ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, October 31, 1996 TAG: 9610310043
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C5 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: GREG EDWARDS STAFF WRITER
MEMO: shorter version ran in the Metro edition.
State officials are worried the spill could hurt the endangered mussel beds and two species of fish in the Powell River.
State and federal officials met with owners of a Lee County coal-washing plant Wednesday to discuss environmental damage from a spill last week at the plant's waste water pond.
A spokesman for Arch Mineral Corp. of St. Louis, the plant's parent company, said it takes full responsibility and will do what's needed to clean the spill.
The Virginia Division of Mined Land Reclamation halted the dumping of coal slurry into the pond after the spill and has asked the owners to clean up the mess in the creek, said Les Vincent, the agency's acting director. Officials are watching for signs of ill effects on federally protected river mussels and fish downstream.
The spill occurred Oct. 24 at a coal plant operated by Lone Mountain Processing Co. The plant is at the head of a hollow above the town of St. Charles. Lone Mountain is a subsidiary of Cantenary Coal Holdings of Charleston, W.Va., which is owned by Arch Mineral.
A mixture of coal waste and water in the settling pond burst through the pond's side and flowed into old underground mine works, then into Gin Creek, a tributary of the North Fork of the Powell River, Vincent said.
The company spent two days stopping the water flow, Vincent said. The coal being processed at the plant, he said, was being hauled by conveyor from Kentucky through another old mine tunnel in Little Black Mountain.
Both the creek and the North Fork of the Powell were severely damaged, Vincent said. However, there was no evidence of fish being killed below the North Fork's merger with the Powell River, 11 miles downstream.
Mined Land Reclamation employees walked the creek for 2 1/4 miles below the spill and found the stream was "pretty well dead" with several inches of coal waste at the bottom of pools of calm water.
Vincent said that on the day of the spill his agency ordered Lone Mountain to stop dumping waste water into the pond. The company received notices Friday and Monday of violations of state mining laws for failing to identify the old mine works, he said.
The company also was ordered Monday to show cause within 15 days as to why the plant's operating permits should not be revoked.
Blair Gardner, a vice president and senior counsel for Arch Mineral, said the company has a good record and has won environmental awards. The spill is a matter of not only concern but embarrassment to Arch Mineral, he said.
Arch bought the Lee County plant in the early 1990s and has operated it for about four years, Gardner said. The company has had problems at the plant before that resulted in discharges. Until the latest spill, the company thought it had successfully dealt with those problems, he said.
At Wednesday's meeting, regulatory officials asked the company to provide a time-table today for the cleanup. The company also is to provide an analysis of the coal waste, an assessment of the damage to the stream bed and to clean the waste from the stream where feasible.
Vincent said the company would be asked to deal with possible long-term effects from the spill, including any impact on endangered mussel beds and two species of endangered fish in the Powell.
LENGTH: Medium: 64 linesby CNB