This news story originally provided by The Herald-Dispatch

July 27, 2005

Manchin stands by DEP actions in wake of suit by Massey chief

BY LAWRENCE MESSINA
Associated Press Writer

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) -- One day after suing Gov. Joe Manchin, Massey Energy CEO Don Blankenship linked his allegation that the governor has sought to chill his free speech rights with Tuesday's decision by state regulators to revoke one of Massey's mining permits.

Blankenship filed his federal lawsuit in Charleston just hours after the state Department of Environmental Protection yanked the previously-suspended permit for a new storage silo at the Goals Coal. Co. operations in Raleigh County.

"The Gov.'s and the DEP's review of the coal silo permit at Goals is but one example of the 'more scrutiny' the Gov. threatened," Blankenship said Wednesday.

Blankenship was referring to remarks Manchin made June 17 as the two campaigned on opposite sides of the proposed sale of pension bonds, up before the voters in a special election. In his lawsuit, Blankenship alleges Manchin warned that "the government would scrutinize the affairs of Plaintiff and Massey even more closely" because Blankenship was bankrolling advertisements attacking the proposal.

Voters rejected the bond proposal on June 25. Blankenship spent more than $600,000 on his campaign.

Manchin said his lawyers were still reviewing the lawsuit when asked about it Wednesday. Manchin also said his June 17 remarks about Blankenship were not a threat, but referred to scrutiny people should expect when they become public figures.

Manchin praised DEP officials as "professionals doing their job" and said Massey and its subsidiaries have not been singled out by regulators.

"Absolutely, everybody is treated the same," Manchin said. "Everybody is a valued citizen and a valued customer to the state of West Virginia."

DEP officials say they relied on inaccurate maps supplied by Massey when they initially granted a permit for Goals to build a 168-foot-high silo about 260 feet from nearby Marsh Fork Elementary.

State law bars new surface mine operations within 300 feet of a school, but Massey said the new silo was within boundaries approved for the site before the 1977 law took effect. DEP suspended the permit July 15 after a review showed the Massey-supplied maps did not match up with previously-certified maps of the site.

DEP then hired a firm to survey the site, and rescinded the permit Tuesday after "the agency concluded that the silo was permitted based on inaccurate maps and may be outside the legal permit boundary," spokeswoman Jessica Greathouse said.

Before DEP issued its order, Massey officials argued in a Monday letter to the agency that aerial photos, a 1981 map and a marker found at the site show the new silo would fall within the previously-approved boundaries.

"Therefore, the revocation of the permit is clearly inappropriate," Blankenship said.

The Goals site has become a focal point of protests by some area residents, aided by Coal River Mountain Watch and Mountain Justice Summer. They have targeted the proposed silo as well as a large reservoir of coal sludge held back by an earthen dam about 400 yards from the school.

DEP has renewed a permit for the coal waste impoundment, and Greathouse said monthly inspections by the agency have found it free of any violations. She also said DEP has no action planned against an existing silo at the site.

"The evidence is inconclusive as to whether the first silo is within the permit boundary," she said. "Our investigation focused solely on the second silo."

Tuesday's order by DEP also requires the Massey subsidiary to tear down the already-built foundation for the new silo and restore the land beneath it. Massey can appeal that order to either the state Surface Mine Board or a circuit court.

"Goals Coal will pursue all legal remedies to demonstrate that the silo is within the permit boundary," Massey spokesman Jeff Gillenwater said Wednesday.

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