Lawsuit seeks replacement water source from coal company for City of Gary

A lawsuit filed on behalf of residents in the Gary community accuses a facility operated by Taishan Coal and Taishan Resources of contaminating the city's water supply and seeks a replacement drinking water source

Lawsuit seeks replacement water source from coal company for City of Gary

Robert Fields | WVOW News

BLUEFIELD Residents of Gary have filed a federal lawsuit seeking to force a coal company to provide a replacement drinking water source for the community.

The lawsuit was filed August 20 against Taishan Coal and Taishan Resources in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia’s Bluefield Division.

Attorneys with Appalachian Mountain Advocates filed the lawsuit on behalf of the residents.

The 18 plaintiffs allege coal refuse from Taishan’s Alpheus Prep Plant has surrounded and contaminated Gary’s well house. The lawsuit claims that amounts to open dumping of solid waste under the federal Resource Conservation and Recovery Act.

The residents also allege Taishan’s mining operations have contaminated the groundwater aquifer supplying Gary’s drinking water.

A February 6 report from the West Virginia Public Service Commission found Gary Municipal Water Works to be a distressed utility. The commission recommended that the McDowell County Public Service District take control of the system. The report said Gary’s groundwater supply lies beneath two valleys filled with coal refuse and slurry. It also documented multiple instances when the city’s well house was flooded with coal refuse, including during a September 2025 inspection.

Even if the plan to hand system operations over to the McDowell County PSD does receive approval, improvements are expected to take years and require millions of dollars. A full system renovation could take up to a decade. Some residents and advocates say that timeline is too long and are calling for immediate relief in the lawsuit filed in August.

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