DEP Issues Coal Mine Water Pollution Permit Guidance
The guidance is aimed at addressing U.S. EPA concerns about water
quality downstream of surface mines and may free up a backlog of more
than 40 mine permits.
The State Journal
12 August 2010
By Pam Kasey
The West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection released
guidance Aug. 12 for water pollution permits for surface mines.
The guidance has been expected since January, when DEP Secretary Randy
Huffman issued an internal policy memo in January stating that the
department would temporarily set aside coal mine permit applications
proposing valley fills.
DEP needed to establish a protocol for implementing narrative water
quality standards, Huffman said at the time — standards such as “no
significant adverse impact” to aquatic ecosystems, as opposed to more
easily implemented numeric standards — so the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency would stop forcing permit rewrites.
Studies conducted by DEP staff as well as comments solicited from the
public were used in the development of the guidance, according to a
media release.
The guidance document addresses matters such as reasonable potential
analyses for aquatic impacts downstream and extensive monitoring before
and during mining to ensure that aquatic life is adequately protected.
“This document will result in changes that are markedly different from
how mining has been conducted for the last 30 years,” Huffman said in
the release.
As of mid-July, 44 coal mine permits were on hold awaiting the new
guidance, according to information provided to The State Journal at the
time by DEP Division of Mining and Reclamation Director Thomas Clarke.
The guidance is dynamic and likely will be modified as technology and
best management practices develop and improve, according to DEP.
It is designed to be adapted in the future to address all discharges to
water bodies that will cause, or that have the reasonable potential to
cause or contribute to, excursions from narrative water quality
standards.