Eastern Kentucky residents say strip miners worsened flood

For decades, people in Central Appalachia have said floods have been worsened by surface mining and inadequate reclamation. Now last month's record floods in Eastern Kentucky have prompted a lawsuit making that claim.

"Nearly 60 residents of the Lost Creek community in Breathitt County are suing coal mining companies which operate nearby, alleging the companies’ negligence contributed to the devastation of historic flooding last month that caused death and the destruction of homes and personal property," reports Taylor Six of the Lexington Herald-Leader.

"The residents are suing Blackhawk Mining and Pine Beach mining companies, alleging that the two companies knew they were sitting on “ticking time bombs” by failing to properly construct and maintain silt ponds, which are artificial bodies of water created through coal operations that collects pools of water, waste and sediment. An attorney representing the residents says debris, sediment and fish flowed out from the silt ponds and came onto their properties, according to the lawsuit."

Some of the people filing suit have mixed emotions because the coal industry provides jobs, Phil McCausland of NBC News reports: "Residents here said that they were raised, fed and clothed by the jobs created by coal mining but that they believed the companies operating the mines have acted irresponsibly and without regard for those who have called the area home for generations. Many of those displaced by the storm are living with family or neighbors, in travel trailers or in tents pitched on the cleared patches of dirt where their homes once stood."