Massey Energy fine sets record ($20M)

[underpants]

Source: Richmond Times-Dispatch

Richmond-based firm to pay $20 million to settle pollution claims


Richmond's Massey Energy Co. set a record yesterday for a corporate water-polluter.

Massey Energy settled a lawsuit with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, agreeing to pay a $20 million civil penalty, the largest ever for a water-pollution case.

The nation's fourth-largest coal producer also agreed to invest about $10 million at mining operations in Kentucky, West Virginia and Virginia to ensure that the pollution never happens again, according to the U.S. Justice Department.

The Massey Energy case gives Virginia the dubious distinction of having a connection to the EPA's two top civil penalties involving wastewater permits.

The second-largest penalty is the $12.4 million ($15.9 million in today's dollars) that a federal judge imposed on Smithfield Foods in 1997 for polluting a tributary of the James River in Isle of Wight County.



Read more: http://www.inrich.com/cva/ric/news.apx.-content-articles-RTD-2008-01-18-0145.html

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BUT WAIT! there's spin!


However, by removing the uncertainty that had surrounded the lawsuit, the settlement is positive for the company, said Steven F. Marascia, a securities analyst with Anderson & Strudwick in Richmond. The cost of the settlement should be something that Massey Energy can absorb, he said.

The fine is much higher than the $5 million the company had initially estimated and had set aside, but lower than some analysts had predicted. The additional $15 million will be charged against Massey Energy's earnings in the fourth quarter of 2007 and will not be deductible for income-tax purposes, the company said.

ALSO


Martin spill by far the worst offense
http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/290119.html
In some places, the dark, syrupy sludge was 7 feet deep on bottom land along Martin County's Coldwater Creek.

The October 2000 coal slurry spill was the most notorious among many Clean Water Act violations that will cost Massey Energy Co. $20 million under an agreement with the federal government announced Thursday.

The U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration levied $110,000 in fines in 2003, but an administrative judge eventually cut that to $5,500. Martin County Coal Corp., a Massey subsidiary, also paid $3.25 million in penalties and damages to the state of Kentucky, $600,000 in a settlement with West Virginia, and $225,000 in a fine from the Kentucky Department for Fish and Wildlife Resources, which estimated that 2 million fish died.

The company spent more than $46 million cleaning up, and settled a lawsuit brought by a group of citizens who said the spill damaged their property. The settlement amount was not disclosed.