Fish Kill Meeting Draws a Crowd
Washington, PA Observer-Reporter
4 Decmeber 2009
By Bob Niedbala, Staff writer
niedbala@observer-reporter.com
MT. MORRIS - State and federal environmental agencies presented updated
reports Thursday on the investigation into the fish kill in September
on Dunkard Creek.
About 200 people attended the meeting, held in Mt. Morris Gospel
Tabernacle and hosted by the Greene County Conservation District and
the Upper Monongahela River Association.
Most people stayed for the entire 4 1/2 hour-session, listening as each
of the agencies presented its findings.
A few in the audience also expressed frustration, not primarily with
actions taken by the agencies after the fish kill but with what had
been done in the past that may have played a role in causing it.
Verna Presley of Brave asked whether the agencies simply wait until
something like a fish kill happens before they take action.
Presley said she had planned to create an educational area on property
she owns along Dunkard Creek. Now, she said, those plans are destroyed
"because people were not doing their jobs."
Presley spoke specifically of the permitting by the Environmental
Protection Agency of a coal bed methane brine disposal well at the
Morris Run Shaft of Blacksville No. 1 Mine and the company's failure to
staff or monitor the site.
One of the shortest reports presented came from Tom Crist of the
Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission, who declined to discuss the
commission's findings.
"This is a criminal case for us, so it's confidential," he said. Crist
said his agency has already referred the matter to the Pennsylvania
State Attorney General's Office.
The fish kill was first reported Sept. 1. Fish, mussels and salamanders
in a 43-mile section of the stream died.
Frank Jernejcic, West Virginia Department of Natural Resources
fisheries biologist, said the kill wiped out all the mussels and more
than 20 species of fish in the stream. His agency, on the West Virginia
portion of the stream, had counted between 15,000 and 22,000 dead fish.
Investigators believe toxins created by a bloom of golden algae was
responsible for the kill. They also believe high total dissolved solids
in the water, largely from mine water discharges, likely created
favorable conditions in which the algae could bloom.
During the fish kill, very high levels of TDS were found at the outfall
of Consol Energy's Blacksville No. 2 Mine.
The mine stopped pumping water from the mine Sept. 17, and TDS levels
in the stream dropped, said Pat Campbell, assistant director for water
and waste management for West Virginia Department of Environmental
Protection.
Several members of the audience questioned why W.Va. DEP had allowed
Consol to exceed federal water quality standards for the discharge of
chloride, a component of TDS, since 2004 at Blacksville No. 2 Mine.
Campbell said the agency had first denied Consol's request for a
variance to exceed the levels and the company appealed. The agency
later came to an agreement with the company that requires it to correct
the problem by September 2013.
At the time the agreement was reached, Campbell said, the levels of
chloride in the water had not caused extensive damage to the creek. No
one had any reason to believe the chloride or TDS levels would increase
the way they did, he said.
One person asked whether coal bed methane brine disposed of at the
Morris Run disposal site had entered into Blacksville No. 2, causing
the high levels of TDS in the Blacksville No. 2 discharge.
Angela McFadden, an environmental engineer with the EPA, said the
agency has no information to connect the Morris Run shaft with Dunkard
Creek.
Consol spokesman Joe Cerenzia, who attended the meeting, said the
company believes there are "still too many unknowns" to conclude what
led to the fish kill. The company is working with the investigating
agencies, he said, and hopes to be part of the solution.