Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Senator Jones' Dam Safety Bill Clears Kentucky Senate.
In October 2000, a retention pond at an Inez coal-preparation plant gave way, releasing approximately 306 million gallons of coal waste into the streams.
A State of Emergency was declared for 10 counties in northeast Kentucky, where the coal slurry impacted more than 75 miles of streams in Kentucky and West Virginia, reaching as far as the Ohio River.
With that disaster in mind, State Senator Ray S. Jones II, D-Pikeville, is seeking legislation requiring emergency action plans for high hazard dams in Kentucky.
Senate Joint Resolution 72, passed today by the State Senate, directs the Environmental and Public Protection Cabinet to establish regulations requiring development, approval, and implementation of Emergency Action Plans (EAP) for all high hazard potential impoundments.
The regulations under Senate Joint Resolution 72:
· Shall take into account the characteristics of the impounded material in establishing requirements for breach analysis and inundation mapping;
· Shall provide a reasonable period for development and submission of EAPs by the owners of the impoundments.
· May include tiered filing deadlines consistent with the construction, age or volume of material impounded by the high hazard potential impounding structures and the resources available to the agency for program development and implementation.
· Shall allow use of geographic information system and aerial mapping data for preparation of inundation maps and breach analyses.
· Shall maintain consistency with regulations that might be required by either the federal Office of Surface Mining or the Mine Safety and Health Administration.
Emergency action plans would describe the structural integrity of the dam, and provide measures for emergency evacuation of those located below the dam in the event of a breach. The cost of developing the EAP would be borne by the dam owner.
"The Martin County environmental disaster left people without clean water, closed schools, killed fish and other aquatic life, and destroyed roads and bridges," said Senator Jones, who represents Pike County, the largest coal-producing county in the state. "The cleanup alone cost millions of dollars. Another disaster the magnitude of this 2000 spill would still be crippling to the communities it impacts and, unfortunately, if there were to be a loss of human life, the effects would be devastating."
The most recent report of the Federal Management Agency, made to Congress under the National Dam Safety Program Act, shows that only a fraction of the state-regulated high hazard dams in Kentucky has developed EAPs. The Mine Safety and Health Administration for coalmine waste impoundments has been recommending the development of EAPs since 1994.
These hazard potential impoundments, or dams, are found throughout Kentucky. A dam is a man-made impoundment 25 feet high or any structure that impounds at least 50 acres or any impoundment that endangers life downstream from the structure. Most dams are earthen. The kind of impoundment contemplated by the resolution are dams for agricultural and drinking water under KRS 151 and impoundments for coal and non-coal mining operations under KRS 350.
There are 177 dams ranked as high hazard dams under the jurisdiction of the Department for Environmental Protection. There are 18 high hazard dams under the jurisdiction of the Department for Natural Resources. In Kentucky, there are 21 state-owned dams; 55 are locally owned; 24 are owned by conservation districts, and the balance is privately owned. Utilities, farmers, subdivisions, companies and some citizens normally own privately-owned dams.
"Eighty-three percent of high hazardous dams do not have an EAP. The plans are not required by the state; nor are they required by the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA)," said Jones.
"Development of these plans is designed for the protection of lives and property and it should not continue to be delayed," he added. "Having a plan in the event of an emergency is in the best interests of the owners of these potentially hazardous dams and, it goes without saying, it is in the best interests of the communities."
Jones' legislation dictates that EAPs follow the Federal Emergency Management Agency's "Emergency Action Planning Guidelines for Dams" with approval from the Environmental and Public Protection Cabinet.
A State of Emergency was declared for 10 counties in northeast Kentucky, where the coal slurry impacted more than 75 miles of streams in Kentucky and West Virginia, reaching as far as the Ohio River.
With that disaster in mind, State Senator Ray S. Jones II, D-Pikeville, is seeking legislation requiring emergency action plans for high hazard dams in Kentucky.
Senate Joint Resolution 72, passed today by the State Senate, directs the Environmental and Public Protection Cabinet to establish regulations requiring development, approval, and implementation of Emergency Action Plans (EAP) for all high hazard potential impoundments.
The regulations under Senate Joint Resolution 72:
· Shall take into account the characteristics of the impounded material in establishing requirements for breach analysis and inundation mapping;
· Shall provide a reasonable period for development and submission of EAPs by the owners of the impoundments.
· May include tiered filing deadlines consistent with the construction, age or volume of material impounded by the high hazard potential impounding structures and the resources available to the agency for program development and implementation.
· Shall allow use of geographic information system and aerial mapping data for preparation of inundation maps and breach analyses.
· Shall maintain consistency with regulations that might be required by either the federal Office of Surface Mining or the Mine Safety and Health Administration.
Emergency action plans would describe the structural integrity of the dam, and provide measures for emergency evacuation of those located below the dam in the event of a breach. The cost of developing the EAP would be borne by the dam owner.
"The Martin County environmental disaster left people without clean water, closed schools, killed fish and other aquatic life, and destroyed roads and bridges," said Senator Jones, who represents Pike County, the largest coal-producing county in the state. "The cleanup alone cost millions of dollars. Another disaster the magnitude of this 2000 spill would still be crippling to the communities it impacts and, unfortunately, if there were to be a loss of human life, the effects would be devastating."
The most recent report of the Federal Management Agency, made to Congress under the National Dam Safety Program Act, shows that only a fraction of the state-regulated high hazard dams in Kentucky has developed EAPs. The Mine Safety and Health Administration for coalmine waste impoundments has been recommending the development of EAPs since 1994.
These hazard potential impoundments, or dams, are found throughout Kentucky. A dam is a man-made impoundment 25 feet high or any structure that impounds at least 50 acres or any impoundment that endangers life downstream from the structure. Most dams are earthen. The kind of impoundment contemplated by the resolution are dams for agricultural and drinking water under KRS 151 and impoundments for coal and non-coal mining operations under KRS 350.
There are 177 dams ranked as high hazard dams under the jurisdiction of the Department for Environmental Protection. There are 18 high hazard dams under the jurisdiction of the Department for Natural Resources. In Kentucky, there are 21 state-owned dams; 55 are locally owned; 24 are owned by conservation districts, and the balance is privately owned. Utilities, farmers, subdivisions, companies and some citizens normally own privately-owned dams.
"Eighty-three percent of high hazardous dams do not have an EAP. The plans are not required by the state; nor are they required by the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA)," said Jones.
"Development of these plans is designed for the protection of lives and property and it should not continue to be delayed," he added. "Having a plan in the event of an emergency is in the best interests of the owners of these potentially hazardous dams and, it goes without saying, it is in the best interests of the communities."
Jones' legislation dictates that EAPs follow the Federal Emergency Management Agency's "Emergency Action Planning Guidelines for Dams" with approval from the Environmental and Public Protection Cabinet.
# posted by Joe Kinzer @ 7:50 PM 
