ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, October 29, 1996 TAG: 9610290104
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DAVID M. POOLE
A blowout of a retention pond at a Lee County coal processing plant last week caused a "total kill" of fish and other aquatic life along 17 miles of streams, including 11 miles of the north fork of the Powell River, state officials said Monday.
A thick slurry from the Lone Mountain Processing Co. poured into the streams at a rate of 3,000 gallons per minute, said Chuck Epps, a spokesman for the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality.
"The consequences were pretty severe," Epps said. "Our folks say it was a total kill of stream life for about 17 miles downstream. I've never heard that expression before." The coal slurry had spread 40 miles downstream by late Monday, but was no threat to municipal water supplies in Lee County, Epps said.
State and federal mine officials in charge of the investigation could not be reached for comment late Monday.
A Kingsport newspaper reported last week that the same retention pond failed in August, and the federal mine officials had issued a closure order until corrections were made. The status of the closure order was unclear Monday. Lone Mountain officials could not be reached for comment.
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