Read the report here.

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Nearly two-thirds of the coal-ash dams across West Virginia might need repairs, and a quarter of them are ranked as being in poor or unsatisfactory condition, according to a report released Thursday by the state Department of Environmental Protection.

DEP inspectors found stability problems, seepage and erosion at some of the dams as part of a roughly 10-month "comprehensive review" launched after the failure of a coal-ash impoundment in East Tennessee brought new attention to such facilities.

Agency officials also found problems that prompted at least five enforcement actions at landfills where dry waste products from coal-fired power plants were dumped, according to the 44-page DEP report.

In a news release, agency officials downplayed the problems they found during aerial and on-site inspections and said owners of the dams were making any needed repairs.

"We were able to identify stability issues along some embankment slopes, but largely the problems we noted involved control of animals and vegetation," said Brian Long, coordinator of DEP's dam safety program. "The agency is requiring the owners to address any issues found at their sites and bring them into satisfactory condition."

During their review, DEP inspectors also discovered that American Electric Power built two coal-ash dams at one Mason County site without the state knowing about it.

Neither of the dams at AEP's Little Broad Run Landfill were designed or built to comply with safety standards in West Virginia's Dam Safety Act, according to the DEP Report.

State dam-safety experts seldom inspect coal-ash dams in West Virginia, because state law does not require periodic reviews by DEP officials. Dam owners do have to conduct periodic inspections, with mandated schedules varying according to the potential hazards of specific sites.

After the collapse of a dam at a Tennessee Valley Authority coal-fired power plant in December 2008, The Charleston Gazette revealed that most of the coal-ash dams in West Virginia had not been visited by a state dam inspector in at least five years.

DEP Secretary Randy Huffman said his agency is exploring options for more frequent inspections of the 20 coal-ash impoundments under its dam-safety jurisdiction.

 Read the report here.

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Nearly two-thirds of the coal-ash dams across West Virginia might need repairs, and a quarter of them are ranked as being in poor or unsatisfactory condition, according to a report released Thursday by the state Department of Environmental Protection.

DEP inspectors found stability problems, seepage and erosion at some of the dams as part of a roughly 10-month "comprehensive review" launched after the failure of a coal-ash impoundment in East Tennessee brought new attention to such facilities.

Agency officials also found problems that prompted at least five enforcement actions at landfills where dry waste products from coal-fired power plants were dumped, according to the 44-page DEP report.

In a news release, agency officials downplayed the problems they found during aerial and on-site inspections and said owners of the dams were making any needed repairs.

"We were able to identify stability issues along some embankment slopes, but largely the problems we noted involved control of animals and vegetation," said Brian Long, coordinator of DEP's dam safety program. "The agency is requiring the owners to address any issues found at their sites and bring them into satisfactory condition."

During their review, DEP inspectors also discovered that American Electric Power built two coal-ash dams at one Mason County site without the state knowing about it.

Neither of the dams at AEP's Little Broad Run Landfill were designed or built to comply with safety standards in West Virginia's Dam Safety Act, according to the DEP Report.

State dam-safety experts seldom inspect coal-ash dams in West Virginia, because state law does not require periodic reviews by DEP officials. Dam owners do have to conduct periodic inspections, with mandated schedules varying according to the potential hazards of specific sites.

After the collapse of a dam at a Tennessee Valley Authority coal-fired power plant in December 2008, The Charleston Gazette revealed that most of the coal-ash dams in West Virginia had not been visited by a state dam inspector in at least five years.

DEP Secretary Randy Huffman said his agency is exploring options for more frequent inspections of the 20 coal-ash impoundments under its dam-safety jurisdiction.

"We found enough through this exercise to be concerned, and to revisit our policy," Huffman said. "We probably need to look at these things ourselves a little more frequently."

The DEP reported that eight of the 20 coal-ash dams it examined were in satisfactory condition, meaning there were no "existing or potential" safety deficiencies.

Seven dams were listed in fair condition, meaning action might be needed to avoid risks posed by "rare or extreme hydrologic and/or seismic events." Three were listed in poor condition, meaning safety deficiencies were found that require further investigations, studies or repairs.

Both of the recently discovered AEP dams at the company's Little Broad Run Landfill were listed in unsatisfactory condition, meaning there were deficiencies that require "immediate or emergency" action.

The DEP report said the Little Broad Run facility was designed as a fly-ash landfill, but, the report said, stormwater control measures "resulted in the construction of two impoundments" that were expanded to greater than 25 feet tall, bringing them under state Dam Safety Act jurisdiction.

DEP inspectors found no spillways and embankments consisting of "highly erodible fly ash materials without apparent connection to natural ground foundation." Inspectors concluded that the "downstream hazard potential appears to be high -- loss of life is likely if the dams were to fail."

In August, the DEP issued an order requiring AEP to fix the problems.

The Little Broad Run site is located near AEP's Philip Sporn Power Plant at New Haven.

Just last week, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced that it had told AEP to conduct new tests because of concerns about the safety of two other coal-ash impoundments located at the Sporn site. In its new report, the DEP ranked one of those Sporn impoundments as in satisfactory condition and the other as in poor condition.

The other two sites listed in "poor condition" are the Dutch Hollow and Finney Branch dams, both owned by Hatfield Enterprises and located near Dunbar, in Kanawha County.

DEP inspectors found at the Dutch Hollow site "active piping of fly ash materials into a sediment control pond, but without discharge to the nearest stream." At Finney Branch, part of the south embankment did not meet dam-safety stability requirements, according to the DEP report.

Reach Ken Ward Jr. at kw...@wvgazette.com or 304-348-1702.