Maybe West Virginians Really Aren't Happy With King Coal After All

I’ve been blogging about my apparent dismay that there doesn’t seem to be that much of a sense of outrage in West Virginia when those folks have been denied basic drinking water for weeks on end. Well, this recent poll by the Sierra Club may indicate that, though they are not carrying signs and marching down the street, West Virginians are not happy with the situation in their state.

            Across party lines in this poll of 504 West Virginia voters a great majority favor more regulation of the coal industry, with an overwhelming 68 percent, including 57 percent of Republican respondents, saying that greater regulation would have prevented last month’s toxic spill in the Elk River that poisoned the drinking water for 300,000 West Virginia residents. Another 65 percent of respondents thought that the coal industry bore “some” or “a lot” of responsibility for air and water pollution in their state. And 61 percent believe that coal companies have too much influence in their state’s politics.

            These people are voters. Let’s hope that their beliefs and convictions accompany them to the polls in the next election.

When the river looks like this, maybe it's time to call in the regulators.