West Virginia Water Is Safe To Drink......We Think

The water in West Virginia is contaminated.  A federal emergency has been declared.

I hesitate to disregard the pain of real life tragedies to focus on the politics that creates them, but there is an importance to understanding why this happened and what can be done to make sure that West Virginian's have clean water to drink and bathe in.

When Exxon spills oil in arctic waters we need government forces to rectify corporate messes.  When BP does the same in the Gulf Coast we need similar government intervention.  When many people talk about smaller government, they often insist on less corporate regulations like the one's that allowed for the West Virginia disaster. Now of course government will be held to account for this and to explain what regulations will be in place to insure it doesn't happen again. Both parties will move towards photo op's to claim credit for these needed regulations, but the small government people will continue to demand smaller government without realizing the cost of less regulators and regulations.

To the defense of the mining industry, it appears that bad mining waste control has destroyed underground wells all over West Virginia for years destroying ground water and forcing most people to have to use public water access in order to have clean water.  When the public system got contaminated recently in West Virginia, citizens were left without one of the greatest necessities that we all take for granted each day.  Clean running water.

More and more our world is confronted with disasters that only the collective wisdom of government can handle.  When the water is running safely through our faucets it is easy to blog hatred for the government and conspiracy theories of corruption.  The moment we experience a crisis, we'll demand the arms of government before we rest in those of God.  Every American loses their political party line and will allow government to be as big as possible when they personally experience the kind of tragedy that only government can repair. You know, like the one in West Virginia.

Somehow in most of these industry created disasters, corporations always seem to find the money to repair the damage that they've caused.  The cost of increased wages  is often a fraction of what corporations will pay to repair the aftermath of  their unregulated capitalism.  Last I heard, it is hard to find a good paying job in West Virginia.  Corporations may gain more profit through less regulations, but absent certain regulations the public health concern is a risk that makes freedom less valuable.
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What is freedom without fresh water to bathe in?