frightening," said Simonton, who is a member of the state Environmental Quality Board and also consults for at least one local law firm that's filed suit over the leak. "What we know scares us -- and we know there's a lot more we don't know."

Gee, that sounds bad. Wait, here's some people from the state to reassure us.

Dr. Letitia Tierney, commissioner of the Bureau for Public Health, said Wednesday evening that the chemists the state had consulted with all said the formaldehyde could not have come from the MCHM. "Our experts are all in agreement that it's unlikely that his findings are in any way related to the chemical spill," she said. "It's already in our environment."

The formaldehyde in your water is not from the spill. The formaldehyde in your water is from...somewhere else. "Formaldehyde In Your Water -- It's The New Normal."

Andrew Whelton, an environmental engineer from the University of South Alabama, drove to West Virginia after the leak. He and his team of researchers have been taking water samples and helping residents complete the flushing process, but with a different set of guidelines than the state and West Virginia American recommended. For example, Whelton emphasizes that residents should open their windows during the flushing process and use ceiling or floor fans to push chemical fumes outside. Whelton also suggests shutting off hot-water tanks before flushing because chemicals in the water will evaporate faster into your home or workplace from hot water than from cold. In an interview, Whelton said it's crucial that officials begin testing and sampling inside people's homes to determine the level of contamination of plumbing systems and what to do about it. "I can't believe they aren't doing this," Whelton said. "These issues aren't being addressed. The long-term consequences of this spill are not being addressed."

I can believe it. And so, apparently, can people in Cincinnati.

Matthew Davis, 21, was among those still waiting for the ban to be lifted. After rinsing off at a creek last week, he finally enjoyed a hot shower Tuesday at his fiancee's house 30 minutes away. Davis had his wisdom teeth removed just before the water ban. "Pretty much all I had was Coke, and that hurt," he said.

Those bastards.

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