Abandoned Mine Problems at Williams Residence - Action Needed

Water draining from an old abandoned deep mine caused a blowout and continues to put my family's lives in danger. I have I have many sleepless nights and stress because I'm afraid of more landslides will come and take our home off the hill. We also have a lot of damage to our home and garage. The agency responsible for assistance in these types of situations is ignoring the facts. It's not right." - Debbie Crawford Williams

Since 1998, Debbie Crawford Williams and her family have experienced large amounts of water and landslides on their property in Perry County causing damage to their home and garage. Williams no longer has water in her well. Williams lives on old Highway 80, a state highway with an abundance of traffic to Hazard and Leslie County. She believes there is strong evidence that the problems are due to the presence of a long-abandoned mine behind her property.

"The physical evidence of a mine blowout at the Hazard 5A mine bench area is unquestionable. The landslide is in a super-saturated condition at this time, and a massive failure of the slope above the Williams residence could occur at any time." reported Jack Spadaro, a mine safety & health and environmental specialist with 38-year career in mining who has done an independent investigation of this site.

A hearing officer for the Kentucky Environmental and Public Protection Cabinet, however, cited water samples and an absence of mining maps as reasons to deny her request to fix the problem.

"There were numerous water samples that have high levels of sulfates and conductivity, which would indicate that it's an abandoned mine problem. The majority of the water samples indicate that a mine contributed to this. They are totally ignoring their own data that indicates that this could be a mine-related problem." Spadaro said.

"When I talked with David Bradshaw [one of the AML inspectors] about when he collected samples, it was always within a day or two of rain. It raises some questions to me about how credible those results are and whether or not some of the water samples were influenced by rain. When they finally came out when it wasn't raining, the water samples had higher levels of sulfate and conductivity which inspectors stated is an indication of an abandoned mine problem," Williams noted.

One of the federal inspectors, John Chedester, wrote a report indicating that her problem was due to an abandoned mine from 1940 to 1960. However this report was apparently not filed and ignored. Despite being presented a copy of his report during a hearing, Chedester denied writing the report.

Federal mine inspector Jim Holiday stated during the administrative hearing that a thorough investigation had not been done. Holiday also testified that if he had seen test results from water samples taken on Williams' property before writing his report, he would have concluded that the problem was the result of an abandoned mine.

Officials say there's no indication of previous mining. However, potentially relevant maps were burned in a fire at the Hazard office of the Department of Mines and Minerals in the 1960s.

Residents have a map from 1965 with a mine opening that was done in the same mountain behind their home. David Bradshaw [one of the state AML inspectors] obtained the map yet never submitted this map for his official investigation. Also, Atlas Mining Superintendent Lawrence Vanover said that crews encountered evidence of an abandoned mine while working near the area in the 1980s. Furthermore, Wesley Dean Sizemore, Environmental Control Supervisor, Environmental and Public Protection Cabinet obtained information from area residents regarding underground coal mining activities in the Hazard 5A coal seam during the late 1940s. Mr. Sizemore obtained additional information indicating that subsequent mining operations in the 1970s encountered old underground mine workings in the Hazard 5A coal seam immediately in the vicinity of the mine blowout area.

Spadaro's report concludes that, "a thorough and complete geotechnical investigation, involving drilling into the abandoned underground mine workings at the Hazard 5A elevation should have been undertaken. Additional drilling and sampling in the colluvial soils upslope of the Williams residence should also have been done."

"The whole thing is very upsetting. AML's actions are putting people's lives in danger and their homes that they've worked for. I'm not only just trying to address this problem for my benefit; I'm doing this for other people who are having similar problems and not getting adequate investigations and help from the Division of Abandoned Mine Lands and other mining agencies. There are numerous people, including the Fletchums in Christoper, who are in the same boat I am, and it's not right. We are tax-paying citizens and deserve to be treated with respect and should get equal access to the programs and funding available to address the problems caused by mining," Williams concluded.

The conclusion that her situation is related to an abandoned mine was made during the Fletcher administration. The new Governor Steve Beshear could overturn this decision. Debbie is now working with Constituent Services in the Governor's Office, Lt. Governor Daniel Mongiardo, and Senator Brandon Smith, but she will have to file an appeal with the Franklin Circuit Court if the decision is not overturned by the end of this week.