| By Bob Weaver
Massey Energy will pay a $20 million fine levied against them by the U.S. EPA for thousands of
Clean Water Act permit violations.
The federal government stepped in to regulate Massey after the West Virginia
Department of Environmental Protection consistently failed to hold the
company accountable for its pollution.
The feds documented nearly 5,000 cases of pollution that Massey illegally dumped
into the state and region's waterways.
The giant coal corporation has a long history of appealing or ignoring the citations.
The federal government found that Massey illegally
dumped coal slurry waste, rubble, wastewater and other pollutants into
West Virginia and Appalachian waterways.
"For seven years the Bush administration allowed the coal industry to have
its way with West Virginia's mountains and communities," said Joe Lovett
Attorney with the Appalachian Center for the Economy & the Environment.
"We're
pleasantly surprised that EPA is taking the first steps to correct the coal
industry's most flagrant abuses,"Lovett said.
A coalition of environmental groups including Coal River Mountain Watch,
Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition, Sierra Club and the West Virginia
Highlands Conservancy, represented by Earthjustice and the Appalachian
Center for the Economy & the Environment, sought to intervene in the case.
It has been one of the largest Clean Water Act violations cases in the history of the
law.
"If the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection, instead of
ignoring these blatant Clean Water Act violations, had brought this action
itself, this money would be going to state coffers instead of federal," said
Judy Bonds with Coal River Mountain Watch.
Bonds has said WV government has long been sold to the coal industry.
"It's unconscionable that West Virginia maintains primacy for the water
permitting program when it fails to utilize the basic enforcement tools
provided by the Clean Water Act," said Cindy Rank, Mining Committee Chair of
West Virginia Highlands Conservancy.
"The West Virginia DEP is responsible
for tracking compliance with water permits and taking action against
companies when they violate the terms of their permits and yet here are
thousands of violations by one company alone that have gone untended," Rank said.
In addition to paying the fine Massey will have to take a number of measures
aimed at preventing future violations including:
- Hire independent monitoring consultants
- Devise a tracking system for future reporting of pollutant
discharges
- Abide by extensive monitoring requirements, with reports to be
sent to environmental groups as well as government agencies
- Internal audits of treatment systems when sampling discharges
- Additional testing and reporting obligations
"When citizens complain to DEP about violations and troubles from
mountaintop removal sites, the agency ignores us instead of working to
protect us," said Chuck Nelson, a member of the Ohio Valley Environmental
Coalition.
"Perhaps this action will finally make DEP realize citizen
concerns about mountaintop removal are real. Maybe the fine will make Massey
stop breaking the law as a routine part of doing business. Now that the
federal EPA has smacked DEP for allowing Massey to flagrantly violate the
Clean Water Act, the EPA needs to stop the Army Corps of Engineers from
illegally issuing valley fill permits," Nelson said.
"Massey is now going to pay for their Clean Water Act violations and we are
glad the federal EPA is finally paying attention," said Earthjustice
attorney Steve Roady.
Thousands of miles of Appalachian streams have
been buried because the EPA and the Corps have failed to follow the Clean
Water Act, with 500,000 acres flattened.
CLEAN STREAM LIST AT RISK
Meanwhile, the future of a state clean stream list is uncertain.
Environmental Protection Secretary Stephanie Timmermeyer last Thursday strongly defended the protection of a small number of state streams, telling legislators that the feds are watching the state carefully, according to Ken Ward. Jr., a reporter for the Charleston Gazette.
Legislators are under the coal industries lobby hammer to reduce the number of state streams that are protected. Gov. Manchin ordered Timmermeyer to cut the list from DEP's preferred number of 309 streams to 156, wrote Ward.
Lawmakers are trying to diffuse continued opposition to providing strong protections for what they say is only 4 percent of West Virginia's waterways.
Timmermeyer schooled lawmakers last week on the complex layers of protections set up by the state's stream anti-degradation policy, a requirement of the federal Clean Water Act.
Opponents have said that the "Tier 2.5 list would curtail future development along streams, and unfairly rob residents of their private property rights."
Timmermeyer said none of those complaints are accurate.
She said development along protected streams might cost more for better pollution controls, but clean water itself can become an attractive tool for some kinds of businesses.
"It does not take away landowner rights," Timmermeyer said. "It does not prohibit farming or other land uses, and it does not prevent economic growth."
She said that spin has been widely spread around the state.
Timmermeyer explained that the biggest critics of the stream list â loggers and farmers â are exempt by law from the anti-degradation policy, as long as they follow voluntary best-management environmental practices.
The federal Clean Water Act requires states to adopt and enforce anti-degradation policies to keep streams from being made dirtier.
State officials have been working on a policy for years, but a final decision has been delayed because of industry complaints.
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