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This article originally provided by Lexington Herald-Leader
June 2, 2006
EASTERN KENTUCKY BUREAU
The federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission has upheld two federal citations calling for maximum fines against Martin County Coal Corp. after a massive slurry spill in 2000.
The fines, leveled by the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration, assessed separate $55,000 fines for each violation, an MSHA news release said yesterday.
The company's Big Branch impoundment near Inez ruptured on Oct. 11, 2000, spilling 306 million gallons of coal waste into 70 miles of Eastern Kentucky streams. No one was injured and no homes were destroyed, but bottomland and lawns along a one-mile section of Coldwater Fork below the mine were buried under about 7 feet of sludge.
Cleanup cost the company, owned by Massey Energy Inc. of Richmond, Va., more than $46 million. Lawsuits involving more than 400 residents were settled for millions of dollars.
The company was cited for failing to cover the impoundment's seepage barrier with fine refuse to minimize leakage and failing to report unusual water leakage from a mine portal during a drought.
The commission rejected the company's claim that reporting requirements were a part of a permanent impoundment sealing plan, but were not part of a temporary plan that expired, the news release said.
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