Judge Dumps KY Water Monitoring Fraud Settlement; "Systemic And Pervasive" Violations

[hatrack]

A Kentucky Circuit Court judge ruled to reject a proposed settlement between a West Virginia-based mining company and the Kentucky state regulatory body over water-quality monitoring.

Judge Phillip Shepherd denied a $310,000 agreement Monday between Frasure Creek Mining, whose offices are located in Oak Hill and Scott Depot, and the Kentucky Energy and Environment Cabinet over water testing report violations from 2010.

Shepherd said the reporting violations were "so systemic and pervasive" that they "inevitably lead to degradation of the environment." In a separate order, Shepherd also ruled that the citizen environmental groups that first brought the company's violations to light would be allowed to participate in the resolution process. Shepard said the state's accidents have been inadequate to prevent future violations.

Kentucky Department for Environmental Protection Commissioner Bruce Scott testified in circuit court that Kentucky is the 49th-lowest state per permit in terms of federal funding, and major budget cuts during the last 10 years have adversely affected the cabinet's ability to implement the Clean Water Act. Scott said there was a handful of enforcement personnel, a dwindling number of field inspectors, and the Director of Enforcement position has been empty since 2007.

EDIT

http://www.register-herald.com/news/judge-rejects-settlement-between-ky-and-frasure-creek-mining/article_cfad5cbf-64e4-5974-a2d0-0b3c72024501.html

[A Little Weird]

1. Kudos to Judge Shepherd and to the environmental groups that made this possible!

I am really excited about this ruling. Unfortunately it is the exception rather than the rule.

Here's another article on the subject where the judge points out that the regulatory agencies are no longer effective at doing their job:

[div class="excerpt"; background-color:#CCCCCC;"]
"With only a handful of enforcement personnel, and a dwindling number of field inspectors ... it is impossible for the cabinet to effectively regulate permitees such as Frasure Creek who systematical violate the (Clean Water Act)," Shepherd wrote.

http://www.courier-journal.com/story/tech/science/environment/2014/11/24/judge-rejects-frasure-creek-mining-violations-settlement/70054664/

This is an example of why they want to "drown government in a bathtub".