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This article originally provided by
The Charleston Gazette
Board members ruled that DEP officials did not
properly consider potential acid mine drainage from the mine and
approved an inadequate ICG plan to treat that water pollution.
By Ken Ward Jr.
Staff writer
CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- For the second time in a year, a state
appeals board has thrown out Department of Environmental Protection
approval of a new underground mine proposed by International Coal
Group for Taylor County.
The state Surface Mine Board this week released its decision
reversing DEP's approval of a permit for ICG's Tygart No. 1 Mine.
Board members ruled that DEP officials did not properly consider
potential acid mine drainage from the mine and approved an
inadequate ICG plan to treat that water pollution.
Scott Depot-based ICG proposed to mine about 3.5 million tons of
coal per year for more than a dozen years at the mine site southeast
of Grafton. The longwall operation would employ about 350 people and
cover about 6,000 acres underground next to Tygart Lake and the
state park there.
A citizen group, Taylor Environmental Advocacy Membership, or TEAM,
challenged the permit. Members are concerned about the proposed
longwall mine's possible impacts on area streams and springs, and
about subsidence damage to their homes.
In November 2007, the mine board ruled that DEP was wrong to grant a
permit for the mine. Board members ordered DEP to make ICG submit a
new analysis of the mine's potential impacts on water quality and
quantity. DEP was required to then study that analysis, and write a
new report on the mine's potential cumulative hydrologic impacts.
DEP officials were told to use that new report to determine if the
permit should be issued.
During a hearing on that permit, an expert who testified for the
citizens predicted that longwall mining subsidence would likely
re-channel the flow of area groundwater and surface water. Once the
mining stopped, the expert projected, the mined-out area would
likely fill with that water.
At the same time, the expert said, the water - now laden with toxic
iron - would begin to seep out into what was left of the area's
streams.
In their new ruling, board members found that a new ICG
"contingency plan" for dealing with acid mine drainage was
"inadequate."
"The board finds that the contingency plan is open-ended with no
clear limits, timelines or monitoring regime required by the
permit," the board said.
Board members found the plan did not explain how material damage to
streams would be identified, and included no enforceable monitoring
requirements that would allow pollution to be controlled.
Gene Kitts, senior vice president of ICG, said the company was
"obviously disappointed" by the board ruling and would "be closely
reviewing the ruling to determine the best course of action to
address their concerns."
"We believe the Tygart No. 1 mine plan is environmentally
responsible and meets all state and federal regulatory
requirements," Kitts said. "That makes us confident that the
perceived deficiencies in the WVDEP mining permit can be
appropriately resolved and that development of our planned Tygart
No. 1 underground mine can proceed."
But Cindy Rank, mining chairwoman for the West Virginia Highlands
Conservancy, praised the board's ruling and said it supports citizen
concerns about water pollution in the acid-producing seams of
northern West Virginia.
"These deep mines in the acidic areas are really time bombs waiting
to happen," Rank said Thursday. "We really have to prevent acid mine
drainage from happening, not try to clean it up later."
Reach Ken Ward Jr. at kw...@wvgazette.com or 348-1702.
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