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BUSINESS
West Virginia to require coal companies to monitor slurry
CHARLESTON -- The West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection will require coal companies that use underground injection to dispose of coal wastes to start monitoring for potential pollution problems, the agency's director told lawmakers Wednesday.
The DEP currently permits 13 coal slurry injection wells but doesn't require permit holders to monitor if the contaminants are moving off site through the groundwater.
Orders will be issued next month requiring the companies to modify those permits, DEP Secretary Randy Huffman told a water resources committee. The companies will have 90 days to submit plans to install the monitoring wells.
Huffman said monitoring is necessary because a DEP study on the possible harmful environmental effects of coal slurry injections was inconclusive. The agency doesn't "know if the potential contaminates in the mine pool is migrating through the coal seam and ending up off site," he said.
