Environment & Energy

xchrom

(108,903 posts) Fri Dec 7, 2012, 09:57 AM Dec 2012

critic questions way coal firms build slurry ponds

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_SLURRY_POND_ACCIDENT?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2012-12-07-08-48-58

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (AP) -- With a driver and his bulldozer missing in a thick, dark lake of coal slurry, a mine safety expert and critic of the coal industry says regulators are ignoring stricter construction standards that could prevent more failures at hundreds of similar dam-like structures around the country.

For at least a decade, state and federal regulators have allowed coal companies to build or expand the massive ponds of gray liquid and silt atop loose and wet coal waste, said Jack Spadaro, an engineering consultant and former director of the National Mine Health and Safety Academy.

"They're building on top of the existing slurry, and therein lies the problem," Spadaro said. "It's wet and it has no stability. It's creating hazards for all of us downstream."

In all, there are 596 coal slurry impoundments in 21 states. West Virginia has 114, more than any other state, according to the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration. Kentucky has 104, while Illinois is third with 71.