A West Virginia coal plant has spilled over 100,000 gallons of coal slurry in a six-mile stretch of creek in the second major environmental incident in the state in a month.
State officials are investigating the spill in eastern Fields Creek, a tributary of the Kanawha River, and testing the water to determine the volume of leakage, CNN reports. State officials said the spill was caused when a valve inside a slurry line at Patriot Coal malfunctioned. Water in the county is safe to drink, officials said.
The coal slurry dump comes just a month after a toxic chemical spill rendered tap water undrinkable for days in parts of West Virginia.
[CNN]