This news story originally provided by The Charleston Daily Mail

August 26, 2005

Raleigh school near coal preparation plant to open as scheduled

By ERIK SCHELZIG
Associated Press Writer

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) -- The state Department of Education is recommending that an elementary school near a coal preparation plant in Raleigh County open on Friday as planned.

Some residents and environmental groups have argued that coal dust from the Massey Energy Co.-owned mining facilities near Marsh Fork Elementary enters the school, causing asthma and respiratory problems. Gov. Joe Manchin's office last month launched a review of the complaints.

The Department of Education performed an air quality test and general inspection of the school on Thursday, but the activist group Coal River Mountain Watch denounced the tests as "a sham.''

"I want the governor to explain to me why Massey Energy's profits are more important than these kids' health and safety,'' Rock Creek resident Ed Wiley, the grandfather of a Marsh Fork student, was quoted as saying in a release.

According to Thursday's letter to Raleigh County Superintendent Charlotte Hutchens: "the West Virginia Department of Education is not currently aware of any compromise to the indoor environment at Marsh Fork Elementary that may effect the health or safety of children.''

Written by Bill Elswick, executive director of the department's Office of School Facilities, the letter also ruled out moving the school to either or two proposed alternate locations.

The former Mount View School is now used as a private residence, and from a visit to inspect the facility "it was readily apparent that this structure was simply not a safe and viable alternative site,'' he wrote.

A proposal to renovate and reoccupy the recently-closed Marsh Fork High School would be too costly and Raleigh County no longer owns the property, Elswick said.

Earlier this month, the state Department of Environmental Protection rescinded a Massey permit to build a 168-foot-tall silo about 260 feet from the school after questions arose about conflicting maps for the facility near Sundial. Massey has appealed the decision.

Massey subsidiary Goals Coal Co. already has a coal silo near the school that is unaffected by the DEP ruling.

State law bars new surface mine operations within 300 feet of a school, but the DEP earlier this year approved the new silo because maps submitted by Goals Coal showed it would be on land where coal operations were permitted before the 1977 law took effect.

Don Blankenship, Massey's president, chairman and CEO, sued Manchin in federal court on the same day the DEP revoked the silo permit, alleging the regulatory ruling was retaliation for Blankenship's successful $650,000 campaign to defeat the governor's pension bond proposal in June.

Manchin and state officials have said Richmond, Va.-based Massey was not singled out.

On Saturday, Blankenship asserted his conviction that his company's permit will be reinstated following the appeal.

"You'll see a lot of ads or information and articles about Goals and the silos and all that, but the silos are on the permit,'' he said. "That's how simple that is, and it will eventually come out in court.''

The state Surface Mine Board is scheduled to hear the appeal on Sept. 13.

Some residents are also concerned about a 385-foot-high earthen dam, about 400 yards from the school, that has a 2.8 billion gallon lifetime capacity.

Massey last week sent a letter to a West Virginia Public Broadcasting reporter saying "it is apparent that your intentions were to scare people with misinformation'' in a story about seepage from the impoundment and said the company was considering legal action.

State and federal regulators have said recent inspections of the impoundment have found no reason to be concerned. Impoundment dams are designed to be porous and that a U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration inspector's note of seepage from the dam was meant to track change over time rather than to highlight a problem, according to an MSHA dam expert.

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On the Net:

W.Va. Department of Education: http://wvde.state.wv.us

Massey: http://www.masseyenergyco.com