Leaking dam indicates potential widespread problem in Eastern Kentucky

By Bill Estep - bestep@herald-leader.com

A leaking dam that some Letcher County residents feared could collapse and flood homes hadn't been inspected by state regulators in more than a decade.

The agency that oversees surface mining had released the earthen dam from oversight, and a separate state agency that inspects dams didn't know it existed.

"It was just sitting up there deteriorating," said Marilyn C. Thomas, an environmental engineer with the state Dam Safety Section.

The incident points up a potential problem in Eastern Kentucky, dam-safety officials said.

There are likely thousands of old sediment ponds at surface mines that the state dam-inspection office doesn't know about because it wasn't notified they existed, Thomas said.

Read more here.

The Cost of Coal

There was a very interesting story in the Lexington Herald-Leader today that talks about the cost of coal purely in terms of tax dollars. According to a study by the Mountain Association for Community Economic Development (MACED), coal in 2006 sucked up $115 million more in tax money than it contibuted. According to the president of MACED, that is a conservative estimate because his organization did not take into account water pollution and health costs.
You can read the complete story here
Read the study online here.

Abandoned mine provides geothermal energy

By Reid Frazier, The Allegheny Front

Pennsylvania's abandoned mines could become a dependable source of geothermal energy.

An inner-city church in Pittsburgh is one of the first sites in the nation to turn polluted mine water into clean, renewable energy.

Read more here.

Mountaintop removal protest: Finding a path forward?

by Ken Ward Jr.


SUNDIAL, W.Va. — It was quite a scene outside Massey Energy’s Goals Coal Co. operation Tuesday.

First, there were the protesters — a mix of West Virginia residents and those darned out-of-state agitators — playing some hillbilly music, doing some speechifying, and then marching down W.Va. 3 in the hopes of being carted off by State Police troopers, joining the ranks of those who have been arrested in the growing civil disobedience campaign against mountaintop removal.

minersprotest.jpg Then, there were the miners and their families. They revved up motorcycle engines, honked air horns and did one heck of a lot of yelling, all trying to drown out the protesters. Then, of course, they massed together, blocking the entrance to the mine site, thwarting any hopes the other side had of trespassing on Massey property.

And oh yeah, Daryl Hannah was there — and she smiled and waved as she got hauled off in a nice, blue-and-gold trooper cruiser. There was also some guy named James Hansen, who happens to be one of the world’s top climate scientists. He got arrested, too.

Read more on Ward's blog, Coal Tattoo: here

Good News on Clean Water Restoration Act!

By Natalie Roy

Executive Director, Clean Water Network

Thanks to the hard work of Clean Water Network members and partners, the U.S. Senate Environment and Public Works Committee (EPW) passed an amended version of the Clean Water Restoration Act, which will restore important environmental protections to all of our nation's waters!

Today, in a packed hearing room, the U.S. Senate Environment and Public Works Committee (EPW) passed an amended version of S. 787, the Clean Water Restoration Act, by a vote of 12-7. The EPW Committee also passed two other key Clean Water Network priority bills S. 878, Clean Coastal Environment and Public Health Act of 2009 (formerly known as the beach protection act) and S. 937, the Sewage Overflow Community Right-to-Know Act.

The Committee had yet to take up another key CWN bill, S. 933, Contaminated Sediment Remediation Reauthorization Act (Great Lakes Legacy Act), when we left to send out this alert. We will send another update on S. 933 in a subsequent email.

All three bills will now move to the Senate floor for a vote. The version of the Clean Water Restoration Act that passed today was a compromise offered by EPW Chairman Boxer (CA) together with Senators' Bauchus (MT) and Klobuchar (MN). The substitute bill contained many of the important provisions in the original bill introduced by Senator Feingold (WI), including striking the word navigable and substituting that with "Waters of the United States." It also included exemptions for prior converted cropland and waste treatment systems including treatment ponds or lagoons. A number of amendments to weaken the bill were introduced this morning and were all soundly defeated.

Both S. 878, the Clean Coastal Environment and Public Health Act and S. 937, the Sewage Overflow Community Right-to-Know Act, passed with nominal opposition.

While today is a big step forward for the entire clean water community, there is still much work to be done to make these bills reality. Stay tuned for more updates and details on the bills and how you can help. Thanks again for everything you do to protect our nation's waters.

Coal's costs outweigh benefits, WVU study finds

By Ken Ward, Jr.
Staff Writer, Charleston Gazette

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Coal mining costs Appalachians five times more in early deaths as the industry provides to the region in jobs, taxes and other economic benefits, according to a groundbreaking new study co-authored by a West Virginia University researcher.

In the latest in a series of papers, WVU researcher Michael Hendryx questions the idea that coal is good for West Virginia and other Appalachian communities, and recommends that political leaders consider other alternatives for improving the region's economy and quality of life.

"Coal-mining economies are not strong economies," Hendryx said in an interview last week. "[Coalfield communities] are weaker than the rest of the state, weaker than the rest of the region, and weaker than the rest of the nation."

Writing with co-author Melissa Ahern of Washington State University, Hendryx reports that the coal industry generates a little more than $8 billion a year in economic benefits for the Appalachian region.

But, Hendryx and Ahern put the value of premature deaths attributable to the mining industry across the Appalachian coalfields at -- by one of their most conservative estimates -- $42 billion.

Read more: here

EPA Petitioned to Revoke West Virgina's Clean Water Authority

CHARLESTON, West Virgina, June 22, 2009 (ENS) - West Virgina officials have failed to abide by the federal Clean Water Act, instead deferring to the industries they are supposed to regulate, a coalition of environmental groups claims in a formal petition asking the federal government to take back control of discharge permitting and enforcement from the state.

The Sierra Club, West Virginia Highlands Conservancy, Coal River Mountain Watch, and Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition want the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to begin formal proceedings to withdraw approval of state's National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System, NPDES, program, which they say is "grossly deficient."

"The State's capitulation to the industries it is obligated to regulate under the Clean Water Act and its resulting failure to enforce or maintain its NPDES program leave EPA no choice but to withdraw its approval of that program," the groups say in their petition, filed June 17.

Read more: here