Monday, November 22, 2010

W.Va. meeting highlights health effects of mining

The negative health effects of coal were the topic of a day-long seminar held Saturday at Marshall University. The seminar, sponsored by the Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition, the Marshall University Student Environmental Action Coalition and the West Virginia Chapter of the Sierra Club, was attended by "dozens of environmentalists," David E. Malloy of The Herald-Dispatch in Huntington reports.

"From a public health perspective, our dependence on coal is the biggest public health problem we face," said  Michael Hendryx, an associate professor at West Virginia University and research director for the West Virginia University Institute for Health Policy Research. Rita Harris, a Memphis, Tenn., area resident who has worked with the Sierra Club Environmental Justice Program, called West Virginia "ground zero" for problems people face dealing with coal. (Read more)

Environmentalists at the meeting hoped the public health concerns would bring more people to their side fight against mountaintop removal, Andrew Colegrove of WSAZ-TV reports. "People are more concerned or more receptive about the possible health problems related to mining," Hendryx said. "Maybe they wouldn't be as concerned if it was just the environment, but it's a health issue too, so that makes it more important." (Read more)

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