DEP OFFERS NEW VALLEY FILL RULE - Logging And Mining Contributed To Floods, Coal Industry Not Happy

(01/05/2003)

After a year of study, a DEP committee has determined that logging and mining operations contributed to heavy flooding in 2001 and 2002 in southern West Virginia.. State mining regulators say they'll revise a proposed regulation governing how valley fills are to be built. Department of Environmental Protection officials disclosed the revised regulation last week during a flood advisory committee meeting. It has recommended requiring that mining companies build fills from the bottom up instead of the top down, with bottom-up fills resulting in less erosion. The new regulation includes an alternative construction method called an Erosion Protection Zone. Coal companies would still have to build the base of the fill first but could dump the rest from the top with a flat area catching eroded material. Coal companies contend bottom-up fills would be too dangerous and costly. West Virginia Coal Association President Bill Raney said the industry would like more options.

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