Environmental groups allege another coal firm misrepresented water-quality monitoring data

A Kentucky coal company has submitted seemingly fraudulent water-pollution monitoring data to state regulators, says a group of environmentalists who have been examining public records. "Five environmental groups on Wednesday alleged that 12,000 violations of Clean Water Act reporting requirements occurred at 15 Nally & Hamilton Enterprises Inc. mining operations in seven Eastern Kentucky counties," James Bruggers of The Courier-Journal reports. Aaron Colangelo, a senior attorney for the Natural Resources Defense Council, one of the five groups, told Bruggers "Over and over in its monitoring reports, Nally & Hamilton simply repeated the results from one month to the next. These cut-and-paste reports are obviously false."

"The same environmental groups previously submitted findings that resulted in the Kentucky Energy and Environment Cabinet last year issuing $660,000 in fines against two other coal-mining companies," Bruggers writes. The new allegations concern active strip mines and reclamation sites in Letcher, Perry, Leslie, Harlan, Knott, Bell and Knox counties. Nally & Hamilton representatives did not respond to the Courier-Journal's request for comment Wednesday. In addition to the NRDC, environmental groups Appalachian Voices, Kentuckians for the Commonwealth, Kentucky Riverkeeper and the Waterkeepers Alliance joined in the allegations. The groups say they have "taken the first step toward filing a lawsuit under the Clean Water Act by putting the company on notice and giving it 60 days to respond," Bruggers writes. (Read more)