Companies must treat acidic water coming from their mines. Though some refuse piles remain, they're rarer and smaller than they used to be. Coal companies have footed the bill for the cleanups by paying between 15 and 35 cents for every ton produced. He can't think of an abandoned site in the state visible like the smoking pile he used to pass on the Turnpike. Many streams plagued by acid water run clearer.
People now fish the Monongahela River, which used to be dead.
The Cheat River, once unlivable for fish, has seen some improvements from state projects and volunteer work on tributaries. Kayakers and rafters say they now see some fish. Secretary of State Ken Hechler, who tried to ban strip mining while in Congress in the 1970s and wants to ban mountaintop removal now, agrees progress has been made. But all is not well, he said. I've always contended reclamation is putting lipstick on a corpse.