Coal Firm to Pay Record Penalty, Spend Millions on Cleanup in 5 States

"One of the nation’s biggest coal companies will pay a record civil penalty and will spend tens of millions of dollars to clean up water flowing from mines in five states, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Justice Department announced on Wednesday."

"The company, Alpha Natural Resources, and 66 of its subsidiaries including the former Massey Energy, will spend $200 million under a consent decree to reduce pollution from coal mines in Kentucky, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia. The company will also pay $27.5 million, the largest civil penalty ever for permit violations under the Clean Water Act, in connection with more than 6,000 such violations from 2006 to 2013.

Under the agreement, which involved both state and federal agencies, Alpha’s new equipment should prevent the discharge of about 36 million pounds of dissolved solids each year, including about nine million pounds of metals and other pollutants."

John Schwartz reports for the New York Times March 5, 2014.