MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (AP) — A Raleigh County judge will hold a hearing later this month on a medical monitoring lawsuit claiming hundreds of children were exposed to toxic coal dust from a Massey Energy Co. processing plant and silo next to Marsh Fork Elementary School.

Williamson attorney Kevin Thompson is suing Virginia-based Massey and three subsidiaries over alleged exposure from the silo that sits about 235 feet from the school near Sundial.

Judge Harry L. Kirkpatrick III granted class-action status to the case in December, but it fell into limbo because his ruling went to an incorrect address and was returned to the courthouse in Beckley. Thompson said he only learned of the ruling after filing a supplemental motion with the court in June, then calling to follow up.

The lawsuit, filed on behalf of Woodrow and Elva Dillon and their two children, accuses Massey and subsidiaries Goals Coal Co., AT Massey Coal Co. and Massey Coal Services Inc. of negligence and creating a public nuisance.

It demands unspecified punitive damages, as well as a court-administered medical monitoring program.

Massey has not yet filed a response with the court, and a company spokesman did not immediately comment.

Goals Coal has operated the silo since November 2003, and the plaintiffs argue more than 300 students and faculty could have been affected by dust that settled both inside and outside the school.

The judge wrote that although he “remains somewhat skeptical” that many people would participate in the lawsuit, “the court is willing to accept the representation and see what develops.”

However, Kirkpatrick said he could decertify the class if it turns out to be significantly smaller than claimed.

The lawsuit was originally filed by different attorneys in 2005, and the first attempt at class certification was denied in 2007.

The case argues long-term exposure puts the class members at greater risk of developing health problems.

Court filings show the plaintiffs plan to offer expert opinion from Maryland epidemiologist Shira Kramer, who says coal dust contains substances that have been associated with cancer, respiratory disease, poor lung function, chronic bronchitis, and renal, cardiovascular and autoimmune diseases.

The 70-year-old elementary school served as a media center during the Upper Big Branch mine disaster that killed 29 men in April, and it has been the subject of a fierce public battle for years.

Residents and anti-Massey activists have long complained about the danger to children and the rest of the Coal River valley from a dam that sits above the school and holds billions of gallons of coal slurry.

In June, the state School Building Authority said it would provide the remaining money needed to replace the school.

Massey and the county school board each have pledged $1.5 million for the project, and the Los Angeles-based Annenberg Foundation will donate $2.5 million. Coal River Mountain Watch, an environmental group, raised $10,400 for the project.

Construction is expected to begin next year.

A new report released yesterday by the Environmental Integrity Project warns that power plants are “not making a dent” in their emissions of the potent toxic chemical mercury.

There’s a press release online here, and you can read the full report here.

According to the report, more than half of the nation’s 50 worst power plants in terms of mercury emissions increased those emissions between 2007 and 2008, the latest year for which data is available.

Among the other findings:

• Power plant mercury emissions have actually risen since 2000 (the first year this data was reported) in several states, including Arkansas, Arizona, Georgia, Iowa, Illinois, Kansas, Louisiana, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Texas, and others.

• Six Southern Company plants in Georgia and Alabama are ranked among the top 50 power plant mercury emitters for overall mercury emissions.

• Six American Electric Power (AEP) plants in Texas, Ohio, Indiana and West Virginia are ranked among the top 50 mercury emitters.   AEP’s Gavin Power Plant in Ohio emitted 937 pounds of mercury in 2008, a 115.4 percent increase from 2007. This drastic increase in mercury emissions appears to be due largely to a change in the coal burned at the plant in 2008.

• NRG’s Limestone County, Texas plant emitted 1,251 pounds of mercury in 2008, a 4.55 percent increase over its reported 2007 emissions. NRG is currently constructing a third coal-fired boiler at this plant.

• In terms of pounds of mercury emitted per gigawatt hour, the following companies have three or more power plants on the list:  Ameren (4); Luminant (4); Reliant (RRI Energy) (4); Southern Company (4); AEP (3); and NRG (3).

Environmental Integrity Project Senior Attorney Ilan Levin said:

Despite years of promises, the electric power industry has barely made a dent in its mercury emissions this decade. This slow progress is nowhere near the levels that would be achieved if all plants installed modern pollution controls.  The nation’s power plants are not even close to meeting the levels that EPA forecasted under a weak Bush Administration power plant mercury rule that was subsequently thrown out by a federal court.

This just in: Sen. Robert C. Byrd, D-W.Va., on why he declined to co-sponsor Sen. Jay Rockefeller’s bill to block EPA from issuing greenhouse gas limits:

I do not plan to cosponsor Senator Rockefeller’s legislation at this time.  I was encouraged by the response last week from EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson to a letter that I signed along with other Senators that would delay into next year the application of stronger standards regarding increased efficiency or reduced pollution at large power plants and factories. Following up on my previous conversations with her in my office, I take her at her word.

In addition, as I have pointed out in my op-ed of December 3, 2009 entitled ‘Coal Must Embrace the Future,’ West Virginia needs to have a seat at the negotiating table.  I am continuing to have significant discussions about how to ensure the future of coal as a long-term energy resource.  I am reluctant to give up on talks that might produce benefits for West Virginia’s coal interests by seeming to turn away from on-going negotiations.  I will continue to negotiate with all who are earnestly engaged in the pursuit of a proper balance between saving jobs, protecting the environment and ensuring the health of our communities.