DEP Chief: Algae Bloom Killed Dunkard Creek
DEP Secretary Randy Huffman said mine discharges made creek
conditions ripe for killer algae
West Virginia Public Broadcasting
24 September 2009
By Erica Peterson and Scott Finn
September 24, 2009 · West Virginia DEP Secretary Randy Huffman
is blaming an algae bloom for killing hundreds of fish, mussels and
salamanders earlier this month in Dunkard Creek.
He said the conditions in the creek were ripe for the algae bloom
because of high levels of chloride and other dissolved solids, as well
as the creek’s temperature.
Huffman blamed golden algae, or chrysophytes, a large group of algae,
found mostly in freshwater -- usually in the desert Southwest and
warmer climates than West Virginia.
“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,” Huffman said.
He says the algae can flourish in areas with high chloride levels and
other total dissolved solids – such as exist now on Dunkard Creek.
Those chloride levels were high, he said, in part because of discharges
from Consol Energy’s Blacksville No. 2 mine and an acid mine drainage
treatment facility upstream at St. Leo.
He said those levels appear to have increased recently. One possible
culprit is a new borehole on the Pennsylvania side that’s injecting
polluted water into the mine void.
Huffman did not say what that borehole was, but last month, the EPA
fined CNX Gas Co. more than $150,000 for failing to properly staff the
site of a shaft injection well in Green County, according to the
Observer-Reporter in Washington, Pa.
The EPA permitted the well in 2005 for disposal of CNX Gas Co. coal bed
methane brine.
Since at least 2002, DEP officials have known that Consol’s discharges
were violating federal water quality standards.
But in 2004, 2007 and 2008, the agency gave them additional time to
comply. The most recent compliance order sets a deadline of 2013 for
Consol to meet Clean Water Act standards.
In August 2008, the Appalachian Center for the Economy and the
Environment notified state officials it intended to sue. It was trying
to force Consol to comply with the federal Clean Water Act.
Just hours later, DEP officials sent out a public notice of its intent
to give Consol until 2013 to meet chloride standards.
On Wednesday, Consol Energy’s spokesman Tom Hoffman also blamed an
algae bloom for the fish kill. But he did not believe it is connected
to his company’s discharges.
Dunkard Creek meanders over 38 miles on the border of West Virginia and
Pennsylvania, near Morgantown.
Earlier this month, the massive fish kill eliminated more than 160
species of fish, salamanders and endangered mussels from one of the
most biologically-diverse streams in either state.