TECO notified about illegal valley fills

KFTC and the Sierra Club have sent notice to TECO Coal Company of their intent to sue the company for creating two large valley fills without a permit.

The letter, sent on Tuesday, accuses TECO subsidiary Clintwood Elkhorn Mining of violating the Clean Water Act by dumping its mining waste into Pike County streams and allowing it to remain there. The violation is near Fishtrap Lake.

A “Section 404” permit from the U.S. Corps of Engineers is required before a company may fill a stream. Clintwood Elkhorn has applied for this permit but it has not been granted.

“Clintwood Elkhorn's filling of the streams at issue in this letter before the Corps has considered the permit application betrays a reckless disregard for the rule of law,” the letter states.

“It's a slap in the face to the community members and to the enforcement departments,” said KFTC member Rully Urias, who lives near Fishtrap Lake. “It shows their total disregard of the laws in place to protect the environment and the people. And maybe they'll get a slap on the wrist for it."

Urias and Sierra Club organizer John Cleveland visited the site on May 22 and saw two valley fills and two ponds that were not approved on any permit. A followup conversation with Corps officials in their Sassafras, Kentucky office revealed that they were aware of this violation because Clintwood Elkhorn had self-reported it, but the agency has not acted.

“You can't do two valleys fills and say I didn't know. They knew what they were doing. It's definitely not a mistake,” said Urias. “I knew they did stuff like this, I just didn't think they'd be so bold about it. How often does it happen if they have a protocol for when it does happen?”