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This article originally provided by
The Charleston Gazette
Hobet given nearly two more years to end
violations
By Ken Ward Jr.
Staff writer
CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Hobet Mining Inc. will pay a nearly $1.5
million fine to resolve a lawsuit by state regulators over repeated
selenium water-quality violations from its sprawling mountaintop
removal operations along the Lincoln-Boone county line.
Hobet also will give the West Virginia Department of Environmental
Protection $500,000 worth of rocks, perform two studies of selenium
impacts, and get credit for $1.5 million in "supplemental
environmental protections," for installing selenium treatment
systems at its mines.
As part of the deal, DEP officials are giving Hobet nearly two more
years to stop those pollution violations.
A national expert on selenium has warned that the pollution is
poisoning Mud River fish, leaving some with deformities and pushing
the river ecosystem "to the brink of a major toxic event."
DEP Secretary Randy Huffman is fighting a state appeals board ruling
that ordered his agency to more closely scrutinize industry efforts
to clean up selenium pollution.
However, environmental group lawyers are hoping that federal court
lawsuits will stop the industry and the DEP from continuing to delay
compliance with West Virginia's water-quality limits for the toxic
mineral.
"For six or seven years now, the operators and the DEP have known
that the coal industry has a huge problem with selenium," said Joe
Lovett, lawyer with the Appalachian Center for the Economy and the
Environment. "We have tried to ensure that the state actually
enforces the law, but the state is doing everything it can to allow
the industry to violate the law."
Selenium, a naturally occurring element found in many rocks and
soils, is an antioxidant that is needed in very small amounts for
good health. In slightly larger amounts, though, selenium can be
toxic. In aquatic life, very small amounts have been found to cause
reproductive problems.
In 2003, a broad federal government study of mountaintop removal
coal mining found repeated violations of water-quality limits for
selenium in water downstream from mining operations.
Coal industry lobbyists have tried - so far unsuccessfully - to
persuade lawmakers and the DEP to relax West Virginia's selenium
limits. In 2004 and again in 2007, the DEP moved instead to give
dozens of coal operations extensions of time to fix their selenium
violations.
The selenium problems also have prompted a variety of legal actions,
including administrative appeals, state court complaints and federal
court lawsuits.
Last month, the state Environmental Quality Board mostly upheld the
DEP's actions, but board members also criticized the agency for
giving coal companies blanket compliance extensions.
The DEP has appealed the board ruling to Kanawha Circuit Court. A
hearing is scheduled for Friday before Judge Duke Bloom.
Meanwhile, environmental groups filed federal lawsuits against Hobet
and a sister company, Apogee Coal. Those lawsuits seek federal court
orders that require the companies to halt their selenium violations.
After the West Virginia Highlands Conservancy and the Ohio Valley
Environmental Coalition began their citizen enforcement actions, the
DEP decided to file its own lawsuit against Hobet in Boone Circuit
Court.
Under the law, if state regulators are diligently pursuing their own
case, environmental groups can't file citizen lawsuits.
Earlier this month, the DEP reached a proposed settlement with Hobet
to resolve the agency's circuit court lawsuit over the company's
selenium violations.
The settlement includes an initial payment of $500,000 in fines, and
then 10 monthly payments of just less than $99,000 - for a total of
$1.48 million in fines.
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