State Funds May Help Pay for Deckers Creek Cleanup
Project will include water filtration plant near Richard Mine
Morgantown Dominion Post
25 September 2009
By Brandy Brubaker
Friends of Deckers Creek and the West Virginia Department of
Environmental Protection (DEP) are working together to drum up funds to
clean up Deckers Creek, officials of both groups said Thursday.
Water in Deckers Creek running behind W.Va. 7
in Sabraton appears to be more orange than usual. Friends of Deckers
Creek said it's because the water level is low, making the orange creek
bed more visible.
Ron Rittenhouse/The Dominion Post
Earlier this year; Friends of Deckers Creek learned that the DEP was
wavering on money it had pledged to help clean up a 5-mile portion of
the creek damaged by acid mine drainage below Richard Mine when the
Dell-slow group tried to get the DEP's pledge in writing. DEP officials
weren't sure if money would be available for the project, as they were
trying to focus on other higher priority projects involving health and
safety issues and were uncertain how much money would be required to
clean up the creek.
But the two groups met recently and hammered out a plan to fund the
project — which will include the building of a water filtration plant.
According to the proposal, the DEP will pay 80 percent of the operation
and maintenance costs and Friends of Deckers Creek will be responsible
for 20 percent.
Friends of Deckers Creek Executive Director Sarah Veselka said, using
preliminary estimates, that could amount to a $1.5 million total
contribution from Friends of Deckers Creek and about $6 million from
DEP. The money will be deposited in annual portions from 2011 to 2022 —
when the DEP Abandoned Mine Lands funds expire. Operating and
maintaining the plant should cost between $300,000 and $500,000 a year,
she said.
National Resources Conservation Service, a federal program, will pay
the $3.25 million to build the plant that will clean the creek's water.
The plant could be operational in 2016, will employ one person, and
might be built on top of the hill in Richard. An exact site has not
been confirmed.
Veselka said Friends of Deckers Creek hopes to partner with the city,
the county, private donors and foundations to meet its project
obligation. "It could prove difficult for us to raise that kind of
money, but I think the Morgantown area wants it," she said.
If Deckers Creek is clean, people can swim in the water and fish will
once again thrive. Veselka said, in a clean portion above Richard Mine,
fishermen have caught 13-inch small mouth bass.
Eric Coberly, of the DEP's Office of Abandoned Mine Lands and
Recreation, said the DEP just wanted to find the best and most
cost-effective way to clean up the creek.
TO DONATE to Friends of Deckers Creek, mail a check to P.O. Box 877,
Dellslow, WV 26531.