USANG / De-Juan Haley
West Virginia residents relied on trucked-in water after an industrial chemical leaked from storage tanks into their water supply in January of 2014.
Windfall syndrome is a terrible thing.
Those moments in life when we get an unexpected surge in cash flow are sweet. But people with windfall syndrome—often the poorest of the poor—dread those moments. For them, windfalls are a source of great anxiety.
For example, nearly 225,000 people in and around Charleston, West Virginia, will soon receive a windfall of about $525. That’s actually not much money considering what they went through to get it.
In January 2014, 5,000 gallons of 4-methylcyclohexane methanol, a chemical used in coal processing, leaked into the Elk River, a source of the local water supply. The chemical was stored in ruptured tanks owned by Freedom Industries.
In January 2014, 5,000 gallons of 4-methylcyclohexane methanol leaked into the Elk River.
The federal government declared a state of emergency. West Virginia Governor Earl Ray Tomblin ordered everyone in the state’s capital and nine surrounding counties to not consume or use the water for bathing or anything else. Bottled water flew off store shelves. Businesses closed. The National Guard brought in tankards full of water.
A class action lawsuit followed, and in 2016 a settlement was reached making every head of household affected by the leak eligible to receive an estimated payment of $525. Each additional resident of the household can receive about $170.
Here’s where windfall syndrome comes in.
Disabled people and people age 65 and older who rely on Social Security Supplemental Income have a maximum monthly payment of $750. And no individual receiving this income can have assets over $2,000. To be eligible, basically, you have to be flat broke and stay flat broke. The least little windfall can screw that all up.
In his capacity as advocacy support counsel for Legal Aid of West Virginia, Bruce Perrone works with many Social Security Supplemental Income recipients. He estimates that in Kanawha County alone, which includes Charleston, there are 7,000 of them.
After the settlement was announced, Perrone says his office got a lot of distress calls from people worried that accepting their $525 would be considered an overpayment by the Social Security Administration and could trigger an equal reduction in their SSI payments.
“They’re worried Social Security will say, ‘You’re not entitled to keep your money. You have to give it back to us,’” he says.
“You’re not entitled to keep your money. You have to give it back to us.”
So Perrone’s office has been in contact with people at the Social Security Administration headquarters whom he says have given “informal indications” that SSI recipients should be able to accept their share of the settlement without fear of consequences. Perrone says he waiting to receive official assurances in writing from the administration.
Meanwhile, Perrone says settlement payments should be sent out in the next month or two, so he’s encouraging recipients to apply for their settlement payments and hope for the best.
Stay tuned for Part Two. Will windfall syndrome claim thousands more victims, or will there be a happy ending?
Mike Ervin is a writer and disability rights activist living in Chicago. He blogs at Smart Ass Cripple, “expressing pain through sarcasm since 2010.”