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This news story originally provided by The Charleston Gazette
Acid mine drainage focus of Mettiki case
In May, West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection
officials in Charleston overruled agency field staff members and
approved a permit for a new Mettiki Coal Co. underground mine.
When they did so, top DEP officials did not meet with regional
staff or discuss the staff’s reasons for recommending that the
permit be rejected.
“I don’t recall talking to anyone,” Jim Pierce, the DEP’s
top permit engineer in Charleston, told the state Surface Mine Board
on Tuesday. “I pretty much went off on my own.”
Now, the DEP permit approval is the focus on an appeal filed by
the three statewide environmental groups.
The West Virginia Highlands Conservancy, Trout Unlimited and the
West Virginia Rivers Coalition fear the Mettiki mine will pollute
streams with acid mine drainage.
They also worry that the Mettiki permit will be the first in a
series of mining proposals to jump-start mining in parts of West
Virginia where acid mine drainage is likely to occur.
Permit reviewers at the DEP’s regional office in Philippi
agreed, and recommended denying the application. But, the permit,
which was lobbied for by former Wise administration chief of staff
Mike Garrison, was bumped to agency headquarters in Charleston, and
quickly approved.
During the first day of hearings Tuesday, Pierce said politics
did not play into his decision to recommend approval.
“I was told to look at it, but I was never told to make a
specific decision,” Pierce told the mine board.
In the case, Mettiki wants the board to back DEP approval of its
latest proposal to expand its underground mining operations in Grant
and Tucker counties.
Over the past two years, a series of permit proposals was blocked
by the DEP, but then partially allowed by the mine board on appeal.
In this permit application, Mettiki proposes to open what it
calls the E Mine at Gatzmer, between Mount Storm and Davis.
In October 2003, DEP Secretary Stephanie Timmermeyer rejected the
plan. Timmermeyer said her staff had concluded that the mine would
cause a perpetual discharge of acid mine drainage. Then, Mettiki
hired Garrison, who brokered a special meeting with the DEP and with
Wise for company officials.
Mettiki submitted a new mining plan that called for neutralizing
the mine water underground with alkaline materials to avoid any
pollution. DEP officials in Philippi said they didn’t think the
plan would work, but agency headquarters disagreed.
“The plan will prevent acid mine drainage from ever
developing,” Pierce said during testimony Tuesday in Charleston.
Under questioning from environmental group lawyer Joe Lovett,
Pierce said he never went over the Philippi office’s concerns
before overruling them.
“I kind of ignored the fact that a denial had been recommended,
because I wanted to look at this with an open mind,” Pierce said.
“I was looking at it with a fresh set of eyes.”
The mine board hearings are expected to continue today, and
perhaps reconvene in November.
To contact staff writer Ken Ward Jr., use e-mail or call
348-1702.
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