As coal companies point fingers, Wyoming County residents say they’re being poisoned by a contaminated creek

PINEVILLE — As they drive a truck hauling bottled water along the twists and turns of Route 16, Richard Altizer and James Christian point out the sights along Indian Creek.

There’s where slimy film continues to stick to foul-smelling water. There’s where people’s pets and livestock have died. And there’s the place where they gutted a deer to find its veins, heart and liver were neon yellow.

“These people are being poisoned,” Altizer said.

They see no end in sight. It’s been more than a year since the day when Christian and his wife found dirty mine water had burst from underground into their yard, flooding two feet high and seeping into the walls of their house. Christian and Altizer, who raced over from his home close by, had to drop to the ground and dig a path with their hands to direct the rancid water away from the home and into nearby Indian Creek.

But as a lawsuit over the incident drags on and coal companies direct blame at each other in Wyoming County’s circuit court, residents on well water say what comes out of their spigots is still black and pungent. They keep finding dead deer and fish. Some have lost the chickens they rely on for income, and spent money they don’t have to try to clean the water.

As the coal industry has inevitably declined, courts have allowed bankrupt coal companies to evade restoring the lands they’ve damaged. Groups that promote clean water have also warned that state officials were failing to plan ahead by conserving funds for abandoned mine cleanups.

In Wyoming County, the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection concluded that it was underground pressure from the flooded Pinnacle Mining Complex that had forced the water to gush from holes in the ground between rock and dirt at the Christians’ home.

Shortly after the flooding, the DEP ordered Pinn MC Wind Down Co., formerly known as Pinnacle Mining Company and a spin-off of a bankrupt company, to stop the flooding, but then, according to a DEP spokesperson, accepted the company’s plan to divert water into the creek. Earlier this month Circuit Judge Derek Swope ordered the company and two others operating in the area — Bluestone Resources, which acquired Pinnacle Mining Complex, and Alpha Metallurgical Resources — to secure and seal mine shafts to stop additional flooding. Another status hearing in the case is set for April 2.

DEP maintains it has taken all the necessary steps to force the owners of the Pinnacle Mining Complex to fix the problem, including filing the lawsuit and conducting water sampling. Agency spokesman Terry Fletcher said samples have shown the discharge from the mine is meeting applicable state and federal standards.

Fletcher also said that it isn’t DEP’s sole responsibility to ensure the community can heal and restore its financial losses, although he added that DEP does have some funds local officials can use for water improvement projects.

“The agency does not have the capacity or authority to diagnose or determine the cause of potential human health problems, drinking water issues, or dead and diseased wildlife,” he said.

But for people who live near Indian Creek, the slimy film and a bubbly foam are still clearly visible in the creek water and neither the ongoing water sampling nor DEP’s enforcement actions provide much comfort.

“They’re supposed to protect us,” Altizer said. “And they didn’t.”

What’s lost when companies fight to win

Court records show that the DEP’s lawsuit has been stalled by disagreement among coal companies about who is responsible.

After the DEP sued Pinn MC Wind Down Co., that company turned around and sued Bluestone Resources, which is owned by the family of Gov. Jim Justice. Formerly known as Pinnacle Company, Pinn MC argued that when it went bankrupt, Bluestone purchased its assets. In a response , Bluestone acknowledged the purchase agreement, but denied the company is responsible for all violations resulting from that purchase.

Bluestone also countersued Pinn MC Wind Down Co. and pointed blame at that company. It also sued Alpha Metallurgical Resources, the coal operator adjacent to Pinnacle, saying Alpha owns the mining rights to the mine seam discharging dirty water. Alpha denies that.

Lawyers and spokespersons for companies and the governor didn’t return emailed questions about the case. While lawyers for Jackson Kelly are listed as representing Pinn MC Wind Down Co., they didn’t respond to emailed questions and didn’t return a call seeking comment. An email address for the coal company’s representative bounced back.

So while the DEP continues water sampling and the coal companies take turns denying responsibility, residents say now, the contaminated water has spread to nearby creeks; Altizer estimates about 200 homes are in the affected region.

Indian Creek flows into the Guyandotte River, and eventually to the Ohio River.

In between passing out water to some of their neighbors along a several-mile stretch of road that winds along Indian Creek, Altizer and Christian stop at Pansy Keene’s house. Keene and her husband bought an expensive water filtration system to treat their well water. But despite the money they’ve spent, the system still turns out yellow water and Keene has to wash her clothes repeatedly.

“I can’t get the rust out of them,” she said.

Down the road at a small chicken farm, one woman, who was uncomfortable being named because her husband works in the mines, lost part of her livelihood: a hundred of her chickens drank the water and died last summer.

Just a few-minute drive away, Dakota Day’s water is slimy and dirty, too. When he runs his faucet in the morning, it comes out black.

“When you take a bath in it, it’s like you’re taking a bath in lotion,” he said.

His roosters died. So have the trout in the creek across the road, where he used to fish as a child.

His dogs were drinking out of the creek water before they wandered off and never returned.

“They had blood coming out of their mouths,” before they disappeared, his sister, Christina Day, said.

After passing out water to neighbors, James goes home to his wife, Tina Christian. She’s mostly bedridden these days and can still smell the sulfur-like odor coming from where the water pooled behind her home and in the ditch nearby. She struggles to breathe, regularly gets nauseous or tired and has leg sores that won’t heal.

She doesn’t leave the home anymore, even though it has black mold. And she doesn’t feel it’s safe for her nine grandkids to visit.

“We don’t want these kids sick,” her husband said.

They can’t afford to move.

“Before a year ago, I was healthy and so was he,” she said.

Has your community experienced water quality issues? Help us investigate. Send tips, photos or videos to tips@mountainstatespotlight.org or leave us a message at 304-506-8477.

As coal companies point fingers, Wyoming County residents say they’re being poisoned by a contaminated creek appeared first on Mountain State Spotlight , West Virginia's civic newsroom.