The U.S. Geological Survey has released a study showing that every fish tested from a sample of 291 streams country-wide had mercury contamination. A quarter of the fish studied had mercury levels that exceeded those set by the US EPA for the health of people who eat average amounts of fish, and two-thirds of the fish had levels of mercury that exceeded the EPA's levels of concern for fish-eating mammals.

Some of the highest levels of mercury contamination were found in Southeast "blackwater" streams, areas with abundant wetlands as compared to the rest of the country. High or elevated levels were also found in the Northeast and Upper Midwest regions in relatively undeveloped watersheds, and Western areas affected by mining.

"This study shows just how widespread mercury pollution has become in our air, watersheds, and many of our fish in freshwater streams," said Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar. "This science sends a clear message that our country must continue to confront pollution, restore our nation's waterways, and protect the public from potential health dangers."

Mercury is emitted into the atmosphere from different sources, and then enters natural waterways by precipitation. Natural features of watersheds enhance the conversion of mercury to a toxic form. That toxic form is taken up easily by organisms in the water, leading to contamination in fish.

For more information, read the abstract of the study or the complete findings at the USGS website.

The West Virginia Rural Health Research Center has been meeting with members of the Nicholas School of the Environment at Duke University to collaborate on research in the state of West Virginia on the effects of coal mining on public health in rural communities. This past weekend the Duke group traveled to Beckley, West Virginia to tour several sites in the southern WV coalfields with WVRHRC staff. The purpose of the trip was to give the group a general idea of the lay of the land and to get preliminary samples of soil, water, and sediment from various public access points. Duke and WVU will continue to work together to create overlay maps showing where the samples were taken in conjunction with watershed and community data to identify where to do further follow-up community health environmental assessments.

Dr. Michael Hendryx was recently a guest on Public Radio International’s Living on Earth. Dr. Hendryx talked with host Steve Curwood about the costs of coal and policy opinions that would encourage richer, healthier communities in coal country.

Download MP3 audio file of the Living on Earth story

With a greater economic focus on environmental issues, some are wondering if environmental jobs could be the next tech boom. When President Obama took office he pledge to create 5 million new "green collar jobs" in a decade. Some say the results of these jobs could mirror the tech boom of the mid-to-late 1990s. The results still remain to be seen but the potential for growth and a mainstreaming of these jobs, more and more people could turn to environmental jobs. Areas of job growth could be in renewable energy, technology, building/retrofitting and so on. Only time will tell but these jobs have the potential to rise in popularity in the next few years.

What does this mean for rural communities in states such as West Virginia? This could mean a change in the type of economy, from a high carbon economy to a low carbon economy. Rural communities will hope to create green jobs for all skill levels that will build a more stable economy for the future. And a better economic future translates to a better health future.

The US Environmental Protection Agency has made public a list of 44 "high hazard" coal ash ponds at 26 different locations. These ponds were identified from a total of 427 units managing slurried CCRs (coal combustion residues). According the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers's National Inventory of Dams a "high hazard" potential rating is defined as:

Dams assigned the high hazard potential classification are those where failure or misoperation will probably cause loss of human life.

Four impoundments in West Virginia are on the EPA's list:

Company	Facility Name	Unit Name	Location / State Contact
Allegheny Energy	Pleasants Power Station	McElroy's Run Embankment	Willow Island, WV
American Electric Power	John E Amos	Fly Ash Pond	St. Albans, WV
American Electric Power	Mitchell	Fly Ash Pond	Moundsville, WV
American Electric Power	Philip Sporn	Fly Ash Pond	New Haven, WV

North Carolina has the most with 12 followed by Arizona (9), Kentucky (7), Ohio (6) and Illinois (2). Indiana, Pennsylvania, Georgia and Montana each have one site.

View the entire list of 44 "high hazard" coal ash ponds.

Watch or listen to the June 2nd Panel Discussion on the Interface of Environmental and Rural Health Issues online.

Download MP3 audio file of the Panel Discussion

Download AVI video file of the Panel Discussion

Download FLV video file of the Panel Discussion

USA Today had a story about a rural town in Kansas called Greensburg that was destroyed by a tornado and is now rebuilding the town with the "power of green." A town like Greensburg, with less than 1,000 people, might normally just try to get life back to normal after a disaster like this, but instead they are bettering their community. The article stated that, "Greensburg became the first town in the nation to pledge that all town-owned buildings larger than 4,000 square feet will get the highest rating of the U.S. Green Building Council, called Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Platinum. The buildings are expected to use 42% less energy than building code standards allow." This is a great story of turning a negative into a positive and perhaps a sign of things to come for future building in both the rural and urban United States.

The US Environmental Protection Agency has identified 44 coal ash ponds as "high hazard", meaning that if the retaining structure were to fail they would post a threat to the people living nearby. The locations of the 44 sites have yet to be released to the general public by the EPA after consulting with the Army Corps of Engineers and the Department of Homeland Security but a DHS spokeswoman indicated that "the Corps position was not the final word on the matter and could be reversed." US Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA) is speaking out against the decision citing "the critical importance of the public's right to know about threats in their communities."

Watch Sen. Boxer's June 12th Press Conference on Coal Ash:

The Charleston Gazette reports that the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection earlier in the year identified six coal ash ponds that were categorized as "high hazard":

• Holz Dam - South Charleston, WV
• Scotts Run Cinder Barrier Dam - Belle, WV
• FMC Retention Dam - South Charleston, WV
• Conner Run Dam - Captina, WV
• McElroy's Flyash Dam - Eureka, WV
• Scary Creek Impoundment - Scary, WV

The Louisville Courier-Journal reports that the Kentucky Energy and Environment Cabinet has it's own rating system that considers four coal ash ponds in the state to be high hazard. In the same report, the Indiana Department of Environmental Management declined to comment on whether any of the coal ash ponds in Indiana were on the EPA list.

To follow the recovery process of a coal ash pond that has failed view the Tennessee Valley Authority's page on the Kingston Ash Slide.

The US EPA awarded $48.8 million to the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection to help finance many overdue wastewater projects that are essential to protecting the health of the people and environment of West Virginia. This award is part of a larger program signed by President Obama in February. This program, the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act of 2009, provides low-interest loans for water quality protection projects for wastewater treatment, non-point source pollution control, and watershed and estuary management. This project will be important for a state with many rural communities that have never had proper wastewater treatment systems.

For more information about the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act of 2009, visit http://www.epa.gov/recovery.

For those of you who cannot make it to Morgantown tomorrow to attend the Panel Discussion on the Interface of Environmental and Rural Health Issues you can still watch it online. On or after 2pm on June 2nd, follow these instructions to watch the Panel Discussion:

1. From your web browser go to the following site: http://157.182.90.152
2. Once on the site look for the "public folders" list on the bottom left hand corner.
3. Click the "Public Health Grand Rounds" link.
4. Once in the folder click the watch button next to the title, WVRHRC Panel Discussion.

The video of the discussion will be archived at the above site after it has concluded.

American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funding arrives in Northern WV:

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has awarded a total of $1 million to four communities in northern West Virginia to assess, clean up and revitalize former industrial and commercial sites.

The Northern West Virginia Brownfields Assistance Center (NBAC) at West Virginia University has been helping these communities identify projects and to find funding sources to address the problems associated with these sites. These grants will help turn problem properties, known as "brownfields," into productive community assets.

The four groups recieving funds are:

• The City of Moundsville
• Preston County Economic Development Authority
• Brooke-Hancock Regional Planning and Development Council
• West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection

The agenda for the June 2nd Panel Discussion on the Interface of Environmental and Rural Health Issues has been finalized and the attendees confirmed. For a preview of the health issues we will be discussing, please view the event's page where you will find maps on air pollution discharge sites, coal mining activity, livestock density and other environmental factors that can affect rural health.

An EPA study of coal ash ponds shows that people who live near ponds with inadequate linings had higher rates of cancer and other diseases. Coal ash, also known as fly ash, contains high levels of arsenic, lead, mercury and boron among other heavy metals.

The results of this study are a concern for rural populations as seventy-five of the coal ash ponds evaluated are located in rural counties. The study includes seven West Virginia coal ash ponds, five of which have no liner.

View the full EPA report and see if a coal ash pond included in the study is located in your area.

First of all, welcome to our new Center!

We started our Center in September 2008 and we're proud to join with others around the country funded by HRSA to improve rural health and health care.

What makes our Center unique is our focus on environmental health issues for rural populations.

Environmental problems are not limited to people who live in cities. In some ways, rural populations face special or elevated risks. This is partly because research on environmental health problems has focused on cities and overlooked rural areas. But rural populations face exposure to pollution from agriculture or animal husbandry, from mining and timbering activities, and from industrial activities located in rural communities.

As an example, take a look at this map. It shows the density of Toxic Release Inventory (TRI) sites across the country that are located in non-metropolitan counties. There are 16,574 TRI sites in non-metropolitan counties nationwide.

Our goal is to conduct research that is timely and relevant for informing policy. For example, what are the health consequences of living near these TRI sites, and what might that mean for changes to environmental or public health policy? How might knowledge of these sites improve the capacity of rural health care providers to diagnose disease and deliver care that is sensitive to the environment in which their patients live and work?

Check in from time to time and we'll try to post some answers as our research matures.

Thanks for reading. Plant 1,000 trees.

On June 2nd, we will be hosting a Panel Discussion on the Interface of Environmental and Rural Health Issues. For information about this event and others please click on the Events link on the sidebar.

Panel Discussion: The Interface of Environmental and Rural Health Issues
Tuesday, June 2nd, 2009 at 2:00pm to 3:00pm

Welcome to the West Virginia Rural Health Research Center (WVRHRC) website. We started operations September 2008 as one of six rural health research centers around the country funded by the Office Rural Health Policy. We are currently working on three projects that focus on environmental rural health issues. Please take a closer look for information on our projects, events and staff. Subscribe to our RSS feed or follow us on Twitter for the most up-to-date information about the WVRHRC.