Raleigh Co. Lab Resumes Water Sampling

A Raleigh County laboratory has been recertified to perform coal industry water sampling and analysis six months after a worker pleaded guilty to tampering. The Charleston Gazette-Mail reports that the state Department of Environmental Protection allowed Appalachian Laboratories Inc. to resume testing of water pollution samples in August after the DEP conducted an audit. Former lab employee John W. Shelton Jr. was sentenced in February in federal court in Beckley to one year and nine months in prison for tampering with water samples. DEP spokeswoman Kelley Gillenwater says changes made at Appalachian Labs include new ethics training and improved recording practices.