CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The collapse of a Kentucky coal impoundment into an underground mine has prompted a federal agency to call for an evaluation of similar structures throughout Appalachia.

        “The ultimate goal is to access all sites that are over or adjacent to underground workings and do a risk assessment as to what, if any, future remediation work needs to be done,” Al Klein, director of the U.S. Office of Surface Mining's Appalachian region, said Friday.

        Preliminary information shows there are 60 similar impoundments in Kentucky, 97 in West Virginia and 15 in Virginia. Numbers for Pennsylvania, Ohio and Tennessee were not available.

        The Oct. 11 collapse of the Martin County Coal Corp.'s 72-acre pond sent 250 million gallons of thick, black sludge into two Kentucky tributaries that feed the Tug Fork and Big Sandy rivers, which divide Kentucky and West Virginia.

        The West Virginia Division of Environmental Protection announced Friday it had cited Martin County Coal for eight separate violations of the state's water quality law. The violations were issued on Oct. 26. Each violation carries a penalty of up to $10,000 a day.

        “Martin County Coal will re spond to legal matters at the appropriate time,” said Bill Marcum, a spokesman for A.T. Massey Coal Co., which owns Martin County Coal.

        Martin County is still mining coal, but has stopped using its preparation plant.

        Coal companies build slurry ponds to handle wastes from coal preparation plants. About 40 percent of mined coal is waste.

        About 350 workers are working to clean up the sludge that is coating the river banks. Efforts are being made to reduce the flow of water into Wolf and Coldwater creeks so the sludge in both streams can be hardened and trucked away.

        The federal review will concen trate in the mountainous, steep-slope mining regions of Kentucky, Virginia and West Virginia, Mr. Klein said.

        “Anytime you are in steep slopes, there's more risk for the underground workings to discharge,” Mr. Klein said. “We're going to do the entire Appalachian region, but we're currently assessing where there are higher risks.”

        No one was injured in the release, but it temporarily interrupted water service to thousands of residents who depend on the Tug Fork and Big Sandy.

        How the spill will affect aquatic life in the streams has yet to be determined.

        “Right now it's a complete kill,” said Fred Stroud, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's on-scene coordinator. “I guess the whole idea is to determine how badly it was impacted.

        “It will come back, but we need to enhance that return to normal,” he said.

        The spill has become a political issue in West Virginia's gubernatorial election.

        On Friday, Mountain Party candidate Denise Giardina called for a 90-day moratorium on the construction or expansion of slurry ponds in West Virginia.

        “It's not enough to say 'well, we're going to study the problem.' A five-year-old can study the problem and realize there's a problem,” Ms. Giardina said during a news conference outside Massey's Charleston office.

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