Mine Work Proceeds Though DEP Permit Status is in Question
Washington PA Observer
Reporter
7 January 2011
By Bob Niedbala, Staff writer
niedbala@observer-reporter.com
AMD Reclamation Inc. is now drilling two boreholes into the Humphrey
Mine at Calvin Run in Perry Township to allow it to pump water from the
depths of the closed mine to its Shannopin Mine Steele Shaft treatment
plant.
However, questions about the permitting status of the project, which is
being done by AMD to allow mining to continue in the area, are being
raised by environmental groups as well as by the federal Office of
Surface Mining.
The questions were raised in light of a decision made by the state
Department of Environmental Protection 10 months ago to revoke a
revision to AMD's post-mining permit for the same project.
DEP in February agreed to revoke the permit revision after two
environmental groups filed an appeal claiming the project would
increase pollution in Dunkard Creek and citing DEP's failure to provide
public notice of the permit revision application.
DEP also agreed at that time to pay $20,000 in legal fees to Citizens
for Pennsylvania's Future (PennFuture), which appealed the revision
along with Friends of Dunkard Creek.
Though no application has been filed with DEP for another revision to
AMD's post-mining permit for the Calvin Run project, construction of
the line and drilling of the boreholes are now under way.
"It's a slap in the face," said Kurt Weist, PennFuture senior attorney.
"Somebody's gaming the system."
The groups originally challenged the revision partly because the public
should be able to review and comment on what DEP is doing, said Jim
O'Connell, treasurer of Friends of Dunkard Creek.
"It is very disappointing that after they have been ordered to cease
operations (with the revocation of the permit revision), suddenly the
work starts again," he said.
Members of Friends of Dunkard Creek and PennFuture contacted state and
federal regulatory agencies after noticing work being done at the
Calvin Run site Dec. 23.
After receiving the "citizen's complaint," the Office of Surface Mining
issued a 10-day notice to DEP Dec. 29 requesting detailed information
on the permitting status of the project, Chris Holmes, OSM spokesman,
said.
DEP will have until Jan. 13 to respond to the notice, he said. OSM has
not ordered the work to be halted.
"We will respond appropriately when we receive the information from Pa.
DEP," Holmes said.
DEP issued a statement saying only that it is preparing a response to
the notice.
"There are legal issues involved in this that make it inappropriate for
us to comment further," said Katy Gresh, DEP spokeswoman.
AMD also is now working with DEP to prepare the response, said Charles
Huguenard, AMD vice president. He maintained, however, that the company
had followed the guidance of DEP in permitting the project.
"We feel we have done everything we were advised to do," Huguenard
said. "DEP told us, 'Here is what you need to do' ... we just followed
their guidance."
Huguenard said the company received a National Pollution Discharge
Elimination System Permit for the Calvin Run project from the Greene
County Conservation District.
Lisa Snider, manager of the conservation district, said the district,
however, issued a standard NPDES permit for "surface construction
activities only."
The conservation district does not issue permits related to mining or
water withdrawal associated with mining activities, she said.
Those permits are issued by DEP.
The Steele Shaft plant was constructed by AMD in 2003 with the help of
state funding to treat polluted water from the abandoned Shannopin
Mine. Acidic water in the mine had reached a level at which it could
breach the surface and pollute Dunkard Creek.
The project also allowed Dana Mining Co., a company affiliated with
AMD, to mine Sewickley seam coal above the deeper Pittsburgh seam
previously mined by Shannopin.
As Dana's mining activities continued to move west, the company also
needed to lower the pool of the adjacent Humphrey Mine. In 2005, DEP
granted an informal permit revision to AMD allowing it to pump water
from the Humphrey mine pool to Shannopin and to treat it at Steele
Shaft.
AMD also was granted a permit revision in November 2009 to drill two
boreholes at Calvin Run and construct a pipeline to pump additional
water from Humphrey to Steele Shaft, a revision DEP revoked in February
after the appeal was filed.
PennFuture and Friends of Dunkard Creek opposed the permit revision,
saying the project would only allow AMD to discharge additional
polluted water high in total dissolved solids into Dunkard Creek.
The Steele Shaft plant cannot treat total dissolved solids and was
originally issued a permit to discharge mine water under less
restrictive standards because of the threatening breakout at Shannopin.
No threat of a breakout exists at Humphrey, Weist said.
Consol is currently treating water from Humphrey at a treatment plant
in West Virginia and maintains the Humphrey pool level as required by
its permits.
The Calvin Run project was undertaken "purely to allow the extraction
of coal from the Sewickley seam" in the area of the Humphrey Mine,
Weist said.
Weist also pointed out the renewal of the Steele Shaft plant's
discharge permit is now more than two years overdue. DEP's own water
quality experts have recommended that more stringent water quality
limits be included in the permit renewal, he said.