Coal River Group co-founder Bill Currey discusses the buildup of silt at the Coal River’s confluence with the Kanawha River, seen in the background.
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The state Department of Environmental Protection has committed $1 million to plan and begin a stream restoration project targeting the main stem of the Coal River from Alum Creek to its confluence with the Kanawha River at St. Albans, according to the DEP and the Coal River Group, a nonprofit watershed association.
The section of the lower Coal targeted for restoration “has been severely impacted over the past 70 years by coal mining and highway, commercial and residential construction,” said Bill Currey, co-founder of the Coal River Group, which sought the project.
“The first step will be to study the full 21 miles of river that make up the lower Coal River. We expect that study to be augmented by existing studies of E. coli sources, riparian [riverbank] impacts and storm water flows in the St. Albans area.”
Currey said sedimentation is the primary impediment to water quality in the lower Coal…
