CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Most of the coal-ash impoundments in West Virginia haven't been examined by a state dam safety inspector for at least five years, according to data released by the state Department of Environmental Protection.

West Virginia has at least 16 ash impoundments in six counties, according to a preliminary DEP review of dam safety records.

Interactive map of coal-ash dams in West Virginia

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The three sites with the most storage capacity are Allegheny Power's McElroy's Run Dam in Pleasants County, American Electric Power's Conner Run Dam in Marshall County, and AEP's John Amos Fly Ash Dam in Putnam County.

Some of the facilities have gone more than 20 years without a government inspection, according to the DEP data.

Coal-ash dams are under new scrutiny, following the Dec. 22 failure of an Eastern Tennessee dike that sent more than 1 billion gallons of wet coal ash pouring over 300 acres of homes, fields and streams.

Under federal and state strip mine laws, government officials inspect coal-slurry impoundments monthly. But coal-ash dumps are exempt from the 1977 Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act.

In West Virginia, power plant ash dams are covered by the state Dam Safety Act.

Brian Long, longtime chief of the DEP's dam safety section, said state law requires coal-ash dams to meet the same stability and stormwater retention standards as coal-slurry dams.

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Most of the coal-ash impoundments in West Virginia haven't been examined by a state dam safety inspector for at least five years, according to data released by the state Department of Environmental Protection.

West Virginia has at least 16 ash impoundments in six counties, according to a preliminary DEP review of dam safety records.

Interactive map of coal-ash dams in West Virginia

View Larger Map

The three sites with the most storage capacity are Allegheny Power's McElroy's Run Dam in Pleasants County, American Electric Power's Conner Run Dam in Marshall County, and AEP's John Amos Fly Ash Dam in Putnam County.

Some of the facilities have gone more than 20 years without a government inspection, according to the DEP data.

Coal-ash dams are under new scrutiny, following the Dec. 22 failure of an Eastern Tennessee dike that sent more than 1 billion gallons of wet coal ash pouring over 300 acres of homes, fields and streams.

Under federal and state strip mine laws, government officials inspect coal-slurry impoundments monthly. But coal-ash dumps are exempt from the 1977 Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act.

In West Virginia, power plant ash dams are covered by the state Dam Safety Act.

Brian Long, longtime chief of the DEP's dam safety section, said state law requires coal-ash dams to meet the same stability and stormwater retention standards as coal-slurry dams.

State law requires periodic inspections of coal-ash dams by engineers hired by their owners. But it does not mandate inspections by the state monthly, quarterly, or even annually.

Fourteen of the state's coal-ash dams have been inspected by their owners' engineers sometime within the last two years, according to the DEP data.

During that same time period, only two of the 16 dams have been examined by state inspectors, the records show. Six of the 16 have not been inspected by the state for at least a decade.

In Washington, D.C., AEP is circulating a fact sheet that says its corporate inspection program -- based on federal laws for other types of dams -- is adequate. "AEP's large dams are inspected annually by corporate engineering staff under the direction of a professional engineer," the company says in a fact sheet. "The large dams are also inspected more frequently by plant staff."

And DEP's Long said his agency receives copies of periodic inspection reports prepared by engineers hired by dam owners. "If there is a serious issue, we try to get out there right away," Long said.

But Joe Lovett, director of the Appalachian Center for the Economy and the Environment, said that government inspections should be mandated.

"The Legislature needs to act to assure that these impoundments are safe and to ensure that the DEP does have a duty to inspect them, because unfortunately, DEP doesn't do anything on its own initiative," Lovett said.

House Natural Resources Chairman Nick J. Rahall, D-W.Va., has said he plans to introduce legislation to apply strip-mine law design, construction and inspection standards to coal-ash dumps.

Last week, DEP dam safety officials were busy compiling a list of the state's coal-ash impoundments. They were trying to determine if all of them had proper permits and figure out when they were last inspected.

DEP Secretary Randy Huffman said his agency was waiting to see what Rahall's bill looks like, and would consider implementing its own periodic inspection schedule.

"Obviously, we're getting questions, and we're in the process of gathering that kind of information," Huffman said Friday. "It's something that we will consider in the course of looking at our program here."

@tag:Reach Ken Ward Jr. at kw...@wvgazette.com or 304-348-1702.