State Still Reviewing Proposed Mine Permit

DEP: No timeline for final approval

Morgantown Dominion Post
29 July 2010
By David Beard

The state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) is still reviewing Patriot Mining Co.’s permit application for a 225-acre expansion of its Cassville-area surface mine, state officials said this week.

“It is still pending review of technical corrections,” said Clarence Wright, DEP senior engineer and application review team leader.

There is no timetable for final approval, added DEP spokesman Tom Aluise. “When it is technically complete, it will be sent to Charleston with our recommendations.”

The DEP’s application milestone record shows there are five steps left in the process, with referral to Charleston being the final step.

The next step will be review and recommendation by the U.S. Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement.

The permit application has a number of opponents, including mine neighbors Jim and Petra Wood and the Sierra Club.

The Woods sent a 15-page letter — as well as pictures — to the DEP in May listing their concerns: Sleep deprivation and stress from 24-hour mining operations, mine proximity to public travel routes, blasting hazards and damage, fly ash dumping, water quality and productive use of private property in the mine’s vicinity.

Sierra Club West Virginia Chapter member Jim Kotcon said the club opposes the proposed expansion of the permit because of the possible hazards stemming from “unregulated dumping of fly ash on the site.”

Fly ash is a product of coal combustion, Patriot and DEP officials previously said, and is trucked to area surface mines from Morgantown Energy Associates’ power plant for mine reclamation — to prevent acid mine drainage.

The problem, Kotcon said this week, is that runoff monitoring is inadequate, the DEP is using an outdated and inadequate test for measuring fly-ash toxicity, and there isn’t sufficient provision to prevent contamination of streams and groundwater.

Kotcon said the U.S. Environmental Protect Agency (EPA) is aware the DEP’s fly-ash test is inadequate, and is proposing new rules for fly-ash disposal — but the rules won’t apply to surface mines, which fall under the U.S. Office of Surface Mining.

There are already surface mines in the area, Kotcon said, including Patriot’s current operation, and there is some data to suggest pollution is ongoing, but there’s no way to determine how extensive contamination might be or to what extent it may contribute to pollution of Scotts Run.

DEP spokeswoman Kathy Cosco said mine surface and ground water locations are sampled for pertinent metals as determined by the Toxicity Characteristic Leaching Procedure (TCLP), based on studies completed in 2007, and baseline water quality sampling.

Additional, updated flyash information will be required from the company on a yearly basis, she said. When the permit is renewed, additional testing is required and the parameters can be adjusted if necessary.

When the EPA commented on this permit, she said, it had no issues with the TCLP or leachate studies.

“So we would argue,” she said, “that the agency has adequate information and data upon whichto base a decision and should the permit be approved, the company would have to adhere to the monitoring program that is built into the requirements of the permit.”

The DEP held a public meeting at the end of May to hear public concerns about the application, but Kotcon said he hasn’t seen the revised paperwork to know if the concerns have been addressed.

Cosco previously told The Dominion Post, “All environmental concerns are analyzed in the review process. Applicable environmental concerns [dust, water quality, property issues, etc.] must have a plan that outlines how the proposed operation will comply with the law and regulations.”

Patriot Mining Co. (not the same as Patriot Coal, which operates in southern West Virginia) is a subsidiary of International Coal Group.

Patriot General Manager Vaughn Miller previously told The Dominion Post, “We believe that the combination of a carefully designed and thoroughly reviewed mine permit application and the conscientious implementation of the approved plan will allow the mine project to coexist peacefully with the local community.”