CHARLESTON -- On Tuesday, Massey Energy was informed that the West Virginia Surface Mine Board has issued a ruling allowing the construction of an additional coal silo at its Goals Coal Company facility.

The West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection had previously denied Goals’ permit application to build the silo, according to a release from the company.

“We are pleased with the ruling and view the proposed silo as another step in our efforts to improve environmental performance at the site,” said Massey Energy CEO Don Blankenship in the release. “It is very unfortunate that the project was unnecessarily delayed.”

The silo should serve as the latest environmental improvement at the Goals facility, which is near Marsh Fork Elementary School, the release said.

The silo will allow Goals to encapsulate coal that is currently stored on the ground in open-air stockpiles. A similar silo already exists at the site and recent independent tests by the United States Environmental Protection Agency demonstrated that trains were loaded from the silo without any increase in dust emissions, the release said.