This article originally provided by wvanews.com/

June 20, 2001

Plant spill sends polluted water into Boone County stream, DEP says

Polluted water from Independence Coal Co.'s Liberty Preparation Plant, located along Robinson Creek near Uneeda, spilled into Pond Fork Tuesday morning, the DEP said. Pond Fork connects with Robinson Creek.

Local residents reported the spill at about 10 a.m., and it was stopped by 2 p.m., said Joe Hager, an inspector supervisor with the DEP Office of Mining and Reclamation's Logan field office.

"There was a blackwater slug from the mouth of Robinson Creek nearly to Madison," Hager said. "It's probably 5 miles long."

DEP officials said a malfunctioning pump may have caused the spill.

Massey officials could not immediately be reached for comment.

The DEP plans to investigate, Hager said.

"They have had water quality problems in the past," Hager said of Massey mining operations.

Last September, the federal Environmental Protection Agency settled pollution cases against Massey subsidiaries Elk Run Coal Co., Goals Coal and Catenary Coal Co. The cases alleged Massey illegally spilled blackwater from its mining operations into nearby streams.

And last October, a Massey mine in eastern Kentucky was the source of a 250 million gallon coal mine waste spill that fouled 60 miles of streams in Kentucky and West Virginia. Environmental regulators say the Martin County Coal Co. slurry spill occurred when the bottom of a coal refuse pond collapsed into an abandoned mine below, then spilled out into two streams that feed into the Big Sandy and Ohio rivers.