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This news story originally provided by
The Charleston Gazette
By Ken Ward Jr.
Staff writer
Federal regulators have found dozens of major problems
with a Mettiki Coal Co. underground mine permit that the
state Department of Environmental Protection already
approved.
The U.S. Office of Surface Mining findings back up
complaints from state environmental groups, who fear the
mine will eventually pour acid mine drainage into streams.
Late last week, Roger Calhoun, director of the OSM field
office in Charleston, rejected the DEP’s response to those
citizen complaints as “arbitrary, capricious and an abuse of
discretion.”
OSM rarely gets directly involved in the review and
issuance of state mining permits. But in this case, many
observers believe the Mettiki permit is the first of a
series of proposals that could reopen the acid
drainage-producing coal seams of north-central West Virginia
to new mining.
“What we see here is a technology that has promise,” DEP
lawyer Tom Clarke said in defending the Mettiki proposal
before the state Surface Mine Board. “Hopefully, it will be
a model for future efforts to mine in the acid-producing
seams of northern West Virginia.”
In May 2004, DEP approved the permit for Mettiki’s E Mine
along the Grant-Tucker county line.
Mettiki says it would control acid mine drainage by
pumping polluted water into the underground mine works
before it is released into streams.
Once underground, the water would be treated with
alkaline materials to reduce acidity. It would also be
deprived of oxygen to keep more acid from forming.
But in a series of reports made public this week, OSM
experts say the plan is “an experimental method ... which
has not been successful elsewhere.”
“Every previous attempt to do this or something similar
has been a failure,” wrote OSM hydrologist Jay Hawkins.
In three separate reports, Hawkins and OSM hydrologists
Tom Galya and George Gunn analyzed the Mettiki permit in
response to a citizen complain filed by Joe Lovett of the
Appalachian Center for the Economy and the Environment.
Mettiki and DEP had predicted the E Mine’s discharge
would need treatment for 17 years, and then be clean.
OSM experts projected the discharge could actually
contain 30 times the legal limit of iron for decades to
come.
Among the problems the OSM reports identified in the
Mettiki permit and DEP’s approval of it:
Neither the company nor DEP is clear on how much water
would be pumped into or drained out of the underground mine
workings. One permit document says 767 gallons per minute;
another 588 gallons per minute.
Without such basic information, OSM experts said, it is
impossible to accurately predict the long-term effects on
water quality.
Mettiki and DEP agreed that there was no way for oxygen
to enter the underground mine workings to foster the
formation of more acid.
OSM found that the company and the state did not account
for numerous potential pathways. Federal officials said,
“There is no data from any other mine showing that oxygen
can be excluded completely.”
In backing up their plans, Mettiki and DEP cited
examples that OSM said are not comparable to the E Mine
situation.
For example, DEP cited a report by state hydrologist
George Jenkins that dealt with alkaline treatment of coal
refuse piles, not underground mines.
“It doesn’t take a hydrologist to realize that the
physical hydrology of the two is vastly different,” OSM’s
Hawkins wrote.
“This is analogous to comparing pineapples and hand
grenades,” Hawkins wrote. “They may look similar, but that
is as far as it goes.”
In response to his staff’s reports, Calhoun said that he
would launch an even more detailed OSM investigation of the
Mettiki permit.
But even before that can happen, the state plans to
appeal Calhoun’s decision to the federal Interior Board of
Land Appeals, said Randy Huffman, director of mining and
reclamation at DEP.
“I think there is a fundamental disagreement between the
technical people in our agencies,” Huffman said.
Originally, DEP in October 2003 rejected the Mettiki
permit. At that time, agency officials said it would cause
an illegal, perpetual source of acid mine drainage.
Then, Mettiki hired former Wise administration chief of
staff Mike Garrison, who brokered a special meeting with the
DEP and with Wise for company officials.
Mettiki submitted a new mining plan. DEP regional staff
in Philippi said they didn’t think it would work, but agency
officials in Charleston overruled them and issued the
permit.
In February, the state Surface Mine Board deadlocked in
an appeal of the Mettiki permit, a move that allowed the
DEP’s approval to stand.
To contact staff writer Ken Ward Jr., use e-mail or
call 348-1702.
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