New York Times Blasts West Virginia, US Clean Water Act Enforcement

The New York Times ran a story today on lax enforcement of the Clean Water Act, with the exemplar being the drinking water problems being suffered by people in Prenter, West Virginia. Many of the people in Prenter are suing coal companies, and I have no doubt a jury will be able to fairly decide the validity of their claims that injection of slurry is affecting their water source. What struck me was the interactive map that went with the article, and for which the Times made this claim:

The Times obtained hundreds of thousands of water pollution records through Freedom of Information Act requests to every state and the E.P.A., and compiled a national database of water pollution violations that is more comprehensive than those maintained by states or the E.P.A. (For an interactive version, which can show violations in any community, visit www.nytimes.com/toxicwaters.)

I have quickly looked at the interactive map for industrial facilities that I am aware of, and found many errors. One egregious error was that, for some reason, the date of last inspection always seemed to be 1979 or 1980. That is laughable, since most of the major facilities I'm familiar with have regular inspections on an almost yearly basis, and some more frequently. Similarly, the database shows no fines for some locations that I know were penalized significant amounts. The Times may have been doing the best it could with what was given to it under Freedom of Information Act requests, but what you see shouldn't be taken as the gospel in West Virginia and I doubt that it is the best compendium of enforcement actions or violations available.

I should disclose that one of the persons interviewed for the article, Matt Crum, was an associate at my firm, Robinson & McElwee, for several years at the start of his career.