Leaking settlement pond at Raccoon Creek

This is the second in a series of blog posts about the systematic lack of enforcement by the Kentucky Division of Mine Reclamation and Enforcement (DMRE).  The stories were compiled by members of Kentuckians For The Commonwealth living on Raccoon Branch near Hueysville in Floyd County. These stories are not unique to this community, but they have done a very good job documenting the abuses of the coal company mining around them and the willingness of the state DMRE to turn a blind eye to these dangerous and destructive abuses.  These same stories are happening in countless hollers and communities throughout the coalfields of eastern Kentucky.  You can read the first story here.

Apparently the DMRE does not believe a leaking settlement pond holding thousands of gallons of mud and water poses a threat to the people living below the pond. When the coal company did not repair the leak within the one month time frame specified in the violation notice, the DMRE refused to force a shutdown of the mine until the dangerous pond could be repaired, keeping nearby residents endangered by the risk of flooding.

This all started when one of Rick Handshoe’s neighbors, who would rather not be named, discovered water seeping into his yard. He suspected the water was coming from a large Miller Brothers Coal Co. settlement pond perched above his home. Dye tracing tests later performed by the state DMRE office confirmed his suspicion.

Settlement ponds are large impoundments coal companies construct in streams below every valley fill. The purpose of these impoundments is to collect the water and mud running off of the mine site and the valley fill into a small pond.  The mud and dirt then settles at the bottom of the pond. The ponds have a drainpipe near the top of the impoundment to allow the water to run out of the pond. The impoundments almost always have a rock drainage ditch as a secondary spillway to prevent the ponds from filling up and breaching.

It appeared to the DMRE inspectors that the pond at the head of Raccoon Creek was leaking either at the base of the impoundment wall or from underneath the impoundment. On October 1st, 2007, a DMRE inspector issued a violation and ordered Miller Brothers Coal Co. to stop the impoundment from leaking. The inspector gave the coal company a month resolve the problem.

Around December 15th, Rick Handshoe called the DMRE office to ask why the pond was still leaking,  and since the leak had not been stopped, why had the Miller Brothers’ coal mine not been ordered to shut down until this dangerous problem had been fixed?

The response Rick got was that about two weeks earlier, still after the one month deadline imposed by the DMRE inspector, Miller Brothers had poured about 76 bags of some sealing compound into the pond to attempt to stop the leak. When Rick pointed out to the person at the Prestonsburg DMRE office that Miller Brothers efforts to stop the leaking was past the one month deadline cited by the inspector, the person on the other end of the phone said they didn’t think the leaking was dangerous.

The most recent news is that as of January 22nd, 2008, the settlement pond is still leaking, and Miller Brothers continues to mine coal. Rumor has it that Miller Brothers has been fined about $1,800, and Rick’s neighbor was told by Miller Brothers they were getting ready to walk in more sealing compound to fix the leaking pond.

Rick's neighbor took that to mean they were bringing in more bags on a truck or an excavator, but instead they had a few workers walking in bags by hand to pour into the leaking pond.

According to Rick, his neighbor is beginning to think neither Miller Brothers Coal Company nor the State DMRE are taking the threat of the leaking pond seriously.