West Virginia OKs Consol's Pumping Mine Water, But It Must Have Plan
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
22 December 2009
By Don Hopey
The West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection has granted
Consol Energy's request to restart pumping water from its Blacksville
No. 2 mine into Dunkard Creek, where those discharges contributed to
degraded water quality and a massive fish kill in September.
The mining company had sought approval to resume pumping from its
Blacksville No. 2 mine because water levels in the active mine have
been rising and, according to Consol, will soon threaten the safety of
400 miners working underground. The company voluntarily stopped the
discharges Sept. 17, during the month-long fish kill that wiped out
almost all aquatic life in 43 miles of the creek along the
Pennsylvania-West Virginia border.
West Virginia's pumping and discharge approval, issued to Consol Friday
and announced by the West Virginia DEP yesterday, is limited and
conditional. It expires April 30 and requires the company to reduce
chloride discharges from the mine as creek water temperatures warm to
reduce chances another toxic bloom of non-native golden algae will
occur.
The West Virginia DEP has blamed the algae for killing between 15,000
and 22,000 fish -- many of them large game fish -- as well as large
salamanders, or "mudpuppies," and 14 species of freshwater mussels,
some of them already ecologically threatened. The algae, normally found
in the South and Southwest, thrives in warm, brackish water conditions
fostered by the mine discharges which are high in dissolved solids and
chlorides.
The order also requires Pittsburgh-based Consol to complete and submit
plans for construction of one or more mine discharge treatment
facilities for its mines in northern West Virginia by April 15. It must
complete construction on the first of those plants, to treat discharges
into Dunkard Creek, by May 31, 2013.
Joe Cerenzia, a Consol spokesman, said pumping from Blacksville No. 2
could begin by the second week of January.
Consol has 10 days to submit what the West Virginia DEP's order terms a
"corrective action plan" to outline a short-term water treatment
strategy that will keep its chloride discharges below the limits set in
the order.
"We're working our way through the order and will adhere to its
mandate," Mr. Cerenzia said. "We won't begin pumping until those
details are worked out."
"So while the risk is low during the cold and wet season, we believe it
is safe for the company to pump down the mine pool as much as
possible," said Scott Mandirola, assistant director of the West
Virginia DEP's Division of Water and Waste Management. "Once the
temperatures begin to rise, more stringent limits will go into effect."
For comparison, water chemistry readings taken at the Blacksville No. 2
mine discharge Sept. 9, in the middle of the fish kill, show chloride
at 6,120 milligrams per liter, the highest found anywhere on the creek
that day.
Those high chloride levels prompted the West Virginia DEP to mandate
that Consol build a facility or facilities capable of treating chloride
and dissolved solids.
Mr. Cerenzia said the company presented several options, including
reverse osmosis, a membrane filtration process that uses pressure to
remove impurities.
"The state thought reverse osmosis or some new technology was the best
option for us, and we agreed that made the most sense," Mr. Cerenzia
said. "Will we need more than one facility? That depends on what we see
in the next few months."
Don Hopey can be reached at dhopey@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1983.