INEZ, Ky. — Deanne Stein doesn't give up easily. So the reporter for WOWK-TV in Huntington, W.Va., wasn't deterred when a sentry refused to allow her through a roadblock to interview residents in an area hit by a spill of 250 million gallons of coal sludge. She had someone smuggle her in.

        In the weeks since the Oct. 11 spill, reporters have had to rely on residents or local police to escort them on Ky. 908 along Coldwater Creek and on a smaller county road along Wolf Creek.

        Greg Preece, a resident of the community, said he is concerned that Martin County Coal Corp. is trying to keep reporters out in an effort to hide the environmental damage caused by the spill.

        Security guards from the coal company — who relieved Martin County Rescue Squad workers at the roadblocks Monday — were turning away everyone who didn't live on the roads.

        “It does look suspicious,” Ms. Stein said Tuesday.

        Bob Aaron, a reporter for WCHS-TV in Charleston, W.Va., said he was driven to the affected area by a county official after first being turned away by security.

        “I shouldn't be placed in a position of having a private security guard determine whether I go down a public highway,” Mr. Aaron said.

        Bill Marcum, a spokesman for the company, said the decision was safety-related. It is dangerous for motorists to share the narrow two-lane road with the trucks and heavy equipment being used in the cleanup, he said.

        “All parties agreed there was a valid safety concern,” Mr. Marcum said.

        The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet issued an order limiting travel on the road shortly after Gov. Paul Patton declared an emergency because of the spill.

        Since then, Mr. Preece said, getting through the roadblock has been bothersome even for residents. He said he is questioned every time he drives home.

        Trooper Mike Goble, spokesman for the Kentucky State Police post in Pikeville, said the Transportation Cabinet's travel restrictions are to hinder sightseers and not to keep the media out.

        “It shouldn't hinder anyone who has legitimate business,” Trooper Goble said. “I've had several calls from the media or even citizens who have tried to visit someone and was turned away. That was not the intent or the purpose of that temporary roadblock.”

        After the spill, Trooper Goble said, lines of sightseers maneuvered along the winding road to see the damage.

        “It was an enormous amount of traffic on that dead-end road,” he said.

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