Sunnyside City Council members discussed Tuesday the impact the Grassy Trail Dam reclamation project termination would have on the City.
A letter from West Ridge Mine officials to the City declared the project terminated because of unforeseen and unforeseeable geological circumstances.
While mining the coal seam toward the reservoir, miners hit a shale fault about a foot-and-a-half thick. The coal underneath was ash like.
Although the coal would have been useable, the mine wasn’t equipped with the washing facilities to make mining the strip viable.
Councilman Sherri Madrid said the Council expected something might happen to derail the project and that they were not shocked to hear about problems underground.
West Ridge has reimbursed Sunnyside for all project expenditures, save one, up to this point.