Pike residents protest at TECO coal company

TECO Coal is among the state's worst offenders in its abuse of the land and the people who live near its operations. Residents of Island Creek in the Grapevine area of Pike County have tried all the proper channels to get TECO to keep their road safe and open, to control the dust from their operations, to prevent and clean up mudslides onto the county road or into residents' property, to control toxic runoff, and to just treat people with respect and be a good neighbor. TECO appears to have no interest in doing any of this. Coalfield residents in other parts of eastern Kentucky have had similar experiences with TECO.

Pike residents protest at coal company
TECO mines are danger, they say

By Alan Maimon
amaimon@courier-journal.com
The Courier-Journal (out of Louisville, KY)

CORBIN, Ky. -- Claiming that coal mining is destroying areas near their homes, about 50 Pike County residents and environmentalists protested yesterday outside the offices of TECO Coal.

Residents of Island Creek waved signs, chanted slogans and gave speeches accusing TECO's mines of causing flooding, dust problems, and damage to roads and streams.

Environmentalists traveled from Tennessee and West Virginia to participate. The citizen group

Kentuckians For The Commonwealth organized the demonstration.

Paul Matney, personnel director for TECO, which employs 1,500 people in Eastern Kentucky, declined to comment on the hourlong protest.

"I really don't know what their concerns are," Matney said.

Doug Justice, 64, a retired miner, said strip mining causes rock slides and mudslides after nearly every rainfall.

Justice said boulders often cascade onto the road in front of his house, forcing him to clear a path for traffic.

The Kentucky Cabinet for Environmental and Public Protection has cited TECO three times since September for violations at its Pike County site in Grapevine, including debris flying outside the area covered by the mine's permit.

Mark York, a cabinet spokesman, said state regulators are investigating whether TECO has shown a "pattern of violation," which could lead to the state revoking the mine's permit.

Matney declined to discuss the violations.

Laura Plumb, a spokeswoman for the company's parent corporation, TECO Energy, defended the firm's mining practices.

"Anytime there is a problem, we correct it immediately," she said.

Plumb said TECO has received several environmental awards.

Brenda Urias, 50, an Island Creek resident who attended yesterday's demonstration, said TECO hasnot fixed most of its problems.

"The blasting shakes our houses and knocks pictures off the wall," Urias said. "And discharge from the deep mines has ruined our water."Her daughter-in-law, Erica Urias, said residents want TECO to address other problems as well,including high-voltage power lines on the ground a few feet from county roads.

"They need to meet with the community," Erica Urias said. "They havenot been a good corporate citizen."

Regulators Fine, Scrutinize TECO Coal

The Tampa Tribune (Florida)
By WILL RODGERS wjrodgers@tampatrib.com
Published: May 21, 2005

TECO Coal Corp., a subsidiary of Tampa-based TECO Energy Inc., faces at least two small fines and a broader but more serious review by regulators of a series of violations at a Kentucky strip-mining operation. Kentucky mining regulators have issued TECO Coal three citations since September for violating permits at its Clinton Elkhorn Mining Co. operation near Phyllis, Ky., which is in Pike County on the eastern edge of the state.

The three violations in six months triggered a larger review called a ``study of a pattern of violation'' to see whether something is wrong in TECO Coal's mining process, Mark York, a spokesman for the Kentucky Department of Natural Resources, said Friday.

Regulators said the company allowed rocks, soil and other materials to slide down the mountain, outside of the area it is permitted to work in; did not control sediment from the mine, allowing it to run across a road; and failed to keep sediment out of water coming from the mine.

``When we have several [violations] in rapid succession, it does rise to a pattern of violation review,'' said Larry Adams, acting director of Kentucky's division of mine permits.

For the rock slide and sediment, TECO Coal has been fined a total of $2,900. No fine has been assessed for the remaining violation, Adams said.

Paul Matney, TECO Coal's director of personnel in Corbin, Ky., who also has acted as the company's spokesman, could not be reached for comment Friday.

``It appears that all of the incidents were small in nature,'' said Keith Smith, assistant director of Kentucky's division of mining, reclamation and enforcement. ``But I wouldn't call them routine. No violation should be considered routine. ... They were still violations.''

During the larger review, TECO Coal officials will have to explain why the violations happened and what the company will do to prevent incidents in the future.

If regulators find the company's response unsatisfactory, the matter would go to a hearing, where TECO Coal would have to prove why its mining permits should not be suspended or revoked, said Paul Rothman, acting director of the division of mining, reclamation and enforcement.

Angered by the violations, about 50 residents near the Clinton Elkhorn Mining operation and environmentalists from other states marched Thursday at TECO Coal's regional headquarters in Corbin, several news reports said.

Out of more than 1,900 mining permits issued statewide, just about two or three pattern of violation cases go to hearing each year, regulators said. Typically, companies pay the fines and correct their operations before a hearing is necessary.

Ross Bannister, a TECO Energy spokesman in Tampa, said Thursday's rally was part of a protest, known as Mountain Justice Summer, by environmentalists against the entire mining industry.

Reporter Will Rodgers can be reached at (813) 259-7870.

Mountain Justice Summer stands in solidarity with Kentuckians For The Commonwealth & impacted community members.

This is a struggle that cuts across state lines as the Appalachian mountains are carved up for corporate profits. Protestors of TECO's abuse of the local communities and environment came from Kentucky, Tennessee, and Virginia.

Click here to see more actions.