Although a local newspaper said property being donated to the City of Sulphur Springs could threaten groundwater in the area due to coal ash dumps, City Manager Marc Maxwell has been assured by Luminant Mining that there are no dumps at the Thermo Mine site. He also notes that the dumpsites for the coal ash are downstream from Hopkins County.
All coal mined at the Thermo site was transported to Monticello power plant southwest of Mt Pleasant and buried there, according to what Maxwell was told. With no power plant locally, the coal ash would not be disposed of in Hopkins County.
The city council approved the start of the land transaction in a signing ceremony in October, 2018 (see KSST story here)
The article that raised questions regarding coal ash buried in Hopkins County stated that the agreement was signed Tuesday in Special Session. The Tuesday Special Session this week (January 22) approved only the materials to be used on Sunset Street.
