11 Oct, 2010
Lingering Effects
Toxic coal sludge pollutes Ky. town 10 years later
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – In parts of eastern Kentucky, the pictures [like the one below] coming out of Hungary of the red sludge that roared from a factory's reservoir, downstream into the Danube River, are all too reminiscent of what happened a decade ago this week.
A layer of dark goo still sits under a creekbed on Glenn Cornette's land, the leftovers from when a coal company's sprawling slurry pond burst, blackening 100 miles of waterways and polluting the water supply of more than a dozen communities before the stuff reached the Ohio River.
A torrent as wide as a football field and 6 feet deep covered Cornette's property in Martin County, near the West Virginia line about 175 miles east of Louisville. It killed all manner of plants and cut off his access to the street.
"It just looked like pudding or something," Cornette said recently.
With seven dead so far and at least 120 injured, the 184-million-gallon spill of toxic muck from a Hungarian alumina plant has already proven more dangerous than what's known as the Inez (eye-NEHZ') disaster.
But the mess in Kentucky was considerably bigger — some 300 million gallons of slurry, a byproduct of purifying coal, oozed into yards and streams for miles in what was considered one of the South's worst environmental disasters at the time.
And a decade later, its effects linger.
Click here for full story.
Story and Photo courtesy of http://news.yahoo.com.
6 And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, "The LORD, the LORD, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, 7 maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation."
Does today's scripture make you scratch your head a little? Does it sound like the same, forgiving Father that we read about in other parts of God's Story? Check out what the Life Application Study Bible notes have to say about today's scripture ...
Why would sins affect grandchildren and great-grandchildren? This is no arbitrary punishment. Children still suffer for the sins of their parents. Consider child abuse or alcoholism, for example. While these sins are obvious, sins like selfishness and greed can be passed along as well. The dire consequences of sin are not limited to the individual family member. Be careful not to treat sin casually, but repent and turn from it. The sin may cause you little pain now, but it could sting in amost tender area of your life later - your children and grandchildren.
- Do you know the areas of your life in which you are most tempted to sin? Have you taken a look back into your family tree to see if, perhaps, others before you struggled in the same areas?
- Do you find yourself having to deal with consequences from the sin of a parent or grandparent? Ask God for the wisdom and patiencet to stay faithful in your own journey with Jesus.
- Is there something buried in your past that you are trying to hide, cover up, or ignore? Does that same sin keep coming to the surface to remind you of your old way of living? Give it to God once more and ask him to be your strength.
- Thank God for His faithfulness and His promise to be with us in the midst of our crazy mixed up lives.
- Do you have a friend who is trying to follow Christ, but they come from a rough family situation? Pray for them this week to remain strong in the midst of the struggles at home.
- Do you have a family member who has buried something in their past, afraid to deal with it? Ask God to give you the strength and courage to talk with that family member about the love and forgiveness that only God can give. Remind them the He won't fix every consequence, but He sure will mend their spiritual heart.
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