Jan 21 - McClatchy-Tribune Regional News - Kathy Still Bristol Herald Courier, Va.

Tim Bailey knew what to expect four years ago when he hauled in a new doublewide mobile home less than a couple hundred feet from the scale house at the Moss No. 3 coal preparation plant.

The disabled former golf course worker knew coal dust would swirl as coal trucks haul in tons and tons of recently mined coal for sorting and cleaning at the Dickenson-Russell Coal Company's preparation plant, making the mineral ready for market.

He knew the bumps and bangs of coal trucks and the grinding, crunching sounds of bulldozers would fill the air from early morning until late at night.

He moved in anyway. He said he really had no other choice.

His wife's multiple sclerosis diagnosis sent the family from a two-story home they shared in nearby Cleveland for 15 years to the manufactured home with wider doorways and plenty of room to maneuver a wheelchair when his wife's health declined.

"Now, she has to take allergy shots three times a week," Bailey said. "The dust is one of the things she's allergic to."

It was simple economics that caused Bailey to set up the white-siding mobile home on the family home place on South Clinchfield Road. The land was free, and he would be near his mother's house and right next door to his son's growing family.

"I ain't but 50 yards from that place," he said of the Moss No. 3.

Bailey grew up near the prep plant. His father worked for Clinchfield Coal, the original owners of the plant that has been in operation for decades. He says he's no enemy of coal mining or related industries, and he knows the industry has fueled the region's economy for more than a hundred years.

"Some of my best friends are driving those trucks," he said, pointing toward Moss No. 3. "I know they have a job to do, and I don't want to mess it up for them."

But Bailey is tired of the coal dust.

He is tired of pressure-washing his house several times a year, even though the coal company, a subsidiary of the Abingdon-based Alpha Natural Resources, bought him the device after he complained about the thick coat of dust that seemed to be permanently attached to his home.

He got tired of the way his son's legs would turn a gray-black if he happened to be wearing shorts as he pushed a lawnmower through the dust-coated grass.

He noticed how dark the rinse water turned in a carpet cleaning machine when his mother cleaned her new carpet just a few months after it was installed. Her old wood-frame house is not as airtight as the doublewide, he said.

Battling dust is even more difficult for his mother, he said.

Bailey said his grandchildren become covered in dust if they play outside, especially in a small plastic playhouse.

"Our babies shouldn't have to live in this," he said.

Bailey started complaining to the coal company about two years ago, and he's not happy with the results.

He appreciates the pressure washer, but what he really wants from the company is a sound barrier near his property to dampen the noise. And he wants the company to install a truck washing device to keep down the dust.

Company workers said they would spray a coating on the large coal stockpiles to quell the dust, which they did, he said. It makes little difference since the dozers run over the piles, stirring up the problem again.

Ted Pile, spokesman for Alpha Natural Resources, said the company has tried to help Bailey. He pointed out that Moss No. 3 has not had even one notice of violation related to dust emissions in the past 15 years.

Bailey has spoken with the Virginia Department of Enviornmental Quality officials about the dust.

Pile said the DEQ recently asked to assess the company's dust-control plan because of a complaint. The DEQ did not find a need to take action on the complaint.

"The 15-year compliance record at Moss No. 3, as well as our willingness to respond promptly to the DEQ, shows that sufficient controls are in place and that the people who work there are extremely sensitive to any potential impact on the surrounding community," Pile said in a written statement.

He said the first complaint the company received from Bailey came in 2006, regarding dust coating on his doublewide.

Pile confirmed the company purchased a pressure washer for Bailey. The company also paved some roads near the scale house to cut down the dust levels.

"In October of 2006, the plant bought and put into service a new vacuum sweeper truck to sweep up dust that could accumulate on the entrance roads, around the truck scales and on the state road in front of the plant site," Pile said. "The vacuum truck operates six days per week."

The plant also treated its internal roads with the dust-suppression agent to keep down dust levels on the plant grounds, he said.

"We've undertaken a number of additional voluntary measures to suppress dust," he said. "At our request, VDOT reworked the shoulders of the state road in front of the Moss No. 3 plant to better enable our sweeper truck to remove any dust that could be deposited on the state road by independent truckers. And we actually built an entirely new road within the plant site just this December to reduce the truck traffic on the state road between the scale area and the main entrance."

Pile said the plant has taken proactive steps to keep the dust from Moss No. 3 away from its neighbors.

"We've always tried to be very diligent to address complaints and, when the request is reasonable, take action -- particularly in the case of Mr. Bailey," Pile said. "We think we've done all the right things to address his concerns in a sensitive and timely manner."

kstill@bristolnews.com -- (276) 679-1338