CHARLESTON (AP) — Two Alpha Natural Resources
subsidiaries are being sued by environmental groups who claim selenium
discharges at a surface mine and a coal slurry impoundment in southern
West Virginia have violated federal clean water and surface mining laws.
The
federal lawsuit claims discharges from Independence Coal's Crescent No.
2 Surface Mine in Boone County and from Marfork Coal's 7 billion-gallon
Brushy Fork impoundment in Raleigh County exceed state water quality
standards for selenium. The lawsuit also alleges that the discharges
violate the companies' discharge permits.
Federal and state
regulators have not taken any action since the plaintiffs notified them
of the alleged violations and the intent to sue on March 9, the lawsuit
said.
The Sierra Club, the Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition,
the West Virginia Highlands Conservancy and Coal River Mountain Watch
filed the lawsuit Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Huntington. The
groups' members have refrained from fishing, swimming and other
recreational activities or enjoy these activities less because of the
selenium discharges into tributaries of the Big Coal and Little Coal
rivers, the lawsuit said.
The groups also said in a news release
that many local residents are concerned about their ability to evacuate
if the Brushy Fork impoundment failed. The groups said such an event
would eclipse the 1972 Buffalo Creek dam collapse that killed 125
people.
"Brushy Fork has engendered fear and dread in citizens
seemingly forever," Jim Sconyers, chairman of the West Virginia Sierra
Club, said in the release. "This legal action will dispel at least one
component of that dread — the needless and unlawful pollution of streams
that are a key part of citizens' lives."
Ted Pile, a spokesman
for Virginia-based Alpha, said the company's operations are in
compliance with water quality standards. He also said regulators have
determined the Brushy Fork impoundment is safe and in compliance with
government standards.
"Also, insinuating that we routinely break
the law, with acquiescence of state regulators, is offensive and
unnecessarily provocative. We believe that the plaintiffs in this suit
should exercise greater restraint in their public claims," Pile said
Thursday in a statement.
Alpha requires its operations to follow
an environmental management program that is designed to ensure
discharges are within permit limits. In 2011, the water quality
compliance rate of Alpha's operations was 99.7 percent, he said.
Pile
also said the company plans to construct a treatment plant for selenium
at the Crescent mine and is investing in new treatment technologies.
The
lawsuit asks the court to order the companies to comply with their
permits and require them to remedy environmental damage. It also seeks
civil penalties of up to $37,500 per day for each alleged violation of
the federal Clean Water Act.
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