3/10/2003

Coal material spills from Kentucky pond

SIDNEY, Ky. (AP) -- An overflow at a mine pond in Pike County has sent about 10,000 gallons of a "gooey'' coal material into a tributary of the Tug Fork River.

Sidney Coal reported the release from its pond into Big Creek on Saturday, said Joseph Schmidt, a member of the Kentucky Natural Resources and Environmental Protection's environmental response team.

Schmidt said the release occurred when a pond overflowed. He did not know if the pond was a coal slurry or silt pond.

About 10,000 gallons or less flowed into the stream, based on company estimates, said Jessica Greathouse, a West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection spokeswoman.

The spill occurred about 14 miles from Big Creek's confluence with the Tug Fork of the Big Sandy River, Greathouse said.

"It's a pretty concentrated sludge. It's kind of gooey,'' Greathouse said Monday. "As of (Sunday) night it was moving about 1 mile per hour and the company was putting up dams in Big Creek to try and slow it down.''

No slurry was detected Monday morning in the Tug Fork, she said.

As a precaution, the DEP planned to warn officials with the Fort Gay, W.Va., water department to monitor their intakes Monday.

Officials with Sidney Coal, and its parent company, Richmond, Va.-based Massey Energy, could not be reached for comment.

This news story originally provided by WV Metro News

3/10/2003

Coal Truck Weight Limits To Increase

Staff
Charleston

A struggle of nearly two years came to a conclusion in the legislature Saturday when the Senate gave final approval to a bill that increases the weight limit for coal trucks to 120,000 pounds in 15 southern West Virginia counties.

Mingo County Delegate Steve Kominar, a staunch backer of the legislation, says the bill restores confidence in West Virginia's southern coalfields. Kominar says the area has a large volume of high BTU, low sulphur coal. The quality of coal in those southern hills is in high demand, but until now, Kominar says there was no confidence the West Virginia coal companies could get the materials to market. He believes by raising the weight limit in those counties, that confidence is rebolstered and will help restore a measure of economic security to the region.

Marion County Delegate Mike Caputo railed hard against the bill for two straight sessions. Despite the coal industry winning what it wanted, Caputo still calls it a victory.

"We took on the most powerful industry in this state and made them work for what they wanted," said Caputo.

Caputo says the people will not roll over on the matter. He plans to hold the industry's feet to the fire over the 120,000-pound limit. Caputo says he believes the state's general population will be watching this very closely, and if the industry doesn't adhere to what they said they could live with, they'll be back on them again.

Caputo says there's plenty of blame to go around for why the matter was so out of sync to start with.

"We as a state allowed it to get out of hand for years," explained Caputo. "That was wrong."

Supporters of the bill claim it will actually reduce the amount of weight being hauled on those roads. It was well documented that few truckers were following the law with the old limit set at 80,000 pounds and often hauled nearly twice the legal limit on the roadways.