Washington (Platts)--15May2007

With a 300-plus page lawsuit and multiple complaints filed in US District
Court, the US Environmental Protection Agency and the US Department of Justice
are charging Massey Energy and a number of its subsidiaries with thousands of
water pollution violations allegedly committed over the past six years.

Massey and its companies, one of the complaints alleges, "have an extensive
history of violating the Clean Water Act, and despite several prior
enforcement actions, including two criminal plea agreements, settlement of
suspension and debarment matters, civil actions by the state of West Virginia
and the commonwealth of Kentucky, and private suits by citizens in West
Virginia and Kentucky, Massey Energy and its subsidiaries continue to violate
the CWA."

The EPA filed the complaints in the US District Court for the Southern
District of West Virginia in Charleston on May 10.

The complaint charges that the company and 27 of its subsidiaries committed
numerous violations of the Clean Water Act, including exceeding limits under
their permits, EPA spokeswoman Roxanne Smith told Platts in a Monday e-mail.
"Over the last two and half years, EPA has been investigating this matter and
negotiating with the company in an attempt to resolve the violations."

"Massey Energy has been, and continues to be, respectful of the environment in
which we operate," Massey President and CEO Don Blankenship said in a Monday
statement. "We go to great lengths to ensure compliance with all federal and
state regulations. Massey Energy submits to the states in which it operates
several thousand water samples every year from across its operations. For the
permits in question, the company believes it achieved a compliance rate of 99%
or better."

West Virginia, Kentucky violations noted 

But the suit alleges that Massey companies submitted discharge monitoring
reports to West Virginia and Kentucky authorities from January 2000 through
March 2006 that violated the CWA "by discharging pollutants in excess of their
average monthly or maximum daily permit limits approximately 4,100 times,
resulting in approximately 60,534 days of violation. Independent samples taken
by West Virginia inspectors document 534 exceedances of permit limits by
Massey Energy subsidiaries" during that period.

In addition, the subsidiaries received 1,943 notices of violation under the
Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act during this period, the suit
alleges. "At least 255 of these NOVs show violations of the CWA, including 221
that document additional [National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System]
permits limit violations."

-- Steve Hooks, steve_hooks@platts.com