Published: October 11, 2009 11:07 pm      

In Marsh Fork school debate, W.Va. county must choose

CHARLESTON, W.Va.— With pressure mounting on Massey Energy Co. to replace a Raleigh County school that sits in the shadow of one of its operations, the county has yet to decide whether that is what it wants.

U.S. Sens. Robert C. Byrd and Jay Rockefeller and U.S. Rep. Nick Rahall, all D-W.Va., have each called on the Richmond, Va.-based coal producer to donate money to help Marsh Fork Elementary relocate.

The 233-student school stands downhill from a dammed pond holding coal waste, and about 300 feet from a coal silo. Massey’s plans to build a second silo nearby have sparked protests from environmentalists and some residents who cite concerns about coal dust exposure, among other things.

But while Marsh Fork has been the focus of debate because of its neighbor since at least 2004, Raleigh County’s Board of Education has not previously asked the state School Building Authority to fund a replacement.

That may change Tuesday. The school board plans to vote on the next project to pitch to the SBA, and its president said he will recommend Marsh Fork.

“We’ve looked at it before, but the needs of other schools appeared greater,” Rick Snuffer, the school board president, said last week.

Snuffer also said a misunderstanding may have been behind the silence that greeted him when he left a message seeking a meeting with Massey’s chief executive, Don Blankenship, to discuss a possible contribution.

Snuffer said Massey spokesman Jeff Gillenwater phoned him Friday to say that Blankenship thought the message had come from another Rick Snuffer — the conservative activist and occasional Republican political candidate.

The school board’s Snuffer expects to talk to Massey officials early this week.

“They did not promise any assistance, but did not say they wouldn’t, either,” he said. “I said we’re asking for anything and everything that could put a new school in that area.”

But Marsh Fork’s absence from the county’s school funding wish list also reflects the argument that the school does not need to be replaced or relocated.

“We’d take a new school, but there’s no need because there’s nothing wrong with one we have,” said Andrea Cook, who has led Marsh Fork’s Parent Teacher Organization for the past three years. “We’ve been at several different board meetings. We’ve told them that we don’t think there’s anything wrong with the school.”

Cook cites the results of tests on soil and air at the school that have yet to raise red flags. She also said she considers the potential of mudslides more threatening than the coal slurry impoundment.

She touts hers as the fourth generation of her family to be part of coal mining, a heritage she believes is shared by most of her fellow Marsh Fork parents.

“I think it’s because of it being Massey Energy,” said Cook, who has put one child through the school and has another in second grade.

Cook’s husband was a miner for another company before he was laid off, she said. She echoed a complaint from other area families that most of those protesting don’t have children at the school or even live in the area. Environmental groups have enlisted residents of other states, including college students, to press their concerns about the risks posed by Massey’s neighboring operations.

Snuffer believes there would still be some concerns if a different producer were involved, or even if it were a factory or manufacturing plant, given its proximity.