CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- A tentative agreement has been reached in the dispute between five coal companies and the Boone County families that say their well water has been contaminated by coal slurry. 

The agreement stems from a civil suit in which 144 current and former residents of Seth and Prenter sought an injunction to stop the companies from injecting slurry into the ground.

The suit also called for the coal companies to provide the plaintiffs with an emergency supply of clean drinking water.

The settlement agreement, pending before Boone County Circuit Judge William S. Thompson, calls for the companies to contribute $45,000 to the nonprofit Prenter Water Fund to provide drinking water to both plaintiffs and non-plaintiffs in the Seth-Prenter area.

In the agreement, the coal companies state that they and their subsidiaries are not currently injecting coal refuse slurry into the ground in the Seth-Prenter area, and will not do so in the future.

The coal companies' $45,000 contribution and agreement not to inject coal slurry does not constitute any form of admission and is inadmissible in court, according to the terms of the agreement.

By the same token, the agreement does not block the plaintiffs' right to challenge the practice of underground slurry injections at trial, or seek the recovery of expenses more than $45,000 to replace their well water.

Once an order is signed formalizing the agreement, the plaintiffs' motions for injunctions to stop underground slurry injections in the Seth-Prenter area and to receive emergency drinking water from the coal companies will be withdrawn.

Defendants in the suit are Massey Energy Co., Omar Mining Co., Independence Coal Co., Elk Run Coal Co. (doing business as Black Castle Mining Co.) and Pine Ridge Coal Co. LLC.

Plaintiffs in the suit complain that well water in the area is discolored and foul-smelling, unfit for drinking or bathing and is the suspected cause of an array of health problems, including abnormally high incidences of cancer.

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- A tentative agreement has been reached in the dispute between five coal companies and the Boone County families that say their well water has been contaminated by coal slurry. 

The agreement stems from a civil suit in which 144 current and former residents of Seth and Prenter sought an injunction to stop the companies from injecting slurry into the ground.

The suit also called for the coal companies to provide the plaintiffs with an emergency supply of clean drinking water.

The settlement agreement, pending before Boone County Circuit Judge William S. Thompson, calls for the companies to contribute $45,000 to the nonprofit Prenter Water Fund to provide drinking water to both plaintiffs and non-plaintiffs in the Seth-Prenter area.

In the agreement, the coal companies state that they and their subsidiaries are not currently injecting coal refuse slurry into the ground in the Seth-Prenter area, and will not do so in the future.

The coal companies' $45,000 contribution and agreement not to inject coal slurry does not constitute any form of admission and is inadmissible in court, according to the terms of the agreement.

By the same token, the agreement does not block the plaintiffs' right to challenge the practice of underground slurry injections at trial, or seek the recovery of expenses more than $45,000 to replace their well water.

Once an order is signed formalizing the agreement, the plaintiffs' motions for injunctions to stop underground slurry injections in the Seth-Prenter area and to receive emergency drinking water from the coal companies will be withdrawn.

Defendants in the suit are Massey Energy Co., Omar Mining Co., Independence Coal Co., Elk Run Coal Co. (doing business as Black Castle Mining Co.) and Pine Ridge Coal Co. LLC.

Plaintiffs in the suit complain that well water in the area is discolored and foul-smelling, unfit for drinking or bathing and is the suspected cause of an array of health problems, including abnormally high incidences of cancer.

Ben Stout, a biology professor at Wheeling Jesuit University, tested some of the plaintiffs' wells and found their water contained such toxins as antimony, lead, barium, manganese and aluminum in varying amounts.

"The community has bad water," Stout was quoted in an earlier press account. "Not only should they not drink it, but community-wide, they shouldn't bathe in it either. You certainly don't want to expose your children to water like that."

But Stout couldn't say underground slurry was the cause of the water problems in the area.

"When you've got all these mining operations going on above and below, and underground injection of coal slurry, it's really difficult to tease that apart and point blame at any one specific thing," he said.

Reach Rick Steelhammer at ricksteelham...@wvgazette.com

or 304-348-5169.