|
|||||||||||||||||
 |
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
This news story originally provided by Huntington News
December 11, 2005
Booster Pump Failure Results in Slurry Spill in Coal River Tributary
By HNN Staff
Pettus, WV (HNN) – A booster pump failure resulted in a slurry spill into
Brushy Fork impoundment Saturday morning, Dec. 10, 2005 about 11 a.m.,
according to Matt Noerpel of Coal River Mountain Watch in Whitesville. The
spill at Massey Energy’s Marfork Coal Co. preparation plant was reported to
the state Department of Environmental Protection, which ordered the plant
shut down until the pump was fixed and the sludge removed.
The DEP said the spill affected a five-mile area, traveling from Little
Marsh Fork Creek into Marsh Fork and Coal River. Jessica Greathouse of DEP
said. She added that once the slurry has been removed, the cessation order
will become a violation.
Noerpel of CRMW said the spill occurred near Pettus, Raleigh County, on
Route 3 just south of Whitesville. “From the Marfork prep plant or Brushy
Fork sludge dam into Little Marsh Fork Creek and into the Marsh Fork of the
Coal River, the river is black,” he told HNN.
Noerpel said the spill raised the level of the creek about eight inches
before subsiding. For more information from CRMW, phone 304-854-2182.
|