Fairmont Endowment Fund Would Help Restore Creek

Morgantown Dominion Post
7 April 2010

The 2009 pollution episode that destroyed nearly all aquatic life in Dunkard Creek has resulted in a proposed settlement with CONSOL Energy, which includes $500,000 for restoration of the approximately 20 miles of Dunkard that flows through West Virginia.

As a result of a diesel spill on the Ohio River in 1988, the West Virginia Department of Natural Resources (DNR) sued, resulting in the establishment of a $2.3 million endowment fund where only the interest can be used to improve sports fishing only on the Ohio River.

Dunkard Creek will not have a viable sports fishery for at least several years and perhaps decades as a result of past and future coal and natural gas extraction.

After learning of the secret settlement with CONSOL, as it was announced at the Mason Dixon Historical Park on March 15, I expressed disappointment to state DNR District 1 fisheries manager Frank Jernejcic, who was present.

When I suggested there should be an endowment fund set up for Dunkard Creek so that adult fish could be stocked, creating an immediate sports fishery, Jernejcic claimed he would be the manager of Dunkard Creek and that I have always complained about the stream’s dwindling bass fishery and that there will be no endowment fund for Dunkard Creek.

I should have reminded Jernejcic that the DNR and the state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) were in charge as CONSOL’s mines violated pollution discharge limits numerous times during the four years previous to the 2009 episode and that the stream is now dead.

Due to the decline of native bass and pan fish, I started the Dunkard Creek Watershed Association in 1995, after which Dunkard was stocked many times with adult game fish from private donations, a program that provides many families recreation.

It is outrageous that the proposed settlement between CONSOL and government agencies did not compensate anglers and residents with an endowment fund, that would forever ensure some semblance of a sports fishery in Dunkard Creek.

In not requiring the endowment fund the tentative settlement accepted by the DNR may be violating the law. And most certainly, the DEP and DNR have failed in their duties to protect natural resources and expand recreational opportunity.

A 30-day comment period will allow citizens to express their concerns after a required legal ad appears in The Dominion Post.

An opportunity not offered in the closed-door settlement deal.

Cam Lemley
Core