ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, November 30, 1996 TAG: 9612020050
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-5 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: PIKEVILLE, KY.
SOURCE: Associated Press
A coal spill that blackened miles of river in Western Virginia has killed hundreds of fish, but authorities Friday were hoping the poisonous mixture would spare a lake in Kentucky.
The fish kill was reported along the 28 miles of the Levisa Fork of the Big Sandy River from near Grundy, Va., to Fishtrap Lake near Pikeville, said Steve Wright, spokesman for the Army Corps of Engineers in Huntington, W.Va.
A sediment pond leak at the Buchanan No.1 Mine near Oakwood, Va., on Tuesday sent up to 1,000 gallons of noxious coal slurry per minute gushing into a tributary of the Levisa Fork for about 24 hours.
``They did some counts, and about 1,150 fish [are dead] in one mile. They're dying and floating downstream,'' Wright said.
``By the time it reaches Fishtrap, it will hopefully be fairly well diluted,'' he said. ``The Kentucky fishery folks had anticipated it would kill all the fish in the lake, and at this point we haven't seen them dying yet. At this point, we're not sure.''
Wright said the lake's level had been lowered for the winter when the spill occurred. The corps is trapping the sediment in the lake.
``We're looking at two things in the lake, the dilution factor of the acid and for the coal to settle to the bottom,'' he said.
Wright said there will be no effort to dredge out the coal because of the expense.
He said authorities will restock the fish in the lake. The coal on the bottom won't kill the new fish, he said.
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