WASHINGTON – Holding up a bottle of Eastern Kentucky well water turned orange by mine waste contamination, Congressman John Yarmuth (KY-3) implored his colleagues to address the public health crisis in mining communities in a speech on the House floor this afternoon.

Yarmuth’s speech came during debate of H.R. 2824, legislation to weaken federal standards that help prevent mining companies from dumping toxic mine waste into nearby streams and valleys. The House approved the bill 229-192 on a largely party-line vote.

Under this legislation, the 1983 Reagan Administration Stream Buffer Zone rule – which prohibits mining activities within 100 feet of perennial or intermittent streams – would be replaced by a 2008 Bush Administration policy that eliminates the prohibition. That policy was vacated by a federal court last month. The bill would also delay any attempts to strengthen Stream Buffer Zones rules for at least five years. The Obama Administration is currently drafting a revised Stream Buffer Zone rule.

This legislation undermines public health, Yarmuth said, and wrongly blames job losses in mining communities on rules that prevent pollution of headwater streams and other water sources.

“Instead of finding ways to better balance public health and safety with coal mining, or at least working to prevent mining companies from turning our water supply this shade of toxic orange, we are debating a bill to roll back what little protection the federal government currently offers these Appalachian communities,” Yarmuth said.

“No one here would risk their health by drinking this water,” Yarmuth continued, holding up the bottle of contaminated water. “If any of my colleagues want to prove me wrong, I invite you to come have a sip. It’s bad enough that children who live in mining communities color the streams orange when they draw their environment. But it’s tragic that the water they drink is denying them the healthy future they deserve.”

Click here to watch video of Rep. Yarmuth’s remarks.

According to the Environmental Protection Agency, more than 2,000 miles of headwater streams and waterways in Appalachia have been buried or contaminated by waste from mining operations. In addition, scientific evidence is mounting that people living in communities near mountaintop removal mining sites are at elevated risks for a range of major health problems.

Yarmuth has played a central role in ongoing Congressional efforts to protect public health from the impact of mountaintop removal mining. During this Congress, he introduced the Appalachian Community Health Emergency Act (H.R. 526), which would require the first-ever comprehensive federal study of the health dangers of mountaintop removal mining.  

The full text of Yarmuth’s remarks is below:

This bottle is filled with water from a well near a mountaintop removal mining operation in Eastern Kentucky. In case you can’t see it, the water is orange.

This is what comes out of the taps in Appalachian communities where the water is contaminated by dangerous mine waste. It fills their wells and flows through the streams in their yards. It is the result of an inadequate law that is failing to protect public health and safety near mountaintop removal mining sites.

But today, rather than examining ways to strengthen that law and begin to address the public health crisis that accompanies mountaintop removal mining in Appalachia, we are debating a bill that would make it worse.

Mining communities already have more instances of chronic pulmonary disorders and hypertension, as well as higher mortality rates, lung cancer rates, and instances of chronic heart, kidney, and lung disease.

Proximity to mountaintop removal mining operations also correlates with a higher risk of birth defects and damage to the circulatory and central nervous systems.

And yet instead of finding ways to better balance public health and safety with coal mining, or at least working to prevent mining companies from turning our water supply this shade of toxic orange, we are debating a bill to roll back what little protection the federal government currently offers these Appalachian communities.

I sympathize with my colleagues’ desire to protect jobs in the coalfields, and the loss of 75 percent of coal mining jobs due to mechanized mining over the past several decades has brought challenges.

But a rule to protect waterways that’s been in effect since 1983 is not the source of those challenges. Nor is addressing the public health crisis that has unfolded in Appalachia as a result of mechanized mining.

No one here would risk their health by drinking this water. If any of my colleagues want to prove me wrong, I invite you to come have a sip.

It’s bad enough that children who live in mining communities color the streams orange when they draw their environment. But it’s tragic that the water they drink is denying them the healthy future they deserve.

We are risking the health of families in mining communities in Kentucky and throughout Appalachia by continuing to ignore the toxic orange water that pollutes their drinking supply.  I urge my colleagues to stand up for public health and vote against this legislation.