Day 3 of Clean Water Act case

More water pollution violations were revealed during Thursday's hearing in Franklin Circuit Court as citizens try to strengthen a deal between the state's Energy Cabinet and two coal companies guilty of thousands of violations of the Clean Water Act at their mines in eastern Kentucky.

It also was learned that the cabinet hired someone in 2003 "to establish a DMR review program." Yet years later, Appalachian Voices researchers found thousands of DMRs (discharge monitoring reports) that had never been reviewed by the cabinet and instead were literally sitting on desks collecting dust. When reviewed they revealed thousands of false reports and violations of discharge limits.

Attorneys for Appalachian Voices, Kentucky Riverkeeper, Waterkeeper Alliance and KFTC rested our case yesterday. The cabinet began their defense of an enforcement action they took against the companies late last year after the four groups made the false filings public. That action was inadequate to bring the companies into compliance, we contend, which is why we intervened in the case.

The cabinet will continue its defense this morning at 10:30. The companies will then get their chance to argue why they should get off with minimal fines. If not completed today, the hearing will continue on Tuesday.

Read more about yesterday's proceedings at:

• The Courier-Journal

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