This is the first in a series of blog posts about the systematic lack of enforcement by the Kentucky Division of Mine Reclamation and Enforcement (DMRE).  The stories were compiled by members of Kentuckians For The Commonwealth living on Raccoon Branch near Hueysville in Floyd County. These stories are not unique to this community, but they have done a very good job documenting the abuses of the coal company mining around them and the willingness of the state DMRE to turn a blind eye to these dangerous and destructive abuses.  These same stories are happening in countless hollers and communities throughout the coalfields of eastern Kentucky.

Imagine methane gas coming out of your faucet, your dishwasher, your cloths washer, your hot water heater and into your home. And then imagine a state inspector tell you everything is ok, the levels are safe; then asking if anyone in your home smokes.

Clinton Handshoe

This is what happened to the Brewer family and Clinton Handshoe.

Rick Handshoe’s father Clinton and his sister’s family, Debbie and Ernest Brewer and their two sons Blake and Gage ages 5 and 4, live in Knott County on Route 292 near the Floyd County line. Their family has lived in the community of Hueysville for generations.

A few years ago a deep mine opened up exactly 300 feet from Clinton’s Handshoe’s front porch. This deep mine, run by CONSOL Coal Company, is mining the Elkhorn number three coal seam which is about seventy to eighty feet below the Handshoe and the Brewer homes.

The first problem Clinton encountered was constant noise and dust from the mine. The fine coal dust was so bad he could write his name on the inside of his bedroom window sill 24 hours after last cleaning it off. Clinton, who is in his 80s, already has to be on oxygen for health reasons. Clinton’s favorite way of showing people who stop by how bad the dust can be is to spray his shutters with a garden hose. The water runs black down the outside of the house from the build up of coal dust.

Then one day both Clinton's and the Brewer's drinking wells went dry. The depth of the wells happens to be about the same as the depth of the Elkhorn three coal seam being mined.

Both the Brewers and Clinton were told by the coal company that if they each drilled a new well, CONSOL would reimburse them for their expenses. This never happened. Even worse is that new wells they drilled also went dry.

When Clinton and the Brewers called the state to get help, the state Division of Mine Reclamation and Enforcement determined their wells were not impacted by the coal mining.  Clinton then turned to the Appalachian Citizen’s Law Center who challenged the state DMRE’s ruling and brought in expert witnesses to prove that the mining was causing the wells to go dry.  But the state DMRE still decided that the damage to the wells was not caused by the mining.

While all of this was going on the Brewers who have one small child and a newborn were without water in their home for several months.

Finally in February 2007 a state agent came out to the Brewer’s once again because their new well would stop producing water after pumping only about 3 gallons.  State DMRE inspectors put a camera down the well and determined the problem was due to methane gas seeping into the well.  Once about three gallons of water was removed from the well the pressure in the well would decrease enough to allow a stream of methane gas to block the pump from pumping up any water.  This was also happening in Clinton Handshoe’s well.

What the state DMRE did not tell the Brewers or Clinton was that at the same time the methane gas started seeping into the wells the deep mine was ordered to shut down because of a build-up of methane gas.

Methane gas leak in water well.

As you can see in the video, the methane gas is entering the well at approximately same depth as the deep mine.  The State DMRE still ruled that the deep mine was not causing the methane to enter the wells.

When Rick Handshoe accompanied a state inspector to his father’s home to determine how much methane gas was coming out of the well the inspector put the methane detector over the opening of the well but quickly jerked it back.  The inspector said he was afraid the high level of methane gas coming out of the well was going to burn out the sensor on his methane detector.  According to Rick the inspector couldn’t determine the exact level of methane gas coming out of the well because his detector was unable to read that high.  The inspector said not to worry it was perfectly safe.  However the inspector was quick to add, “but don’t let anyone smoke around this well.”

Rick then tried to research the long-term health effects of exposure to methane gas.  All he was able to find was that those effects are unknown.  Rick said he’s concerned about the health of his nephews growing up in a home constantly being exposed to unknown levels of methane gas.  As Rick said, “ The levels inside the home were not very high the day the inspector came out to check, but what are they today, and what will the levels be tomorrow?  How do we know it will be safe next week?”