Resuming Discharge an Affront to Environment
Morgantown Dominion Post
27 December 2009.
Letter to the Editor
The recent proposal by West Virginia Department of Environmental
Protection (DEP) to allow Consol Energy to resume dumping its TDS-laden
minepool water into Dunkard Creek is shocking given what has transpired.
My wife and I own land along Dunkard Creek and witnessed the
destruction of one of the greatest warm-water aquatic ecosystems in the
eastern United States.
It is clear that exceptionally high total dissolved solids (TDS) levels
present in Dunkard creek in September 2009 triggered the algal bloom
which extirpated all fish, mussels and other aquatic life.
Sadly, the West Virginia DEP has known about the TDS problem in Dunkard
Creek for more than five years but has taken no action.
DEP data, from as early as 2002, indicated that the water in Dunkard
Creek at the Blacksville No. 2 Mine exceeded twice the maximum TDS
levels set by the federal Environmental Protection Agency.
Instead of taking action to deal with the TDS, the DEP issued a
“compliance order,” giving Consol until 2013 to remedy the problem.
From 2002 until now, Consol has done nothing to fix this problem — they
have made no plans to build a plant to treat their TDS-laden water.
Indeed, it may likely finish their extraction and close Blacksville No.
2 by 2013. The West Virginia DEP’s Patrick Campbell recently said it
was OK to let Consol dump the TDS into Dunkard, because, “So far, there
were still fish living there.”
But could they really imagine that there would be no environmental
problem with exceeding the EPA maximum levels by 200 percent year after
year? This a government agency that is suppose to be protecting the
environment?
Now, Consol cites “miner safety” as the reason it needs to start
dumping its TDS-laden water back into Dunkard Creek. If Consol really
cared about miner safety, it could truck the water to a treatment
plant. Or better yet, it could have built a treatment plant at
Blacksville No. 2 a long time ago.
But sadly, this is all about Consol’s desires for profit. Personally, I
am disgusted by Consol accumulating millions of dollars at the expense
of Dunkard Creek and those of us who use to enjoy it.
Unless you believe that we should just convert Dunkard Creek into a
permanent cesspool, there is no reason why Consol should be allowed to
resume pumping its toxic waste there. Consol has been given plenty of
time to find a solution but has done nothing, so it is only fair that
it should bear the consequences of its lack of action.
Andrew Liebhold
Mount Morris, Pa.