VOA常速英语2014--Coal Industry Blamed for West Virginia Chemical Spill 西维吉尼亚化学品泄漏与煤炭工业

Coal Industry Blamed for West Virginia Chemical Spill 西维吉尼亚化学品泄漏与煤炭工业

There are new calls for increased oversight 1 of the powerful chemical and coal industries in West Virginia following a major chemical spill that cut off water to more than 300,000 people. The state's governor has promised to investigate the accident, but environmentalists say the state has been reluctant to regulate and enforce pollution controls on these industries, which are so crucial to the region's economy.

美国西维吉尼亚州发生导致30多万人失去生活用水的严重化学品泄漏事故之后，人们再次要求加强对州内强大的化工和煤炭产业的监督。西维吉尼亚州长保证对事故展开调查，但环保人士说，州政府一直不愿意监督这些对地区经济至关重要的工业，并落实控制污染的措施。

As residents line up for bottled water, many like Chase Tavaraz want to know why there was no state oversight of the chemical company that contaminated the local drinking water.

西维吉尼亚州居民正在排队领取瓶装水。很多人和塔瓦拉兹一样，希望知道为什么州政府不对污染了当地饮用水的化工公司进行监督。

“As far as what I understand, if it would have been inspected - I guess 23, 26 years it hasn’t been inspected. So if it had been certified 2 every year like they are supposed to do, they would have avoided this whole situation,” he said.

塔瓦拉兹说：“据我所知，大概有23年、要么就是26年没有检查过这些公司了。如果他们按规定进行年检，就能够避免这一切。”

Nearly a week after a storage tank at a Freedom Industries site leaked chemicals into the Elk 3 river, clean tap water is slowly being restored to affected 4 areas.

事故发生近一个星期后，受影响地区才逐渐恢复了清洁自来水供应。

The chemical, which is used to process coal, leaked near the biggest water treatment plant in the state.

西维州Freedom Industries公司的一个储藏罐发生泄漏，里面用于清洗煤炭的化学品流入埃尔克河，靠近州里最大的水处理厂。

West Virginia Governor Earl Ray Tomblin has promised a full investigation 5 into the accident.

西维吉尼亚州长汤布林保证对这次事故进行全面调查。

Environmentalists have been critical of the state’s handling of smaller scale incidents in the past, including a 2008 explosion at a chemical plant that killed two workers.

环保人士一直对州政府过去处理小型事故的方式持批评态度，其中包括2008年导致两名工人死亡的化工厂爆炸事故。

“There was a report by the chemical safety board [on] recommendations that the state government should take in order to protect the citizens from this type of accident again, and none of those recommendations have been passed,” said Bill Price, an activist 6 with the Sierra Club.

环保组织塞拉俱乐部的普莱斯说：“化工安全委员会发表过一个报告，就州政府应当采取什么措施保护居民免遭这类事故的危害提出了建议。但这些建议一条都没有被接受。”

This region has a large concentration of chemical companies. Many are connected to the coal industry, which dominates West Virginia's economy.

这个地区集中了大量化工企业，很多与控制着西维吉尼亚州经济的煤炭工业有关联。

Governor Tomblin said the recent chemical spill is not the fault of the coal industry.

汤布林州长说，最近的化学品泄漏不是煤炭工业的错：

“This was not a coal company. This was a chemical supplier where the leak occurred. As far as I know, there are no coal mines within miles of this particular incident,” the governor said during a news conference.

“这不是一个煤炭公司。发生泄漏的是一家化学品提供商。据我所知，事故发生地几英里之内没有任何煤矿。”

But Price and other environmentalists say pollution from coal mining has contaminated many local water sources, forcing rural communities to rely on water piped in from Charleston, the state capital.

但普莱斯等环保人士指出，采煤过程产生的污染影响了当地很多水源，迫使乡村居民依赖用管道从州府查尔斯顿引来的水。

“When the governor, for instance, says that this is not a coal issue, that’s not true," he said. "This is very much related to the ongoing 7 pollution of the coal industry in southern West Virginia counties that has created the condition that has allowed this spill to affect so many people.”

普莱斯说：“州长说这不是煤炭问题，他说的不对。这跟西维吉尼亚南部各县煤炭工业正在造成的污染紧密相关。正是煤炭工业的存在，才使这次泄漏事故影响了这么多人。”

Neither the company involved in the chemical spill nor the West Virginia Coal Association have made any public comments about the accident. But Price said the lack of regulation and enforcement in the state is very much connected to the political power of coal in West Virginia.

发生化学品泄漏的公司和西维吉尼亚煤炭联合会都没有对这次事故发表任何公开评论。但是普莱斯说，州政府疏于监督和执法不力跟西维吉尼亚州煤炭工业的政治影响力有很大关系。