Maria Gunnoe’s property has flooded over seven times in the past sixteen years. These floods irreplaceably damaged her ancestral home and contaminated her family’s main source of drinking water. This land was not prone to floods in the half-century after her grandfather purchased the property in the 1950s.
What changed?
In 2000, the land behind Maria’s home was forever altered. A coal company opened a mine on the ridge above her home, using mountaintop removal mining methods. These processes begin with clear-cutting the trees and blasting up to 800 feet off the top of a mountain to access coal seams. With no vegetation, the cleared steep slopes quickly funnel rainfall downhill.
Maria Gunnoe lives below this massive valley fill containing toxic debris. Janet Fout
That makes valley communities, such as the one Maria lives in in Boone County, West Virginia, susceptible to flash floods. Oftentimes, the floods are not purely rainwater. Coal companies dump mountaintop rubble—frequently containing toxic debris—into adjacent valleys. When rainwater runs down the slopes, it mixes with debris and creates a toxic sludge.
As tragic as Maria’s story is, she is not the only one facing devastating consequence of fossil fuel production and management. This year alone, multiple fossil fuel accidents have threatened communities neighboring fossil fuel production and transportation sites.
On June 3rd, a train carrying crude oil derailed near Mosier, Oregon, sparking a massive fire that burned for 14 hours. On July 11th, a fire set off a series of explosions in an oil field in San Juan County, New Mexico. Over fifty-five neighboring residents evacuated and the nearby highway 550 temporarily closed.
Such events are part of a long-standing trend. Fossil fuel companies have harmed local communities for a long time. Why does this continue to happen? These companies enjoy political favors. Fossil fuel companies aren’t forced to take full responsibility for the products they sell. And they often avoid the consequences of their accidents.
The environmental degradation in West Virginia, Oregon, and New Mexico are all linked to the privileged position of fossil fuel companies and under-regulation of their operations.
In 2008, the Bush Administration approved a law loosening regulation on the coal industry. This change made it easier for coal companies to dump toxic rubble into valleys adjacent to mining operations. More toxic rubble increases chances of the toxic sludge flooding that destroyed Maria’s property. An article posted in the Los Angeles Times reveals that “88 cents out of every dollar” of the coal industry’s campaign contributions went to GOP candidates or organizations in the 2000 election that placed George W. Bush into office. These political favors likely resulted in the administration’s push to loosen coal regulation.
Locals of Mosier, Oregon, anticipated the danger and opposed crude oil transport two years prior to the derailment on Friday, June 3, 2016. Columbia River Keeper
Mosier too was subject to loose regulation, likely due to the influence of the fossil fuel industry’s campaign contributions in Oregon. Despite local opposition to crude oil transport through Mosier two years prior to the derailment, these activities were permitted at the federal level. In 2014, Congressman Greg Walden took the most fossil fuel money of Oregon’s elected officials. He publically supported oil trains as a source of family wage jobs and favored improving safety standards rather than shutting them down.
In San Juan, the wells drilled in the oil field were improperly analyzed for impacts and safety concerns. Governor Martinez of New Mexico was recently implicated in a scandal after taking almost a million dollars in campaign donations from the oil and gas industry. In 2013, a story in the Albuquerque Journal revealed that Martinez’s administration allowed wells to operate without proper safety inspections.
The fire at San Juan highlights the failure to ensure proper safety conditions for nearby residents. Kendra Pinto
The coal, oil, and gas industries wield an immense amount of political clout thanks to their deep pockets. In fact, big oil, gas, and coal accounted for one-fifth of all political donations in 2014 congressional races nationally.
Fossil fuel money inhibits politicians from enacting legislation that will strengthen environmental regulations to protect our country’s most vulnerable people. It’s time to hold our representatives accountable. Your help is needed.
We can pressure our politicians to protect the rights of those affected by fossil fuel production and management. We can follow in the footsteps of a Boston activist volunteer group called 350 Mass Action. This group launched the “Clean Money for Climate Pledge,” which is the first campaign of its type to promote transparency and accountability of Massachusetts’s politicians. 350 Mass Action puts pressure on politicians to pledge to refuse money from fossil fuel companies.
We can recognize the freedom that fossil fuels permit us, such as heating our homes, fueling our cars, and providing our electricity. Yet, we must also acknowledge that fossil fuels impose a cost on some of the nation’s most disadvantaged communities. Our country is only as strong as our respect for the rights of the minority.
Thanks to this campaign, politicians can proudly say that they are not affiliated with fossil fuel companies. It is time to reveal the insidious damage that they impose upon communities and bring out stories of individuals—like Maria— who have been harmed by big oil, gas, and coal.
We must understand our role in setting expectations for our politicians. It is up to us to pressure them to refuse financial support from polluting fossil fuel companies. The climate pledge is currently taking place in Massachusetts, which is a left-leaning state that is well poised to lead this change.
How can you get involved?
Pressure your local representative to take the pledge. Write to them and tell them about Maria Gunnoe’s story and about other communities harmed by fossil fuel production. Help rebrand fossil fuels as undesirable.
Encourage the climate pledge in your own state and spread 350 Mass Action’s strategy. Contact your local representative with a list of Massachusetts’ candidates who have already signed the pledge. Show them that candidates are taking the threat of fossil fuels seriously and are taking steps to sever financial interests with unethical companies.
If you live in Massachusetts, write to candidates running as local representatives who have not yet taken the pledge. To find a list follow this link.
Help out individuals like Maria. Spread the pledge to stop the fossil fuel industries from influencing our decision makers.