DEP Asks EPA to Revoke License
Washington, PA Observer-Reporter
14 October 2009
By Bob Niedbala, Staff writer
niedbala@observer-reporter.com
The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection has asked the
federal Environmental Protection Agency to revoke CNX Gas Co.'s permit
to operate a coal bed methane brine disposal well at the closed
Blacksville No. 1 Mine's Morris Run Shaft.
In an Oct. 5 letter to EPA, DEP said it suspects water from parent
company Consol Energy's closed Blacksville No. 1 may be seeping into
Blacksville No. 2 Mine.
Activities at Blacksville No. 1 may have contributed to the fish kill
on Dunkard Creek, DEP said.
Samples from water discharged into Dunkard Creek from the active
Blacksville No. 2 Mine show the mine water is the "primary immediate
source" of the recent fish kill in the creek, DEP said in its letter.
The high levels of total dissolved solids, sulfates and chlorides in
the Blacksville No. 2 mine discharge "make the water similar to sea
water and cannot support the fresh water aquatic community that
previously existed in the creek." DEP said.
The levels of TDS and chlorides are higher than those typically found
in mine water discharges and have created a "brackish water" that would
allow golden algae to flourish in the stream.
West Virginia DEP has said it believes the golden algae and its toxins
may have contributed to the fish kill.
"This would of course be in addition to the detrimental affects on
aquatic life caused by high osmotic pressure associated with these TDS
levels in stream," Pa. DEP said in its letter.
In another letter to Consol Energy, DEP asks the company for
information on the inter-connections between the various mine pools,
including Blacksville No. 1 and Blacksville No. 2, and to explain high
chloride levels in the Blacksville No. 2 Mine discharge.
When asked about possible seepage of water from Blacksville No. 1 into
Blacksville No. 2, Consol spokesman Thomas Hoffman said Tuesday that
even if there is seepage it has had no effect on water quality in
Blacksville No. 2.
Information the company has from sampling water underground at
Blacksville No. 2 since before the Morris Run Shaft disposal well came
into operation shows no changes in regard to chlorides, Hoffman said.
Water from Blacksville No. 2, however, is typically higher in chloride
than water found in other mines, he said. The high chloride level is
apparently "naturally present" in that part of the coal reserve, he
said.
Hoffman also noted treated mine water from Blacksville No. 2 is placed
in a holding pond referred to as the Velone Pond before being
discharged into the creek, and fish in that pond did not die during the
fish kill on the creek.
EPA spokesman David Sternberg said the agency is evaluating DEP's
request and would respond to DEP. The agency permitted the well in 2005
for disposal of brine from the company's coal bed methane wells.
EPA on Aug. 6 issued an administrative order assessing CNX a penalty of
$157,500 for allegedly failing to adequately staff and secure the well
site, monitor the well's cumulative volume and report non-compliance
with its permit.
It noted that between Dec. 23, 2006, and Aug. 20, 2008, no flow meter
was operational at the well to measure cumulative volume and the only
method of recording the volume of discharges at the well was a truck
log book kept on site that not all truck drivers apparently used to
record their loads.
Hoffman previously said violations at the site were corrected in August
2008, long before the fish kill began. Sternberg said the consent
agreement between EPA and the company on the alleged violation has not
yet been finalized.