Northern Coalfield Residents Vent About Mining Resurgence

During a recent community center meeting in Monongalia County, citizens met with coal company officials and the state to discuss possible problems.

The State Journal
14 October 2010
By Pam Kasey

PURSGLOVE -- Frustration with the state Department of Environmental Protection came through loud and clear Oct. 7 among northern coalfield residents attending a public meeting about blasting and dust.

Residents, representatives of the DEP and Division of Highways, and miners and officials from International Coal Group's Patriot Mining Co. attended the meeting called by delegates Bob Beach, Barbara Evans Fleischauer, Charlene Marshall and Alex Shook, all D-Monongalia. Fleischauer and Marshall moderated the meeting.

"These mines lie so close to so many homes in the community, the residents here are facing many problems, and they include such things as damage to homes and property from the blasting," said resident Petra Wood.

"The fugitive dust affects our homes, the roads, the air quality," she continued. "There's loss or contamination of water in wells that people have been experiencing. The heavy equipment, noise, lights and general disturbance affect us 24 hours a day. There's massive numbers of coal trucks and ash trucks on the roads, there's stream erosion, mud slides -- all kinds of issues."

The residents' frustrations emerge at a time when surface mining is rebounding in northern West Virginia.

Following the Clean Air Act amendments of 1990, electric power producers shifted to lower sulfur coal from southern West Virginia and other places to meet sulfur dioxide emissions reduction requirements.

But demand for northern coal has resurged as more power plants install scrubbers to reduce sulfur dioxide emissions.

Production in Monongalia County from Patriot's New Hill complex and other surface mines tripled from a low of 335,000 tons in 2002 to more than a million tons in 2008 -- a number more reminiscent of the mid-1990s.

More mines are in the permitting process now, and DEP finds itself caught in the middle of rising conflict between residents and coal producers.

Betsy Lawson, who has lived in her home for 32 years, said her house's walls are cracked and the cistern and ponds no longer hold water -- damage she considers the legacy of nearby mining activity for 20 years and counting.

Two blasts the previous Friday felt like earthquakes, she said.

Other residents chimed in with similar complaints: explosions that rattle dishes on shelves, cracks in walls and foundations, windows that no longer open and close properly.

DEP and Patriot emphasized that blasting is a science. They said the U.S. Bureau of Mines has conducted thousands of tests to set standards that are protective of structures, and coal companies go out of their way to stay well within those standards.

"Just because you can feel it does not constitute damage," said Patriot CEO Tom Jones.

Mining companies are required to conduct pre-blast surveys of every structure within one-half mile of any blasting site, said DEP Office of Explosives and Blasting Chief Dave Vande Linde.

DEP will set up seismographs for anyone who wants the impact of blasting on their property measured, Vande Linde said, and inspectors will review blasting logs and inspect houses for damage.

Twenty-six homeowners near one mine have complained of damage, Wood said, and in each case, inspectors concluded that any damage was not due to blasting.

"You're assuming there's no damage because the rules were followed," said one resident.

Fleischauer moved on to the second primary issue of the meeting: fugitive dust.

ICG has agreed to repave a half-mile section of a local road that is, in part, gravel, explained state Division of Highways Design Engineer Bryan Radabaugh. Heavy truck traffic is breaking up the gravel and creating the dust on the road and in the air, Radabaugh said, and repaving and other road improvements should solve the problem.

Some residents disagreed. They believe the dust is fly ash that is trucked from the Morgantown Energy Associates power plant in Morgantown to be spread on the mine. They're concerned about breathing the dust and, in particular, health effects of heavy metals associated with coal combustion residues.

A sample from beside the road tested with characteristics very different from fly ash, said Mike Carico of the DEP.

If the repaving doesn't work, he said, they may encourage Patriot to install a wheel wash.

Heavy metals became a point of contention that reflects resident frustration with the DEP.

The test used by the DEP to assess the toxicity of coal ash has been found to be inadequate by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, which recommends a suite of other tests, said James Kotcon, chairman of the Energy Committee of the West Virginia chapter of the Sierra Club.

Jones later asked the audience, "Do you think that the DEP would go along with (the coal ash toxicity test) if they thought it wasn't accurate?"

"Yes!" came a resounding response.

Three residents, two of them miners, presented their view that living near the surface mines has not disrupted their lives in any way.

DEP Environmental Advocate Pam Nixon suggested more frequent communication between the residents and Patriot, an arrangement that has helped in other communities.

After the meeting, Marshall said, "I hope the companies will take (Nixon's) advice in working together."