Environmental Movements: Pitfalls Not Fatal

Environmental Movements: Pitfalls Not Fatal Dianne Bady I have been thinking a lot lately about the sustainability of the statewide West Virginia environmental movement. I've been intimately involved with two specific environmental issues where the initial united citizens' effort was not sustained, and where the forces of environmental darkness have benefited tremendously as a result. In 1983, Ashland Oil built a new unit to refine heavily contaminated oil. Almost immediately, refinery neighbors began getting sick from the excessive pollution. Since then, organized citizen pressure has resulted in a decrease in episodes of heavy, caustic "fallout," which eats the paint off cars and houses. However, there are still frequent refinery problems which result in excessive toxic air emissions. There are still many health complaints from refinery neighbors. Now how can this go on for ten years? I think the reason is simple. Ashland Oil has a lot more political power than the people who live around the refinery who would like the air they breathe not to make them sick. If all the people who live near Ashland Oil, both from the West Virginia and the Kentucky sides, if all the people who are upset about this issue could work together and figure out how there can be a united front to get the problem solved, the political reality would change. I've been heavily involved in this pollution controversy. I've worked closely with grass-roots people for almost four years now, and I've watched a tragic thing happen. I've watched people start out united. We were able to get Senator Byrd to say to the EPA, "You've got to come in here and study this situation." But in less than a year, there Dianne Bady, a socialpsychologist, is the director ofthe Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition (OVEC). OVEC is located in the tristate region where West Virginia, Kentucky, and Ohio join. The mailing address is PO Box 970, Proctorville, OH 45669. 48 were tremendously stressful situations for everybody involved. There were personal disagreements about the strategy, lots of bruised egos, people talking behind people's backs, jealousy. The united front split, and is now factioned. And that is the best thing that could have happened to Ashland Oil. I believe that is the reason why the problem still exists. Before moving to this area eight years ago, I was involved in northern Wisconsin in efforts to keep copper and uranium mines out of pristine wetlands. When the plan was first announced, people joined together in a united front, and tliey stopped that mining company in its tracks. The mining company had never seen anything like it before. But then the company took a different approach. They went to the legislature to get the laws that would allow them to override local opposition. Well, just as in the Ashland Oil situation, there were high stress, personal disagreements, bruised egos, jealousy, people talking behind each others' backs. After about a year of that, there was no longer a united front, there were different factions. That was the best thing that could have happened to Kennecott Copper. Now those pristine wetlands have been ripped up by Kennecott mining equipment, and water contamination has already occurred. I can't help thinldng about these experiences when I think about how impressed I am by the united environmental movement here in West Virginia. I just marvel at the talent of the people involved. I marvel at the commitment, the credibility we've built up with the media, with legislators, with the public officials. But I can't help being a little scared, too. We've been at this for about four years now, and united we stand, divided we fall. I've agonized long and hard over the united efforts I've seen tumble. Believe me, that is painful. I would hate to see that happen to our statewide movement, which unites activists working on a variety ofissues. It seems to me that activists often have certain implicit ideas which lead to trouble. They may not be things that we consciously think. But for most of us, they're there. Some of those ideas might go like this: "The people I work...