Time Someone Followed Orders
New state directive to CONSOL Energy helps keep tabs on
quality of waterway
Morgantown Dominion Post - Editorial
3 May 2010
This is one time when someone had better follow orders. Last week, the
state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) issued a new
order to CONSOL Energy. Its Blacksville No. 2 mine and its St. Leo
facility can both continue to discharge mine water into Dunkard Creek,
under certain circumstances.
Although the new order contains no major changes from an earlier one
that expired Friday, this new directive does call for increased
monitoring for algae. CONSOL must also reduce discharges from its St.
Leo facility by 50 percent.
CONSOL has also submitted plans for two treatment facilities for the
watershed that must be up and running by May 2013. The plants would
remove all total dissolved solids (TDS) before discharging into
waterways.
Fresh in the minds of many western Monongalia County residents and
others is the environmental disaster last summer that killed thousands
of fish.
A golden algae bloom released a toxin, effectively killing all aquatic
life in the creek, which runs 43 miles along the Pennsylvania-West
Virginia border.
Mine discharge has been the focus of the West Virginia DEP’s
investigation into elevated TDS that allowed the algae to bloom.
The discharge from Blacksville No. 2 was primarily responsible for the
elevated TDS levels, according to the Pennsylvania Department of
Environmental Protection.
CONSOL ceased its discharges of mine water into Dunkard Creek in
mid-September, shortly after the fish kill was discovered and only
resumed them after clearance from the DEP in January. The discharge
keeps closed sections of the mine from filling with water.
For now, the increased monitoring during warmer weather, the planned
treatment facilities, monthly meetings between CONSOL and the
departments of environmental protection from West Virginia and
Pennsylvania and other measures are all progress.
CONSOL’s discharges into this waterway will legally continue under this
new order, which expires Oct. 31.
Some have yet to reconcile with CONSOL over what happened last year to
Dunkard Creek. Still, we remind them that this company also provides a
livelihood for hundreds of local families and contributes huge sums in
coal severance taxes, and is an integral part of our community.
We also remind CONSOL that it’s important it not only live up to the
letter of the law, but the spirit of these environmental regulations,
too. It only stands to reason that CONSOL, and everyone else who
profits from West Virginia’s natural resources, would want to protect
their investment — those very same natural resources. That’s no
suggestion — that’s an order.