INEZ, Ky. — The bulk of the coal sludge is gone. So are the pumps, bulldozers and trucks. The creek no longer oozes black goo, and deer no longer get stuck in its waters.

        But one year after the biggest environmental disaster in the Southeast, residents of Coldwater Creek are still bitter. The cosmetic improvements to their property mask damage that may never be corrected, they say.

Coal sludge can be seen this week along Coldwater Creek in Martin County, a year after a pond failed and sent the muck flowing along waterways and spilling onto property. (Gary Landers photos) | ZOOM |

        Federal mine officials still have not released their report on last October's massive coal-sludge spill, the largest black-water spill in the world, which smothered aquatic life along miles of streams.

        But an engineering report leaked to the media this week indicates Martin County Coal could have prevented the disaster.

        “They do what they want to do, and that's it,” said Shirley Cornette, whose house is closest to the company's mines. “Anything to get their coal out and stay in business.”

        On Oct. 11, 2000, a coal-slurry pond operated by Martin County Coal sprung a leak, sending 250 million gallons of coal, clay and water through underground mineworks. The slurry exited the mines and poured down Coldwater and Wolf creeks, then into the Tug Fork of the Big Sandy River.

        The largest slug dissipated before reaching the Ohio River, but the disaster forced cities along the Tug to temporarily shut down their water systems and arrange alternatives.

Monroe Cassady of Inez is unhappy that the sandy loam that covered his property is gone. A coal company cleanup left it a mass of hard clay and rock. | ZOOM |

        No one was killed and no homes were destroyed, but front yards were submerged in black water and coal sludge for a mile along Coldwater. Kentucky's governor declared a state of emergency. Martin County Coal, which was owned by a subsidiary of the Fluor Corp. until last November, began a months-long clean200 people have joined various lawsuits against the coal company, which still operates a surface mine at the top of Coldwater Creek.

        Shirley Cornette and her neighbors are represented by Martin County attorney John Kirk and by Jan Schlichtmann, the Boston lawyer made famous by the book and movie A Civil Action. Mrs. Cornette's husband, Glenn, just wants the company to make his land like it was.

        He was born and raised on 7 acres that have been in his family for more than 100 years. Before the spill, he grew corn, hay and a vegetable garden that yielded a 19-pound canteloupe, he said.

        Martin County Coal drained the water and scooped out the sludge that covered his property, but also removed the rich topsoil and replaced it with rocky dirt from the strip-mining site, Mr. Cornette said. Now only grass planted by the company will grow there.

        “It was a hard thing to do, sit here and see them tear it all to pieces, land that my dad had worked,” Mr. Cornette said.

        His next-door neighbor, Printis Tiller, has a letter from the county's health inspector stating that his soil is no longer suitable for draining treated sewage from his septic tank. And another resident, Delmer Moore, said he broke his tractor trying to plow the new ground.

        Martin County Coal referred all questions to Bill Marcum, spokesman for its parent company, Massey Energy Co.

        Last fall, Massey spun off from Fluor to become a publicly traded company.

        Mr. Marcum did not return several phone messages this week.

        In response to the lawsuits, Martin County Coal has called the spill an “act of God,” a legal term for a naturally occurring accident.

        That's an “astonishing” claim, said attorney Ned Pillersdorf, who represents some of the residents.

        The federally commissioned engineering report paints a different picture of the accident's cause.

        After the spill, the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration hired Triad Engineering Inc. of West Virginia to investigate the slurry pond.

        Triad found that in places, the coal barrier between the abandoned underground mines and the pond was only about 16 feet thick. That compared to the 70 feet the company had reported to state mining regulators in 1994. The thin barrier and pressure from the rising slurry in the pond led to the breakthrough, the report concluded.

        “These are things we've had grave concerns about for a very long time,” said Janet Fout of the Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition.

        In 1972, a dam operated by the Pittston Coal Co.broke under a condition similar to one described in Triad's report. The resulting flood — at Buffalo Creek — killed 125 people in Logan County, W.Va.

        Adding to the frustration for activists and residents has been the slow pace of the investigation by the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA).

        One year after the spill and six months after receiving Triad's findings, MSHA still has not released its report on the disaster. Spokesman Rodney Brown declined to comment on the delay.

        “The public, other coal companies and the whole industry should have this information sooner rather than later, because of the enormity of the calamities that have occurred and could occur in the future,” said Mr. Pillersdorf, the Prestonsburg attorney representing Coldwater residents.

        The calamity in Martin County has turned some people, including retired coal miners, into environmental activists.

        Coldwater resident Monroe Cassady formed the Big Sandy Environmental Coalition after the disaster. He purposefully didn't join any lawsuits so he could have open communication with the Environmental Protection Agency, which he's hoping will pay for a long-term water study.

        But at the same time, he and others are angry at government mine officials for what they perceive as weak enforcement of existing laws.

        “Our people want clean water. They don't want to get rid of coal mines, but they want it done right,” said Nina McCoy, a biology teacher at Martin County's high school.

        Kentucky officials have sought to reassure the public. After the Martin County disaster, a special inspection team began reviewing the 117 slurry ponds in Kentucky that contain at least 20 acre feet of material or are of significant elevation above a stream.

        So far, the team has reviewed state permit records and inspected 89 ponds, said Mark York, spokesman for the state's Natural Resources Cabinet.

        As a result, 12 companies have been cited for violations related to the ponds, but none involved life-threatening or imminently dangerous conditions, Mr. York said.

        For example, Straight Creek Coal Resources in Leslie County was ordered to stop putting material into its pond because the height of the dam and the storage pool had exceeded the permitted level, Mr. York said. The company was able to revise its permit and resume using the pond within three months.

        In addition to inspecting other ponds, the Natural Resources Cabinet and the EPA are working with Martin County Coal on a long-term plan for restoring wildlife along 90 miles of stream, Mr. York said. When the sludge hit the creeks, all aquatic life was wiped out, including fish, turtles and frogs. Rebuilding that population will take three to five years, Mr. York said.

        “We think the company has done a good job removing the material,” he said. “Nonetheless, there's been a lot of damage to the environment and wildlife habitat.”
       

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