RED WATER AND FOAM: FRACKING POLLUTION NEAR RICHWOOD, WEST VIRGINIA

These photos were from an event late last year. Getting anyone, including the WV DEP (Department of Environmental Permitting) into action has been as effective as pushing string uphill.

So I guess we'll just have to wait around for the next pollution incident.

Here are the photographs I took:

Above: Sampling the foam

Above: The foam was first spotted at the side of the road at the bottom of a series of streams and small waterfalls. In parts it looked like clumps of snow (the snow had been melting)

That foam sure does hang around!

Water running down the hill around 100 yards away was CLEAR! Around 1/2 a dozen streams were running clear red/brown.. PH was 6.8 by the way so Acid Mine Drainage is definitely not the issue.

Above: Foam and red Water

Above: Red Stream running into the Cherry River

Above: Foaming waterfall running into same stream

Above: Two Foamy Streams Coalesce.. they empty into the Cherry River

Above: Two of us who handled this stuff ended up with red, sore, burning hands.. wonder what the deer thought when they drank it?

Above: One of the streams shows the unnatural red color and the white foam. This is NOT Acid Mine Waste by the way..

Accumulating further up the hillside..

Above: The polluted water finds its way down into a culvert and into the Cherry River. DEP didn't even get back to us for A WHOLE MONTH after we reported this incident!

Above: Polluted water entering via a small tributary of the Cherry River

Above: At a rather higher altitude above the river, we found this drainage ditch.. this red/brown color is identical to many other spills recorded through PA, WY and other fracked states.

Foam caught in Laurel leaves as the water churns down to the Cherry River