WV DEP Allows Consol to Pump Mine Water in Dunkard Creek
West Virginia Public Broadcasting
21 December 2009
By Ben Adducchio
The West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection issued an
order that allows Consol Energy to resume pumping mine water with
elevated levels of chloride into Dunkard Creek.
Consol stopped discharging polluted water from its Blacksville No. 2
mine into the creek during a massive fish kill in September.
DEP spokeswoman Kathy Cosco says the order is in effect until April 30
of next year.
“The probability of an algae bloom increases when the water temperature
is 50 degrees or higher,” she said.
“Therefore, when the water temperature is higher, the in-stream limit
that must be met is 860 milligrams per liter for chloride, which is the
acute water quality standard for West Virginia.”
As the water temperature decreases, the company can release almost
twice the acute water quality standard for chloride into the stream.
Cosco says this order allows Consol to store the water during the
summer months when the creek’s temperature is higher.
“It provides them increase storage capacity in that mine pool that when
the summer months come, and you have higher temperatures and lower
flow, they can store more water in those mine pools, when the risk is
higher for another algae bloom,” she said.
The order also requires Consol to monitor chloride and conductivity
levels at the Blacksville No. 2 discharge point.
Consol will also have to submit a proposal for new mine water treatment
plants for its operations in northern West Virginia.
The first draft of a proposal is due April 15 and the project must be
completed by May 31, 2013.
Consol’s compliance schedule with the West Virginia DEP is still in
effect, which gives the company until 2013 to reduce chloride in its
mine water to within water quality standards.
But Cosco says if the company does not provide the DEP with plans for
water treatment plants, the compliance schedule could be rescinded.