Cleaning Up Dunkard Creek Should Be Priority
Washington, PA Observer-Reporter
6 December 2009
Now that the Environmental Protection Agency has confirmed the massive
fish kill in Dunkard Creek in September was caused by toxins created by
golden algae, the next question is what is going to be done about it?
Consol Energy Inc. maintains discharge from its Blacksville No. 2 Mine
was not solely to blame for the fish kill. Technically, the company
might be right.
Consol wasn't discharging water containing golden algae into Dunkard
Creek. But, the total dissolved solids released by the company in mine
discharge led to the algae blooms.
Without the high TDS levels, there likely would have been no golden
algae and thus no fish kill.
The company stopped pumping water from the mine into Dunkard Creek
Sept. 17 after fish and other aquatic life in the stream began to die.
But waste water is now beginning to build up inside the mine and is
reaching a point at which it could jeopardize the safety of mine
employees.
The DEP and Consol are considering options to lower the water pool in
the mine without possibly causing another algae bloom in Dunkard Creek.
But correcting the current problem is not enough.
Forty-three miles of Dunkard Creek is dead and will likely stay that
way for years to come.
And golden algae has now been found in Whitely Creek, so we might not
yet have seen the end of this.
Consol has spent plenty of money in recent years on advertising, buying
naming rights for ballparks and attempting to improve its public image.
Consol would do better spending money to clean up and repopulate
Dunkard Creek with its native species that were wiped out.
* The sportsmen of Pennsylvania lost a great friend this week when
former Pennsylvania Game Commission board of commissioners member Bob
Gilford died, ironically, as the rifle deer season opened.
Gilford, a native of Lickingville, Clarion County, served on the board
of commissioners in the '90s and '00s and was instrumental in
implementing many of the expanded hunting seasons we now enjoy.
* This paper has received many letters and e-mails regarding a photo
that appeared on the front page on Tuesday that showed Sean Lewis of
Canton Township with his 6-year-old twin boys Brenden and Braden and
the 10-point buck Brenden shot on the opening day of deer season.
Apparently, many of these people aren't aware of the rules and
regulations regarding mentored youth hunts.
As part of the Game Commission's mentored youth program, it is now
legal for those younger than the legal hunting age to take part in the
hunt.
The Lewis family was not breaking the law.
Would I take my 6-year-old hunting and allow him to kill an animal? No.
But Sean Lewis is the father of those boys and is well within his
rights to do what he feels is appropriate with them within the
boundaries of the law.
* Eleven-year-old Bradley McLaughlin of Burgettstown had a memorable
mentored youth hunt, his first, while with his father, Sean, on the
opening day of deer season.
McLaughlin downed a 10-point with a 19-inch spread with antlers in
Allegheny County that measured six inches around at the base on his
first hunt.
The deer weighed 180 pounds field dressed and though it's too early for
it to be officially measured for the Boone and Crockett book, it had a
green score of 141.
Outdoors Editor F. Dale Lolley can be reached at
dlolley@observer-reporter.com