Update 6/17/10:
The West Virginia DEP has issued an Imminent Harm Cessation Order and 3 Notices of Violations in response to the pond failure incident. Catenary Coal was cited for sediment control, downslope spoil disposal and operating off their permit for the EnviroFlocc tanks. The company has been ordered to restore the retention pond to full working capacity, repair off site damages to the stream and neighboring property, and remove the illegally placed tanks of flocculant. Fines have yet to be assessed.
This now makes 7 violations on the Kayford South Mine in the last 12 months, some for a similar incident to Gardner Branch. Further problems with downslope spoil disposal could make this mine a candidate for a Show Cause hearing.
Spill below valley fill on the Clear Fork of the Coal River, Raleigh County. Photo by Andrea Lai.
DOROTHY, W.Va.—A large volume of water gushed from the area of a retention pond at Caternary Coal’s Kayford South Surface Mine yesterday, leaving an approximately 40-foot-wide swath of rubble and mud and heavily sedimented water, down Gardner Branch past houses and into the Clear Fork of the Coal River. Through investigating the spill, citizens found a tube from a flocculent tank going into Gardner Branch below the failed retention pond.
