This news story originally provided by The Register Herald

June 29, 2005

Coal River Mountain Watch pleased with Manchin meeting

By Amelia A. Pridemore/REGISTER-HERALD REPORTER

After taking their concerns to the streets - and in front of coal mine gates - a Coal River Valley-based environmental group took their concerns straight to the governor's office.

Members of Coal River Mountain Watch, with concerned citizens in tow, came before Gov. Joe Manchin Tuesday to discuss their concerns about Goals Coal Co., a Massey Energy-owned facility which operates a coal preparation plant, loading silo and coal sludge impoundment above Marsh Fork Elementary School in Sundial.

Because of its close proximity to Marsh Fork Elementary, CRMW wants the facility shut down. The group reports children constantly come home sick because of toxic fumes the facility produces. It has protested in front of the facility twice, on May 24 and on May 31, during which two were arrested the first time, and 16 were arrested the second on trespassing char-ges.

The state Department of Environmental Protection is considering Mas-sey's application to build a second coal loading silo at this facility. A silo already there is 150 feet away from the school.

Julia Bonds and Bo Webb, CRMW members, both left the meeting satisfied - believing the governor paid close attention to their concerns and action will be taken as a result.

"We had to make the governor extremely, extremely aware of how dangerous this is," Bonds said.

Bonds said about eight residents of the Coal River Valley, one a parent and another a grandparent of Marsh Fork Elementary students, attended the meeting with House Speaker Bob Kiss, D-Raleigh, Delegate Virginia Mahan, D-Summers, and Sen. Russ Weeks, R-Raleigh, in tow. She was especially pleased because she says this meeting was a long time coming. The organization could never get a meeting with former Gov. Bob Wise, she said.

From the governor's perspective, this was a requested meeting on the part of Kiss and Mahan so that a group of citizens could directly inform the governor of their concerns, said Lara Ramsburg, spokeswoman for Man-chin. She indicated no action would take place as a result of the meeting.

The main question lawmakers in the meeting had is whether state agencies are doing their jobs in enforcing regulations at the facility, Kiss said. If the agencies are not doing their job, the lawmakers want to know why. The governor's office will examine the situation and get feedback from regulatory agencies such as the DEP. Then it will further communicate with Kiss and other lawmakers. Kiss said he expected this to take two to three weeks at the minimum.

Webb said toxicity testing of the school's air and soil should be done in the near future thanks to the meeting, something his organization has fought to have done for a long time. He said he also gave Manchin his reports that Massey's sludge impoundment dam is leaking.

Representatives for Massey deny the facility is dangerous.

Katherine Kenny, vice president of investor relations for Massey, said the facility's impoundment has been inspected by both state and federal agencies, and what some believe is seepage is actually controlled drainage. Also, the chemicals are common ones used throughout the coal industry which have been approved by environmental regulatory agencies.

As for the silo permit, Kenny said hardly anything is better to control coal dust than a silo. She also countered claims that Massey is a "bad neighbor" in the Coal River Valley.

"Massey continues to be the largest employer in that area, and we want to provide the highest quality of life for the residents," she said. "I know the people who are protesting don't agree, but there's nothing going on that isn't done at processing plants across the country."