Unsafe roads: another of the True Costs of Coal

A state highway is getting cleaned up this week after a KFTC member got tired of waiting for the coal company to clean up its messes, and for any state mining official to force them to do so.

A portion of Route 7 in the Deane community in Letcher County was covered with muck last week, tracked onto the highway by coal trucks running from a strip mine to a nearby tipple.

The muck – a combination of mud from the mining operation combined with coal dust turned to sludge – was so bad in spots that the yellow center line could not been seen.

“I hit my brakes and it was like black ice,” said KFTC member Chris Yonts who lives in the area. “There was a good inch and a half packed on the road. I’d never seen mud that slick. I’m afraid someone is going to get hurt. I don’t see how they get away with it.”

Last week Yonts called the Kentucky Department of Transportation and was told that the agency could make sure coal trucks had tarps, but could do nothing about the mud.

Next he called the state police. They responded, and the next day Yonts noticed that vehicle enforcement officers had trucks pulled over on the side of the road. Some had been “red tagged” for not being safe for highway travel.

But that still did not address the condition of the highway.

Yonts also had been calling the district office of the Kentucky Department for Mine Reclamation and Enforcement (DMRE), without results.

On Friday of last week, KFTC followed up with a call to the Frankfort DMRE office. They said they would refer it to the district office.

Since Monday, state road equipment was out cleaning up the road. That has helped but not eliminated the problem since the coal trucks are still running.

Yonts said the problem has been getting worse for a year. “I was giving the coal companies a chance to get it cleaned.” But the company, which has scrubbers that do a poor job cleaning the road, stopped answering his calls. So he took other action.

Still, he is bothered that the company apparently is not being held responsible.

“Why is the state cleaning up the coal company’s mess? I don’t think it’s the taxpayers’ job to clean up what the coal company left,” Yonts said.

The company involved, Deane Mining LLC operates as a subsidiary of Rhino Energy, based in Lexington.