Questions Continue to Surround Dunkard Creek Fish Kill


West Virginia Public Broadcasting
6 October 2009
By Ben Adducchio

Officials think an algae bloom wiped out thousands of fish, claimed the stream’s mussel population and has just about killed all of the salamanders too. But questions remain about the role mining and gas industries could have played.

The West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection believes the algae could have been brought in by fishermen from its natural habitat in the Southwest.

Last week four watershed groups asked the federal Environmental Protection Agency to take over the investigation into the fish kill on Dunkard Creek.

Betty Wiley is president of the Dunkard Creek Watershed Association, one of the groups that petitioned the EPA.

The agency declined the request, but Wiley says she’s satisfied as long as the EPA is involved.

“I wasn’t sure that the states DEPs were capable of conducting the kind of investigation that we need to have conducted;” she said, “now the EPA is definitely involved.”

Wiley says her organization is disappointed the DEP has allowed Consol to continue polluting into Dunkard Creek, but the watershed association does not plan to sue the state at this time.

Wiley is anxiously waiting for more answers.  She’s eager to see the creek restored.

But that could be a while.

More than a month after the initial fish kill at Dunkard Creek, the once thriving mussel and salamander populations are nearly wiped out.

DNR Biologist Frank Jernejcic says although a final count of dead fish is not certain, the casualties are in the thousands.

He says this fish kill is the worst he’s seen in his career of more than 20 years.

“Because of the uncertainty of the initial cause of the kill, and the complexity related to the fact that fish are dying in several locations at different times, and not in a normal upstream, downstream progression,” he said.

Jernejcic is recording how many live fish remain in the water before plans are made to restore the creek.

Jernejcic found live fish in two places in the creek’s West Virginia portion.

One location is above Blacksville, near the mouth of Miracle Run.

The other is at the Mason-Dixon Historical Park, in the heart of the Dunkard Creek Watershed.

“I don’t expect there are any large fish in any other parts of the stream right now,” he said.

West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection officials say that’s because of an algae bloom, a rarity in these West Virginia waters.

But DEP Secretary Randy Huffman says it might have been aided by Consol coal company’s mine water discharge sites along the creek.

“The algae is the culprit, but the water temperature, the sunlight, and the makeup of the water from the mine drainage have worked together to create the perfect storm for this algae,” he said.

There are two points along the creek where mine water is discharged into stream- Consol’s Blacksville and St. Leo plants.

Officials have not determined what role the mine water may have played in the fish kill.

Company spokesman Joe Cerenzia says Consol is not to blame.

Consol was also taking water from Dunkard Creek to augment other streams impacted by the company’s activities but stopped doing this after the fish kill.

“We’ve also siphoned the water from Dunkard from the creek for our operations at Blacksville 2. Since this occurrence, we have ceased to siphon any water or take any water from Dunkard for any reason,” he said.

“Logically, because of the situation ongoing and because the West Virginia DEP has asked us not to take any water from there anymore, which we are not.”

The state does not regulate water withdrawals. Lower water levels from the withdrawals and lack of rain could have made chlorides in the stream more concentrated.

Consol was also injecting coalbed methane gas wastewater into the Blacksville mine.

They stopped this at the DEP’s request last week.

The DEP says stopping the injections will help determine what if any impact this wastewater had on the creek.

Consol spokesman, Tom Hoffman, again backs up the company’s position that its activities are not the culprit.

“There’s no evidence that CBM water characteristics are what we are looking at. Everything that we’ve done, whether it’s that CBM water disposal or discharge from Blacksville 2 is a permitted activity,” he said.

The DEP has issued compliance orders to Consol three times, each extending the company’s deadline to meet chloride standards.

In the two most recent compliance orders, the DEP also suspended water quality standards, something the agency cannot do without approval from the Environmental Protection Agency.

The EPA is currently reviewing the compliance orders.

Reporter Erica Peterson contributed to this story.