CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- After federal officials threatened to step in, the state Department of Environmental Protection late last week cited Massey Energy for problems with the expansion of its controversial Brushy Fork coal-slurry impoundment in Raleigh County.
DEP officials were aware of a stability violation at the site since late-December or early January, but took no enforcement action until the federal Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement learned of the problem during its own inspection.
On Thursday, OSM officials issued a formal notice giving the state 10 days to take action. The next day, on Friday, DEP inspectors issued their own "notice of violation," or NOV, to Massey's Marfork Coal Co. subsidiary.
The violation involved excess moisture, which can contribute to instability, on an expansion of the existing dam at the Brushy Fork site near Whitesville.
In a news release, DEP officials downplayed the violation and said "there is no risk to the community downstream of the impoundment."
But Tom Clarke, director of the DEP Division of Mining and Reclamation, said his agency has not performed a detailed engineering evaluation to back up that statement.
"It really doesn't pose any sort of threat," Clarke said. "[But] I think I acted out of caution and out of respect for the concerns of the citizens in that area."
CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- After federal officials threatened to step in, the state Department of Environmental Protection late last week cited Massey Energy for problems with the expansion of its controversial Brushy Fork coal-slurry impoundment in Raleigh County.
DEP officials were aware of a stability violation at the site since late-December or early January, but took no enforcement action until the federal Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement learned of the problem during its own inspection.
On Thursday, OSM officials issued a formal notice giving the state 10 days to take action. The next day, on Friday, DEP inspectors issued their own "notice of violation," or NOV, to Massey's Marfork Coal Co. subsidiary.
The violation involved excess moisture, which can contribute to instability, on an expansion of the existing dam at the Brushy Fork site near Whitesville.
In a news release, DEP officials downplayed the violation and said "there is no risk to the community downstream of the impoundment."
But Tom Clarke, director of the DEP Division of Mining and Reclamation, said his agency has not performed a detailed engineering evaluation to back up that statement.
"It really doesn't pose any sort of threat," Clarke said. "[But] I think I acted out of caution and out of respect for the concerns of the citizens in that area."
Massey spokesman Jeff Gillenwater said the company has already fixed the problem and agrees with DEP that "there is no safety problem."
Southern West Virginia residents and environmental groups have been complaining about the Brushy Fork impoundment for years. More recently, they have focused on ongoing mining at Massey's nearby Bee Tree Mine, which has been targeted by repeated non-violent civil disobedience protests by mountaintop removal opponents.
Currently, Massey is working to expand the disposal capacity of the Brushy Fork site, which involves increasing the height of the impoundment's existing dam. To do this, Massey is dumping more coal refuse on the upstream side of the dam to widen the dam to hold the increased height.
Clarke said Monday that DEP staffers learned in late December or early January that tests on the new construction showed the material was too moist, leading it to not meet state requirements for structural stability. But, Clarke said, his staff was not sure if this should be counted as a violation, because the new construction had not been given a chance to dry out and meet the stability requirements.
Clarke said the worst that could have happened is that the new construction could have sloughed, sending some coal waste from the dam into the impoundment's pool. Clarke said his staff did not think this would threaten the existing dam's stability, but had not studied the potential in any great detail.
"From this, there is not risk to the people downstream," Clarke said. "That's the kind of thing I'd like to think I'm going to take very seriously."
Reach Ken Ward Jr. at kw...@wvgazette.com or 304-348-1702.
Post a comment