Martin County coal slurry spill
The Martin County coal slurry spill was a mining accident that occurred after midnight on October 11, 2000, when the bottom of a coal slurry impoundment owned by Massey Energy in Martin County, Kentucky, broke into an abandoned underground mine below.[ 1] The slurry came out of the mine openings, sending an estimated 306 million US gallons (1.16 million cubic metres; 1.16 billion litres) of slurry down two tributaries of the Tug Fork River. By morning, Wolf Creek was oozing with the black waste; on Coldwater Fork, a 10-foot-wide (3.0 m) stream became a 100-yard (91 m) expanse of thick slurry.
The spill, which contained arsenic and mercury, killed everything in the water.[ 2] It was over five feet deep in places and covered nearby residents' yards. The spill polluted hundreds of miles (200–300 mi or 300–500 km) of the Big Sandy River and its tributaries and the Ohio River. The water supply for over 27,000 residents was contaminated, and all aquatic life in Coldwater Fork and Wolf Creek was killed.
The spill was 30 times larger than the Exxon Valdez oil spill, spilling 12 million US gallons (45,000 cubic metres; 45 million litres). It was one of the worst environmental disasters ever in the southeastern United States, according to the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).[ 3] The spill was exceeded in volume by the Kingston Fossil Plant coal fly ash slurry spill in 2008.
