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Massey Ordered to Clean Up Their Act in Appalachia

Case Updates:

January 17, 2008

In an agreement announced on January 17, 2008, Massey Energy will pay $20 million in fines levied against them by the U.S. EPA for thousands of Clean Water Act permit violations associated with their mountaintop removal coal mining operations.  The agreement comes after the federal government found that Massey illegally dumped coal slurry waste, rubble, wastewater and other pollutants into Appalachian waterways. A coalition of environmental groups including the Sierra Club sought to intervene in the case, one of the largest Clean Water Act violations cases in the history of the law.

In addition to paying the fine Massey will have to take a number of measures aimed at preventing future violations including hiring independent monitoring consultants, devising a tracking system for future reporting of pollutant discharges, abiding by extensive monitoring requirements, internal audits of treatment systems when sampling discharges, and additional testing and reporting obligations.

"This settlement is a good first step, but to truly protect the people and environment of Appalachia we need to change the way we think about energy," said Alice McKeown with the Sierra Club’s National Coal Campaign. "We need to make sure that coal is mined responsibly, burned cleanly and does not contribute to global warming."

Details and Documents:

Massey Energy to Pay Record Pollution Fine
January 18, 2008 by Andy Mead and Bill Estep, Lexington Herald Leader

 Coal Producer Pays $20M Pollution Fine
January 17, 2008 by H. Josef Hebert , Associated Press