Yesterday, Appalachian Voices submitted public comments on a
proposed wastewater lab certification program in Kentucky. To
discharge polluted water, coal companies must receive a permit
under the Clean Water Act. This permit that requires companies
to test wastewater and report the data to ensure it falls within
the limits of the permit. In Kentucky, there are currently no
standards for labs that do this type of testing. The proposed
certification program is a direct result of the lawsuits for
falsified water monitoring data we filed against three of the
state’s largest coal mining companies. Our investigation
revealed that many coal companies were repeatedly submitting the
same data and knowingly leaving out reports of any violations of
their permits. After we filed these lawsuits, the Kentucky
Energy and Environment Cabinet inspected the labs being used for
this monitoring and found that in many cases they were not even
capable of correctly performing the required tests. We believe
that enforcing standards