Coal ash, slurry, waste, refuse, gob – in all its various forms, one thing is certain – huge amounts of the inorganic material is being deposited in the crevices of West Virginia’s wild and wonderful wilderness.

There is a difference from the coal ash that spilled over those hundreds of acres in Tennessee this past December and the coal slurry held in the 11 impoundments in Boone County, says Davitt McAteer, director of Coal Impoundment Location and Information System.

“Coal slurry is what is left after the impurities are washed off the coal to make it marketable,” he says, whereas coal ash is the leftover material found after the coal is used at a coal-fired power plant or facility.

“Neither is good for you; you’re not talking organic material. It’s like the ashes in your fireplace – it has heavy metals, arsenic, selenium and other toxins,” McAteer said.

McAteer oversees the Coal Impoundment Location and Information System. Introduced by Sen. Robert C. Byrd, the Coal Impoundment LIS has emerged as a resource to identify coal impoundments in West Virginia, to alert residents of emergency situations and related evacuation plans, to improve safety, and the latest information on legal actions and alternatives for impounding coal waste.

According to Coal Impoundment LIS, coal impoundments serve a basic need to the coal-mining industry: to store water and waste created during the mining process. Inherent in their existence, though, are risks, including potential breaks that can jeopardize citizens, wildlife, and the environment.

The purpose of Coal Impoundment LIS is to help solve this problem by working with government agencies, companies and citizens’ groups to accurately identify each spill and its cause.

“During the process of mining and cleaning coal, waste is created and must be permanently disposed of in an impoundment. Preparation of coal, also called washing, is how non-combustible materials are removed from the mine. As the coal is washed, waste is created and classified as either course refuse or fine refuse.

“Larger materials such as rocks and pieces of coal are defined as course refuse. Slurry, a combination of silt, dust, water, bits of coal and clay particles is considered fine refuse, and is the most commonly disposed of material held in an impoundment. Between 20 to 50 percent of the material received at a coal preparation plant may be rejected and housed in impoundments, according to the National Research Council.

“The coarse refuse is used to construct the impoundment dam, which then holds the fine refuse or slurry, along with any chemicals used to wash and treat the coal at the coal preparation plant,” states the organization’s web site.

“After the Massey facility collapsed in Kentucky in 2000, there was an acknowledgement that the public’s need to know about these facilities were not being met,” McAteer told the Coal Valley News.

McAteer says he sees the role of Coal Impoundment LIS to inform the public of the realities of coal slurries. “So, if you’re living downhill from one of these facilities, you can then call the agency or company responsible if you are concerned,” he said.

“A great deal of the suspicion and concern is legitimate because people don’t get information,” he said.

In addition to public meetings in the communities where coal slurry impoundments are located, the organization holds mock scenarios and exercises on an ongoing basis. “We have one almost every four months in different locations. The coal companies like it because they can interact with emergency personnel in the area,” he said.

“Most companies are very responsible and conscientious of their responsibilities,” he said, further noting that release or failures have- and do- occur.

“They may not be total failures, but partial failures,” he said, noting that it is important for inspectors to assess the facilities for fractures and swirling motion.

“If the substance is swirling, then it indicates that there might be a break at the bottom of the impoundment,” he said, noting that impoundments have been known to rupture and flood areas even when there was no elevated rainfall.

“Some of it is radioactive; this occurs naturally [and] the wet fill is the worst and most difficult model to work with,” he shared.

McAteer said he would like to see a way to dry fill the impoundments, but then goes on to say that is a “double edged sword.”

“We burn it up and it pollutes the atmosphere. It’s a double edged sword,” he said.

Two questions McAteer would pose are, “ ‘What can we use the slurry for?’ And ‘How do we reduce the creation of it?’ ”

“We’re looking at our operation to see what we can do and focusing on getting information and letting people know what is there,” McAteer said.

For more information about the Coal Impoundment Location and Information System, contact them at 1-800-678-6882.