‘Mind-boggling.’ Why would so many of our elected officials support polluting KY waters? | Opinion

Surely there is a mine for silver, and a place where gold is refined. Iron is taken from the earth, and copper is smelt from ore. Man puts an end to darkness and searches every recess for ore in the darkness and the shadow of death…He overturns the mountains at the roots. He cuts out channels in the rocks. And his eye sees every precious thing. He dams up the streams from trickling; what is hidden he brings forth to light. But where can wisdom be found. (Job 28: 1-3,9-12 NKJV)

These words were written approximately 1,500 years before the birth of Christ. But they may be more relevant today than ever. Overturning the mountains is now much easier and dams are more prevalent, which makes the need for wisdom ever more crucial.

Sadly, wisdom cannot be found in the majority within the hallowed halls of the Kentucky Statehouse. Senate Bill 89 which promises to ease regulations only on non-navigable waterways in Kentucky shows an outright lack of common sense.

Senator Scott Madon of Pineville attempted to assuage any fears by saying that it affects only “places that are not really waters but rather are just wet when it rains — are no longer subject to federal permitting. This decision was huge,” he emphasizes by repetition “was a huge win for industries and the private landowners.”

Ask any middle school student if pollution from the ground can affect the creeks and rivers and they can point to a picture of the water cycle on the wall of their science class that shows that “run-off water” is a big part of what ends up in our navigable waterways.

Check out the plastic bags, bottle, and diapers hanging from the branches along rural creeks after the waters recede from a normal spring high water event and then decide how much free rein you want to give the private land-owner.

Ask the people who live in Love Canal if they think it is important to let industry decide what they do on their land. Here is what the headline read in the NYTimes on Aug. 1, 1978:

“NIAGARA FALLS, N.Y.—Twenty-five years after the Hooker Chemical Company stopped using the Love Canal here as an industrial dump, 82 different compounds, 11 of them suspected carcinogens, have been percolating upward through the soil, their drum containers rotting and leaching their contents into the backyards and basements of 100 homes and a public school built on the banks of the canal.”

It is mind-boggling that 30 out of 39 of our Kentucky senators and 69 of our 95 representatives approved this legislation that might provide short term gains for a few but could destroy life-sustaining waterways for decades or centuries to come.

Where is wisdom?

Nina McCoy is the chair of Martin County Concerned Citizens. She lives in Inez.