Category — Slurry impoundments

With politicians suddenly falling all over themselves to say something about Massey Energy and Marsh Fork  Elementary School, I thought I’d check in with my friend Gov. Joe Manchin on this issue.

Recall that I asked the governor back in July 2005 if he would feel comfortable sending his grandchildren to the school, located just down the hollow from a huge slurry impoundment. Manchin answered:

I don’t know enough. I haven’t been there. I don’t know enough about the site.

So, I contacted Matt Turner, the governor’s communications director, and asked him to put the question to Manchin again. Here’s what he told me via e-mail:

I don’t think you can question Gov. Manchin’s record when it comes to the health and welfare of our state’s children — their health and safety are always the top priority.

That said, the governor would never send any child to a school that isn’t safe, sound or sanitary. We rely on experts to examine building conditions and to make those determinations.

Well, another county heard from … Sen. Robert C. Byrd’s strong statement yesterday seems to have made other elected officials in West Virginia stop and think about whether they like the idea of more than 220 Raleigh County children attending school less than 300 feet from a huge coal processing plant and just downhill from a gigantic slurry impoundment.

Sen. Jay Rockfeller issued the following statement this afternoon:

“The hazards around Marsh Fork Elementary have been weighing heavily on the minds of parents in the Marsh Fork community for some time. Protecting our children is our first and most fundamental obligation, and it is right to expect the company to help pay for the solution.”

Read Massey’s response to Sen. Byrd’s statement here, and  a statement from Congressman Rahall here.

Congressman Nick J. Rahall, a Democrat whose district includes Marsh Fork Elementary School, weighed in this morning on whether Massey Energy should help fund relocation of the school away from Massey’s coal processing plant and huge slurry impoundment.

Here is Rahall’s statement:

I certainly agree with Senator Byrd. Massey Energy should take this significant step of helping to replace the Marsh Fork Elementary School so that these children no longer have to fear the threat of adverse health effects of nearby coal operations.  It would go a long way toward improving the good will of the public toward that company and the coal industry.

Read Sen. Robert C. Byrd’s statement on this issue here and Massey’s response here.

And for the sake of the kids, they should address these serious environmental concerns at Marsh Fork Elementary immediately.

- Sen. Robert C. Byrd

This just in from Sen. Robert C. Byrd, responding to the news that Massey Energy declined to help fund a new school so Marsh Fork Elementary students in Raleigh County can move away from Massey’s Goals Coal operation:

“Such arrogance suggests a blatant disregard for the impact of their mining practices on our communities, residents and particularly our children.  These are children’s lives we are talking about,” said Byrd.

“If Massey were not operating near Marsh Fork Elementary, we would not be debating what to do about moving these young students someplace safer.  This is not the taxpayers’ burden to remedy.  This is Massey Energy’s responsibility to address.”

Byrd added that, “Let me be clear about one thing – this is not about the coal industry or their hard-working coal miners. This is about companies that blatantly disregard human life and safety because of greed. That is never acceptable.”

“At a time when coal is under such close scrutiny, coal companies operating in West Virginia should be working together to put their best foot forward. For the sake of the entire coal industry, Massey Energy should strive to be a better and more responsible corporate citizen.  And for the sake of the kids, they should address these serious environmental concerns at Marsh Fork Elementary immediately.”  

[Read more →]

Photo by Britney Williams, courtesy Coal River Mountain Watch.

  I don’t know enough. I haven’t been there. I don’t know enough about the site.

That’s what Gov. Joe Manchin told me in July 2005 when I asked him if he would want his grandchildren to attend Marsh Fork Elementary in Raleigh County, the school located less than 300 feet from a Massey Energy coal processing plant and just down the hollow from a huge coal-waste impoundment.

The governor had just emerged from a meeting with Ed Wiley, whose granddaughter attended Marsh Fork Elementary and who launched a solo sit-down protest at the Capitol to try to urge Manchin to do something about the school.

Manchin promised at the time that he would look into the problem and explore moving the school. The Marsh Fork issues has been in and out of various courts since then. But basically, the issue of actually doing something to get the kids out of the way of this huge coal operation seemed forgotten about by anybody who could do anything about it. (See here, here, here and here for previous coverage).

But now, a report in the Beckley Register-Herald (See also the Associated Press rewrite of the Register-Herald story here) says  the Raleigh County Board of Education is considering asking for state money to build a new school — and that they might ask Massey Energy for financial assistance for the project:

[School Board President Rick] Snuffer says building a new Marsh Fork Elementary “would correct a lot of political problems in the county.”

“I just look at this as a way to fix an issue,” he continued. “We’ve been told everything’s safe, but if we have an option of building a new school and get it out of the way, I guess for me it’s a win-win situation. What’s the negatives on building a new school down there?”

[Read more →]

The U.S. EPA just released the first in a series of “structural integrity assessment” of coal-fired power plant ash dams located across the nation’s coalfields and beyond … and you can check it all out here, or look at a summary spreadsheet here.

EPA’s data release includes contractor reports on the dams at 17  sites in 7 states. All are ranked as “high hazard potential” structures, meaning that their failure could cost human lives.

Bottom line:

The assessments have rated the structural integrity of seven impoundments as “satisfactory,” nine units as “fair,” and one unit as “poor.”  None of the units assessed received an “unsatisfactory” rating.  According to dam safety experts, only impoundments rated as unsatisfactory pose immediate safety threats.

EPA says it is going to post the same reports on other impoundments as that material becomes available to the agency. Definitions of the terms “satisfactory,” “fair,” and “poor” are available here.

The one dam ranked as “poor” is the “1964 Pond” located at Progress Energy’s Asheville Power Station in Buncombe County, N.C.  If you take a look at the report EPA released on it, note how much information is marked as “redacted,” or hidden from the public.

Mingo County Circuit Judge Michael Thornsbury has been ordered by the state Supreme Court to step down from hearing a lawsuit against Massey Energy over alleged pollution of drinking water by the injection of the company’s coal slurry.

In an order signed Monday, Acting Chief Justice Robin Davis cited Thornsbury’s previous representation of a Massey company in a case brought by a resident (who is also a plaintiff in the slurry case) over blasting at one of Massey’s mines.

Lawyers for Mingo County residents who are suing Massey raised this issue in a supplemental motion asking Thornsbury to rescuse himself, after the judge initially refused to step down over alleged conflicts of interest in the case.

[Read more →]

This just in from The Associated Press:

PRENTER, W.Va. — Clean water is on its way to the Boone County town of Prenter.
Gov. Joe Manchin will be on hand Tuesday as West Virginia American Water breaks ground for a new line that is expected to supply 155 households by March.
The $2.2 million project is funded by a federal Small Cities Block Grant, the Boone County Commission and the water company.
Residents of Prenter and Seth are suing eight coal companies they believe poisoned their wells by pumping coal slurry into old underground mines. They claim cracks in the earth allowed the slurry to migrate and pollute the aquifer.
For months, many residents have been hauling clean water home from a pay station at a church. Others rely on free fill-ups of the 50-gallon barrels at their homes.

And there’s this commentary on the development from the Appalachian Voices’ Front Porch blog.

UPDATED, 9 A.M. TUESDAY: Here’s the link for a more complete report in this morning’s Gazette.

Updating from the AP story first posted here about an hour ago … I have a copy of the motion seeking to force Mingo County Judge Michael Thornsbury to step down from the big Rawl Sales slurry case, and I’ve posted that document here (careful, it’s 12 MB).

The initial AP story focused on an allegation that Thornsbury is friends with Don Blankenship, president of Rawl Sales’ parent company, Massey Energy. That particular allegation doesn’t show up until Paragraph 16 of the motion (See page 5). It’s only natural for it to draw the most attention, considering the controversy over Blankenship’s relationships with former West Virginia Supreme Court Justice Spike Maynard and current Chief Just Bent Benjamin.

But the motion, filed Friday by lawyers for hundreds of Mingo County residents who say Massey polluted their water, focuses instead on the relationship between Thornsbury and a local doctor appointed by the judge to oversee a medical monitoring fund set up as part of the case.

Recall  that this is a case about whether Rawl Sales and Processing’s injection of slurry into underground mine workings polluted water supplies for hundreds of families, making people sick and creating the potential for further illnesses down the road.

We’ll get back to the part about Blankenship … here is the crux of the other allegations:

Judge Thornsbury appointed Dr. C. Donovan Beckett as administrator of multi-million dollar medical monitoring trust  created by the Court’s Certification of a Medical Monitoring Class Action on behalf of all current and former residents of Rawl, Lick Creek, Merrimac and Sprigg, along with Community Trust Bank, Inc., as the trustee.

[Read more →]

This just in from Vicki Smith at The Associated Press:

The plaintiffs in a lawsuit that claims Massey Energy poisoned hundreds of wells with coal slurry are demanding the judge step aside because he’s friends with Chief Executive Don Blankenship.

In a motion filed in Mingo County Circuit Court, they also complain Judge Michael Thornsbury hired his business partner and former campaign manager to administer a medical monitoring fund, and that he’s created bias among the courthouse staff.

The plaintiffs say Thornsbury has committed cronyism at its worst and must withdraw from the case.

The judge’s secretary said Monday the complaint has several false allegations and Thornsbury will respond in writing, probably by Wednesday.

Massey spokesman Jeff Gillenwater says the company also will respond in court.