Arch Coal will pay a $4 million fine for clean water violations at four of its mining operations in three different states. The US Justice Department has charged the company with releasing too much iron, manganese, suspended solids and other pollutants into streams in Virginia, West Virginia and Kentucky.
Cynthia Giles, an assistant administrator at the Environmental Protection Agency said that the violations at mining operations can have significant environmental and public health consequences, including the pollution of the waters that people use for drinking, swimming and fishing.
According to a civil complaint filed in court, Arch Coal violated pollutant-discharge limitations about 808 times between 2003 and 2010. Arch Coal is the second largest US coal supplier and it has said that it will take steps to prevent about 2 million pounds of pollution from entering the waterways. It will also use a treatment system to reduce releases of selenium into the streams.
U.S. Assistant Attorney General Ignacia Moreno said in a statement that these changes will mean a healthier environment for local communities and will help ensure Arch Coal's compliance with the Clean Water Act.
Paul Lang the Senior Vice President of Operations at Arch Coal said that they were committed to acting as strong and responsible stewards of the environment, and that they take every compliance issue seriously. They regret these exceedances and have taken aggressive steps to ensure that they will not be repeated in the future. He added that Arch Coal had a compliance rate of 99.9% at the time.