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This article originally provided by WVNS TV
March 13, 2007
Board overturns DEP rejection of silo near school
By the Associated Press
CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- A Massey Energy subsidiary won its fight Tuesday to build a coal silo near a Raleigh County elementary school after a state board ruled the Department of Environmental Protection lacked the basis to deny the permit.Goals Coal Co. sought the permit to build a second silo at its processing plant near Marsh Fork Elementary school.
The DEP initially issued a permit for the 168-foot-tall silo but revoked it in July 2005, saying a Massey engineer had enlarged the submitted map's permit boundary from previously approved permits. Goals Coal then submitted a new application, which was rejected last year because federal and state laws prohibit new mining operations within 300 feet of a school.
"We denied the Goals Coal revision in 2006 based on a sound interpretation of the surface mine laws," said DEP spokeswoman Jessica Greathouse.
The state Surface Mine Board overturned that decision saying the DEP "did not have the basis to deny construction of the second silo," Greathouse said.
Don Blankenship, Richmond, Va.-based Massey's chief executive officer, said the company was pleased with the board's ruling.
"It is very unfortunate that the project was unnecessarily delayed," Blankenship said in a prepared statement.
The project has prompted some area residents to call on the Raleigh County Board of Education to close the school and build a new one at a different location. Last summer, a man whose granddaughter attends the school walked from Charleston to Washington, D.C., in an attempt to call attention to their concerns.
In addition to closing the school, the group wants to shut down Goals Coal's preparation plant and an 1,849-acre mountaintop removal mine site and a 2.8 billion-gallon coal sludge dam about 400 yards from the school.
Blankenship said the second silo would enable the company to make additional environmental improvements and cut down the amount of coal dust at the site.
Greathouse said the DEP planned to either appeal the ruling or ask the board to reconsider its decision.
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