Ignoring the Red Flags
PennFuture Facts
6 January 2010
There are many water problems associated with coal mining. One of the
worst, uncontrolled acid mine water breaking out from abandoned coal
mines, often needs fast emergency action, with the taxpayers footing
the bill. In Greene County, however, a solution to such an emergency
situation has now morphed into a boon to mining companies' bottom line,
and damage to the very water the original action was meant to protect.
And the mining office of the Department of Environmental Protection
(DEP) helped in the metamorphosis, while ignoring the red flags from
the department's own water quality experts.
It all began in 2003, when DEP discovered that an abandoned mine was on
the brink of breaking out - a catastrophic event
with backed up acid mine water surging into Dunkard Creek and the
Monongahela River, killing everything in large sections of both water
bodies. The mine in question, Shannopin, had gone out of business long
ago, and the bond left behind was totally inadequate to fix the problem.
To deal with this emergency, DEP agreed to fund the construction of a
pumping and treatment system, and to issue permits to the non-profit
heading up the cleanup, AMD Reclamation, Inc. (AMDRI). These permits
contained less stringent cleanup standards than ordinarily required for
the discharge of the treated water into Dunkard Creek.
As part of the deal, AMDRI agreed that once the risk of breakout was
reduced and the water level lowered, the treatment plant would reduce
or eliminate sending this water into Dunkard Creek during low flow
conditions. The point was to dewater the abandoned Shannopin mine, and
avoid an environmental and economic disaster to the creek.
Major changes to this "Shannopin Mine Dewatering Project" began in
2005, when DEP granted an "informal" revision to AMDRI's permit without
public notice. The revision allowed the company to drain or pump water
into the Shannopin Mine from nearby mines, including Consolidation Coal
Company's (Consol) permitted Humphrey Number 7 Mine. Mine drainage from
Humphrey previously did not reach Dunkard Creek, but was pumped by
Consol through a series of mines to a treatment plant in West Virginia.
Contrary to the original purpose - reducing the volume of AMDRI's
discharge - this revision more than doubled the amount of treated water
AMDRI was permitted to release into Dunkard Creek.
By early 2009, the impacts of the increased discharge were being felt,
and warnings about the health of Dunkard Creek were being sounded
within DEP. A survey by DEP aquatic biologists showed that Dunkard was
in trouble. Four miles of the creek could no longer support fish where
a fishery previously existed. Increased amounts of sulfate and total
dissolved solids (TDS) were severely stressing the creek. The report
concluded that "the current permitting and operation is not providing
adequate protection to support aquatic life in low
flow conditions."
In the wake of this report, the water quality experts at DEP
recommended in March that the pending and overdue renewal of AMDRI's
permit include more stringent treatment requirements, including new
limits for TDS and sulfate.
Those warnings, however, apparently fell on deaf ears at DEP's mining
program office. And it got worse - much worse.
Last September, an algae bloom linked to high levels of dissolved
solids resulted in a massive kill of fish, mussels, and salamanders in
dozens of miles of Dunkard Creek. While none of the government studies
has concluded that AMDRI's discharge contributed to this devastation,
the DEP biologists' warnings that the creek's TDS levels were cause for
concern certainly were prophetic.
Unfortunately, even this wakeup call wasn't loud enough. Two months
later - and without having acted on its own water quality experts'
recommendation for more stringent treatment standards - DEP once again
granted a revision to AMDRI's permit. This time, they allowed more
water from another portion of the Humphrey Mine to be diverted to the
Shannopin project, then minimally treated and dumped in Dunkard Creek.
And once again, no public notice was given.
Jim O'Connell of Friends of Dunkard Creek spoke for many. "How anyone
could have granted this permit revision after the destruction we
experienced last summer is beyond me. And you can bet that if there had
been any public notice, DEP would have heard our objections loud and
clear. It's time to reverse this backroom deal and clean up the water."
Last week, PennFuture and Friends of Dunkard Creek appealed the latest
permit revision to the Environmental Hearing Board. The DEP mining
program's decision to ignore all the red flags and connect more mine
drainage to a treatment system already found to be causing harm to
Dunkard Creek is very bad indeed. No new connection should be made
before the treatment system is able to meet the criteria specified by
DEP's water quality experts. Until then, Dunkard Creek and the people
of the area will continue to pay the price.
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