Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
KHSU 90.5 and KHSQ 107.7 may experience intermittent outages today as our engineering team updates infrastructure. Livestreams are unaffected. Thank you for your patience.

Coal Sludge

Kentucky's governor has declared a state of emergency in the eastern part of the state, where sludge from a coal mine spilled into two streams last week. Two-hundred-million gallons of toxic slurry -- a byproduct of coal washing with the consistency of wet cement -- have made the usual sources of drinking water in ten county area unfit for use. Noah interviews Larry Priest, a resident of Martin County, Kentucky, with a mobile home next to Cold Water Creek. Priest calls the spill the biggest black milkshake you've ever seen in your life.

Copyright 2000 NPR