Minden residents protest lack of action in 'toxic town'

Feb. 11--LEWISBURG -- Annetta Coffman points to over a dozen faces of loved ones she pasted on a piece of poster board, some who have passed on, others who are still sick, who are all from the small town of Minden. All who have had some sort of cancer in their lifetime.

While she stands in the rain with tears forming in her eyes, Coffman, a lifelong resident of Minden, said she can only hope Gov. Jim Justice endorses a recommendation to get Minden added to the National Priorities List (NPL) of Superfund sites.

She said many in the town continue to believe the different types of cancer which have plagued the town are still believed to be due to high levels of PCB in the town's soil and water.

Over a dozen Minden residents gathered in Lewisburg Saturday to protest what they claimed was Justice's intentional lack of action for the toxic town.

"He said he is preparing to endorse us to get us put on the list," Coffman said, "but that's different than actually endorsing us."

Justice said in a press conference Friday that, pending a final report from the United States Department of Environmental Protection (EPA) expected later this month or in early March, he is prepared to endorse a recommendation from EPA to add the former Shaffer Eqipument site to EPA's National Priorities List (NPL).

"While the exact areas of concern to the EPA are not known to us at this time, it is my expectation that I will be able to endorse this plan and their recommendation that it is a Superfund eligible site and that it be added to EPA's National Priorities List," Justice said.

Coffman said although Justice is planning to endorse the town to be put on NPL, she believes he already has plenty of information to go ahead and go forward with the move, and has had this information for quite some time.

"He said Friday that West Virginia's public health and safety is a priority to him," she said. "Well, we want him to prove that, endorse us for NPL now, so we can move forward with this mission."

"We continue to feel like our community is in danger, and we're tired of feeling that way."

While protestors stood on the sidewalk on the rainy day, they shouted chants of endorsement encouragement as cars drove by.

"If we don't get no justice then you don't get no peace. No justice, no peace. No justice, no peace," filled the air while others chimed in with "Hey Jim, where's our Justice?" and "Justice Justice don't be late, Minden needed you yesterday."

Brandon Richardson, founder of Headwaters Defense, told The Register-Herald he believes Justice has had plenty of time to get the town of Minden on NPL, and has had a large amount of information to where he could have endorsed the town long ago.

"He claims he is prepared, but hasn't done much," Richardson claimed. "People have literally been dying since we first made this request to him."

Many of those who participated in Saturday's rally said Justice claimed he needed more evidence of sample's with high levels of PCB, which they claim he received.

"He has all this information, and could get us on the list now if he really wanted to," Richardson said.

Susie Worley-Jenkins explained she remembers when Minden was a thriving town, with over 1,100 residents.

Worley-Jenkins, another lifelong Minden resident, said the town now currently has roughly 250 residents in it. She called it "nothing but a ghost town."

"The governor has just been sitting and waiting for us to get put on this list, while there are residents dying of throat cancer who have never smoked a day in their life," she said. "Now, does that make sense to you?"

Worley-Jenkins has been experiencing the grief of losing loved ones to cancer since the 1980s, when the mysterious cancer epidemic began. She said she only wishes Minden could be the close-knit community it once was.

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