Rose Hill alum makes dean’s list

WILMORE, Ky. — Maeghan Elisabeth Cartmill of Ironton, was named to the fall 2011 semester dean’s list at Asbury University in Wilmore, Ky., with a 3.6 GPA.

Cartmill is a double major in media communications and creative writing with a minor in theater cinema performance.

Cartmill is a 2011 graduate of Rose Hill Christian School. She is the daughter of Darrell and Teresa Cartmill of Ironton and the granddaughter of Bill and Ruth Browning, also of Ironton, and Jim Cartmill of Winchester, Ky.

 

Marshall board approves tuition increases

HUNTINGTON, W.Va. (AP) — The Marshall University Board of Governors has approved increases for tuition and fees and on-campus living starting next fall.

Undergraduate tuition and fees will increase $141 per semester for in-state students, $225 for out-of-state students and $285 for students from 15 neighboring counties in West Virginia, Ohio and Kentucky.

A $145 increase in room and board rates also was approved.

Those attending Marshall’s medical school will see their tuition and fees increase $302 per semester for in-state students and $702 for out-of-state students.

Marshall President Stephen J. Kopp said Tuesday that while the board faces the challenge of keeping tuition affordable every year, the university continues to provide an exceptional value to students.

 

Suit claims old W.Va. strip mine polluting streams

HUNTINGTON, W.Va. (AP) — The owner of a reclaimed mountaintop removal mine site is being sued by environmental groups who claim untreated water discharges from the property are polluting streams.

The Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition, West Virginia Highlands Conservancy and the Sierra Club filed the lawsuit Monday against Boone East Development Company in U.S. District Court in Huntington.

According to the lawsuit, the reclaimed property near Cannelton in Fayette and Kanawha counties is discharging water containing high levels of selenium and other pollutants into tributaries of Smithers Creek, in violation of the Clean Water Act.

The lawsuit seeks civil penalties of up to $37,500 per day for each violation. It also asks the court to order Boone East Development to determine the environmental damage and remedy the contamination.

A message left at a Mount Hope telephone listing for Boone East Development wasn’t immediately returned Tuesday morning.

The former Bullpush Mountain mine, opened in 1970 by Cannelton Industries, was West Virginia’s first mountaintop removal mine, the lawsuit said.

In 2005, the mine’s state permit, covering 2,010 acres, was transferred to Jacks Branch Coal Company. Mining operations later ceased and the property was reclaimed. Boone East Development is the current owner, the lawsuit said.

 

“It’s past time for all involved to recognize that ‘reclamation’ means more than just putting the land back in some stable and usable fashion,” said Cindy Rank, chair of the West Virginia Highlands Conservancy’s Mining Committee. “Assuring that reclaimed mine sites don’t pollute our water resources continues to be a responsibility of the land owner – whether that be the coal company that mined in the first place or whoever maintains ownership after the mining is done.”

 

The groups notified the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the state Department of Environmental Protection of the violations and of their intent to sue earlier this year but no regulatory action was taken, the lawsuit said.