Newsday

Black Glob In Appalachian Streams

by ROGER ALFORD Associated Press Writer

INEZ, Ky. (AP) -- The gooey material -- a mixture of coal particles and water with the consistency of wet cement -- has swallowed driveways and bridges and claimed the lawns of some residents in the countryside around Inez.

Since Wednesday morning, work crews from Martin County Coal Corp. have been trying to clean up the molasses-like waste material -- 200 million gallons of it -- that leaked from the company's coal preparation plant.

But the sludge has continued to ooze like black lava along two mountain streams toward the Big Sandy River, which traces the state border north of Inez.

Janice Maynard has been trapped inside her home by the oozing sludge.

''In order to get to civilization, we have to walk through woods, down through a field and through a swampy area,'' said Maynard, who is nursing a broken ankle. ''I can't make that walk.''

The Kentucky Department of Surface Mining issued four citations Friday to the company for engaging in an unsafe practice by allowing the material to escape from a 70-acre impoundment at its plant outside Inez, about 140 miles east of Lexington.

State and federal environmental agencies don't know how long it will take or how much it will cost to remove the massive glob of coal sediment -- several miles long and up to 70 yards wide.

''We're still trying to determine how best to attack the problem,'' said Heather Frederick, spokeswoman for the Kentucky Cabinet for Natural Resources and Environmental Protection.

No people were injured by the leak, but authorities said fish and other wildlife have been killed. The state mining agency has ordered the company to replenish all fish and other aquatic life in the creeks.

Some towns downstream have had to shut down their water intakes until the material passes.

The leak was caused by the collapse of an adjacent underground coal mine, said Davitt McAteer, assistant secretary in the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration. He said the material gushed into the underground mine, along its shafts and into the streams.

Coal-contaminated water has made it 14 miles downstream from Kermit, W.Va. -- a town about 10 miles east of Inez -- and is moving about 10 miles a day, Frederick said.

Crews from Martin County Coal and its parent company, A.T. Massey Coal Inc., have been building rock dams along the affected creeks to try to slow the flow of the material, said company spokesman Bill Marcum.

Vacuum trucks, excavators and a dredging machine are being used.

''We're spending whatever we have to spend,'' Marcum said.

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-- Rachel Gibson (rgibson@hotmail.com), October 14, 2000

Answers

Newsday

Businesses Close To Conserve Water

by ROGER ALFORD Associated Press Writer

INEZ, Ky. (AP) -- A huge spill of gooey coal sludge that has seeped into eastern Kentucky streams forced officials to declare a state of emergency Monday. Car washes and schools were closed in an attempt to save whatever clean water remained as the black water reached the Ohio River.

About 200 million gallons of coal waste the consistency of wet cement flowed into streams last Wednesday after a retention pond gave way at a coal-preparation plant on a mountaintop near Inez.

Gov. Paul Patton declared a state of emergency Monday in a large portion of northeastern Kentucky, saying water shortages were affecting drinking water supplies, basic sanitation and fire protection.

The leading edge of the spill entered the Big Sandy River and black water had reached the Ohio River, forcing the cities of Inez, Louisa and Kermit, W.Va., to close their water intakes and rely on existing supplies.

''We're going to have to find an alternative water source,'' said Martin County Deputy Judge-Executive Gary Lafferty. ''That's our big concern right now. We're not going to allow our people to be without water.''

Classes in Martin County's schools were canceled until another source of water could be found.

School superintendent Bill Slone said regulators had been unable to estimate how long the water crisis might last.

''We need help, or we could be looking at four to five weeks without classes,'' he said.

The leak occurred at a plant owned by the Martin County Coal Corp., which had crews working around the clock dredging the ooze from streams.

The state has ordered the company, a subsidiary of A.T. Massey Coal Inc., to replace fish and other aquatic life killed and to rebuild roads and bridges it ripped away.

Fred Stroud, a member of an emergency response team from the Environmental Protection Agency, said it could take at least five to six months to clean up the spill, a project expected to cost millions.

-- Rachel Gibson (rgibson@hotmail.com), October 16, 2000.