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Winds of Change Newsletter, September 2007 See sidebar for table of contents
Mining Dams Check is DEP's New Top Priority
WV MetroNews, August 29, 2007
The state Department of Environmental Protection is
now putting a review of all deep mining permits that have been issued
for areas near impoundments at the top of its "to do" list.
"We have office staff looking at mining permits that
have been approved in the last year or two to make sure none of them
have been illegally approved," said DEP Communications Director Jessica
Greathouse. "We also have our inspection staff out in the field right
now looking at all underground mines near impoundments to make sure no
mining is happening in the safety zone."
Alarm bells were raised at DEP earlier this month
when it was discovered a permit for a Wyoming County mine would have
mistakenly allowed the miners to dig coal from the earth directly below
the Smith Branch impoundment. That could have put the miners and
residents nearby into a precarious situation.
Greathouse says DEP noticed the mistake and immediately suspended the
mining permit in the safety zone for Bluestone Coal Company.
Now they want to make sure it was only an isolated mistake and there
arent other problems out there just waiting to happen.
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