More Disturbing Facts About Coal Sludge - Really BIG Dams

Which is the world’s fourth-highest dam? It’s the Brushy Fork dam, right here in WV, which holds back BILLIONS of gallons coal sludge impounded by the Marfork Coal Company.

At 900 feet, this Massey Energy monstrosity ranks as the world’s fourth highest dam, just behind the Rogun Dam (1,099 feet) and the Nurek Dam (984 feet), both in Tajikistan, and Grande Dixence in Switzerland (935 feet).

Brushy Fork is the tallest dam in North America, surpassing Oroville Dam, Feather, Calif. (770 feet) and even the Hoover Dam (723 feet)!

Interestingly, Brushy Fork does not appear in the US Army Corps of Engineers National Inventory of Dams.

Please, even in the “off season,” call your state legislators to tell them you want:

1) The most dangerous impoundments shut down and reclaimed;

2) A ban on new coal sludge impoundments;

3) Coal companies to use alternative methods of coal waste disposal;

4) To know just what chemicals are in coal sludge impoundments.

Please visit www.sludgesafety.org for more information. Click on the “Contact your Legislators” tab to follow links to postcards you can print and send.

If you would like to join in the Sludge Safety Project’s work toward shutting down the most dangerous coal sludge impoundments and banning new impoundments, call the OVEC office at (304) 522-0246.