Published: May 07, 2009 07:43 am      

Mountaintop mining settlements in Ky., Tenn.

LOUISVILLE — A coal company has agreed to pay $250,000 to restore an eastern Kentucky watershed altered by a controversial mining practice known as mountaintop removal.

The Sierra Club and the environmental group Kentuckians for the Commonwealth sued Clintwood Elkhorn Mining in federal court in September, alleging the company illegally dumped mining waste into a stream valley in Pike County. The company acknowledged dumping the fill material without a Clean Water Act permit.

Clintwood's parent company, TECO Energy of Tampa, Fla., said in a statement Wednesday that the matter was "amicably resolved."

The Sierra Club also announced an agreement Wednesday with Appolo Fuels Inc. over stream dumping at a mining site in northwest Tennessee. The Middlesboro, Ky.-based company has agreed to pay $120,000 for land protection in Claiborne County.

Appolo President Rick Asher did not return a call Wednesday seeking comment.

In both cases, the dumping came as a result of mountaintop removal, a practice fiercely opposed by environmentalists, who say it harms waterways and pollutes streams. The procedure involves blasting rock to access coal seams and dumping the excess material in valleys.

"These successful legal actions against Appolo and TECO are part of a larger effort to stop illegal mining throughout Appalachia," said Aaron Isherwood, a staff attorney with the Sierra Club in San Francisco. Isherwood said the U.S. needs a more open federal permitting process to stop future illegal mining.

The Obama administration announced last month it is taking steps to reverse a last-minute rule enacted under former President Bush that allows mountaintop mining waste to be dumped near streams.

In the Kentucky case, TECO agreed to pay $250,000 to the nonprofit Kentucky Fish and Wildlife Foundation for stream restoration in the Levisa Ford watershed. TECO had acknowledged the dumping last year, calling it an "isolated incident." The environmental groups agreed to drop their federal lawsuit as part of the settlement.

Two Tennessee groups, Save Our Cumberland Mountains and the Tennessee Clean Water Network along with the Sierra Club, notified Appolo in June of their intention to file a federal suit over dumping at its Jellico Mine site in Claiborne County, near the Kentucky border. No suit was filed.

Appolo agreed to pay $120,000 to the Tennessee Parks and Greenway Foundation. As part of the agreement signed Monday, Appolo admitted no liability for the incident.



Copyright 2009 The Associated Press.