In West Virginia, the vigor with which agencies seek to protect human health and the environment is impacted by actions and statements by state leaders. In recent years, their tone has been clear - too much regulation and too much involvement by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA). Any serious recognition of the link between protecting a healthy, diversified economy appears lost in these statements.
Leaders have made numerous public statements to the effect, for example, in a 2012 press release announcing that the state is moving forward with its lawsuit against USEPA, Governor Tomblin is quoted das stating:
"This lawsuit is about the rights of our state to regulate itself within the scope of the existing federal and state laws. The EPA has overstepped its bounds, taken that right away and we're fighting to get it back." (Office of the Governor, 2012).
The Attorney General commented on West Virginia's lawsuit against USEPA for its enforcement of the Clean Water Act against a coal mine:
"At its essence, this lawsuit is about jobs in West Virginia and elsewhere... But this case is about more than coal mining. It's about the ability of states such as West Virginia to be able to engage and promote economic development, highway construction, and other needed investments without fearing a federal agency will step in years later and halt the project. That is why we strongly support Mingo Logan Caol Co's appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court." (Office of the Attorney General, 2013).
In 2009, before a subcommittee of the United States Senate Committee on Environmenta & {Public Works, the [West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection] WVDEP Cabinet Secretary turned the role of the agency upside-down, stating that the "greater concern" for WVDEP is not protecting human health and the environment, but limiting regulation:
"Coal production is the leading revenue generator in West Virginia, and many in the State are concerned about losing the oppertunities for future economic developemtn associated with mountaintop mining. The greater concern for the Department of Environmental Protection, however, as protector of the State's wate resources, is the unintended consequences of the Environmental Protection Agency's recent actions that have the potential to significantly limit all types of mining." (Huffman, 2009)
When confronted by protestors asking Governor Tomblin to better prepare for a decline in coal production in West Virginia, he chose not to meet with the protestors and, instead, issued a statement via his communications director:
"Governor Tomblin has been clear, as have several federal judges, on the overreaching demands of the [U.S. Environmental Protection Agency] from this administration... Governor Tomblin's primary focus has always been job creation... Governor Tomblin believes strongly that West Virginia coal and natural gas play a critical role in energy independence - and he will continue to fight for those industires and the jobs they create." (Ward, 2012)
It is within this context that the Freedom Industires spill must be understood - elected officials, agency heads, and members of the Legislature have made it clear that protecting human health and the environment will take a back seat to supporting lax regulation of industry.