COAL - Producer to Pay $200 Million Cleanup Fine

"Leading coal producer agrees to pay record fine to clean polluted waters across Appalachia" PBS Newshour 3/5/2014

Excerpt

GWEN IFILL (Newshour):  We return now to the EPA’s settlement today with one of the largest coal producers in the country over pollution in five Appalachian states.

Dina Cappiello, the national environment reporter for the Associated Press, joins us now.

Twenty-seven-and-a-half million dollars in fines, $200 million for the cleanup, in the range of penalty, how does this rank?

DINA CAPPIELLO, The Associated Press:  Well, it’s the biggest ever for a company that violated its water pollution permits.

So, obviously, other companies have paid big fines in the past.  In 2008, the EPA settled with Massey Energy, another coal company, for $20 million.  But this is the biggest ever for a company that violated permits it had from states.

GWEN IFILL:  Now, describe to us how widespread the pollution was.

DINA CAPPIELLO:  The numbers here are pretty staggering.

You’re talking over 6,000 violations, violations over 300 state-issued permits, hundreds of streams, tributaries and rivers, 79 active coal mines, 25 coal processing plants, where they put the coal and wash it before it’s shipped, over five Appalachian states.  So it’s a pretty massive coverage area for the settlement.