INEZ, Ky. — The president of Martin County Coal Corp. has announced he is resigning but declined to cite the company's Oct. 11 coal slurry spill as the reason for his departure.

        Dennis Hatfield, 44, of Louisa, also said no one at the coal company's parent corporation, Massey Energy of Richmond, Va., asked him to resign.

        “I need a change,” Mr. Hatfield said Monday. “I feel like the company's done a good job in the cleanup and feel the need to take some time with my family.”

        Roger Nicholson, general counsel for Massey Energy, said Mr. Hatfield's resignation is effective this month but would not elaborate. A successor has not been selected, he said.

        “We definitely regret Dennis' decision to resign,” Mr. Nicholson said. “He's been a valued manager at Martin County Coal and in the Massey group for a number of years, and he will definitely be missed.”

        The company, which employs about 300, has been one of the largest coal producers in Kentucky for three decades.

        Mr. Hatfield, a Martin County native, has worked for A.T. Massey for 20 years. He had headed the coal company for six years when the bottom of a liquefied coal-waste impoundment leaked into adjacent underground mine works last fall. At least 250 million gallons of slurry poured into 70 miles of creeks and rivers in eastern Kentucky.

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