AMD Reclamation, inc., is Longview's affiliate that was treating water. Originally, they were supposed to treat the water clean enough for Longview to use as cooling water, but instead, they have an expired permit that allows water to discharge with pollutants above water quality standards. While ConSol's discharge appears to be a primary source of the discharges near the headwaters of Dunkard Creek that led to the Golden algae bloom and fish kill in Sept. 2009, the discharges from AMD Reclamation's plant (about five miles above the mouth of Dunkard Creek) appears to be the primary source of pollution that had already killed the lower five miles of Dunkard Creek. Now they are at it again.
Mine work proceeds though DEP permit status is in question 1/7/2011 3:32 AM
By Bob Niedbala, Staff writer
niedbala@observer-reporter.com
AMD Reclamation Inc. is now drilling two boreholes into the Humphrey Mine at Calvin Run in Perry Township to allow it to pump water from the depths of the closed mine to its Shannopin Mine Steele Shaft treatment plant.
However, questions about the permitting status of the project, which is being done by AMD to allow mining to continue in the area, are being raised by environmental groups as well as by the federal Office of Surface Mining.
The questions were raised in light of a decision made by the state Department of Environmental Protection 10 months ago to revoke a revision to AMD's post-mining permit for the same project.
DEP in February agreed to revoke the permit revision after two environmental groups filed an appeal claiming the project would increase pollution in Dunkard Creek and citing DEP's failure to provide public notice of the permit revision application.
DEP also agreed at that time to pay $20,000 in legal fees to Citizens for Pennsylvania's Future (PennFuture), which appealed the revision along with Friends of Dunkard Creek.
Though no application has been filed with DEP for another revision to AMD's post-mining permit for the Calvin Run project, construction of the line and drilling of the boreholes are now under way.
"It's a slap in the face," said Kurt Weist, PennFuture senior attorney. "Somebody's gaming the system."
The groups originally challenged the revision partly because the public should be able to review and comment on what DEP is doing, said Jim O'Connell, treasurer of Friends of Dunkard Creek.
"It is very disappointing that after they have been ordered to cease operations (with the revocation of the permit revision), suddenly the work starts again," he said.
Members of Friends of Dunkard Creek and PennFuture contacted state and federal regulatory agencies after noticing work being done at the Calvin Run site Dec. 23.
After receiving the "citizen's complaint," the Office of Surface Mining issued a 10-day notice to DEP Dec. 29 requesting detailed information on the permitting status of the project, Chris Holmes, OSM spokesman, said.
DEP will have until Jan. 13 to respond to the notice, he said. OSM has not ordered the work to be halted.
"We will respond appropriately when we receive the information from Pa. DEP," Holmes said.
DEP issued a statement saying only that it is preparing a response to the notice.
"There are legal issues involved in this that make it inappropriate for us to comment further," said Katy Gresh, DEP spokeswoman.
AMD also is now working with DEP to prepare the response, said Charles Huguenard, AMD vice president. He maintained, however, that the company had followed the guidance of DEP in permitting the project.
"We feel we have done everything we were advised to do," Huguenard said. "DEP told us, 'Here is what you need to do' ... we just followed their guidance."
Huguenard said the company received a National Pollution Discharge Elimination System Permit for the Calvin Run project from the Greene County Conservation District.
Lisa Snider, manager of the conservation district, said the district, however, issued a standard NPDES permit for "surface construction activities only."
The conservation district does not issue permits related to mining or water withdrawal associated with mining activities, she said. Those permits are issued by DEP.
The Steele Shaft plant was constructed by AMD in 2003 with the help of state funding to treat polluted water from the abandoned Shannopin Mine. Acidic water in the mine had reached a level at which it could breach the surface and pollute Dunkard Creek.
The project also allowed Dana Mining Co., a company affiliated with AMD, to mine Sewickley seam coal above the deeper Pittsburgh seam previously mined by Shannopin.
As Dana's mining activities continued to move west, the company also needed to lower the pool of the adjacent Humphrey Mine. In 2005, DEP granted an informal permit revision to AMD allowing it to pump water from the Humphrey mine pool to Shannopin and to treat it at Steele Shaft.
AMD also was granted a permit revision in November 2009 to drill two boreholes at Calvin Run and construct a pipeline to pump additional water from Humphrey to Steele Shaft, a revision DEP revoked in February after the appeal was filed.
PennFuture and Friends of Dunkard Creek opposed the permit revision, saying the project would only allow AMD to discharge additional polluted water high in total dissolved solids into Dunkard Creek.
The Steele Shaft plant cannot treat total dissolved solids and was originally issued a permit to discharge mine water under less restrictive standards because of the threatening breakout at Shannopin.
No threat of a breakout exists at Humphrey, Weist said.
Consol is currently treating water from Humphrey at a treatment plant in West Virginia and maintains the Humphrey pool level as required by its permits.
The Calvin Run project was undertaken "purely to allow the extraction of coal from the Sewickley seam" in the area of the Humphrey Mine, Weist said.
Weist also pointed out the renewal of the Steele Shaft plant's discharge permit is now more than two years overdue. DEP's own water quality experts have recommended that more stringent water quality limits be included in the permit renewal, he said.
Copyright Observer Publishing Co.
OSM asks state to provide information on permitting for AMD Reclamation Inc. project 1/6/2011 5:04 PM
The U.S. Office of Surface Mining has issued a 10-day notice to the state Department of Environmental Protection asking it to provide information on the permitting of a project by AMD Reclamation Inc. to drill two bore holes into the closed Humphrey Mine at Calvin Run in Perry Township.
AMD wants to drill the bore holes and construct a water line to pump mine water from the Humphrey Mine to its Shannopin Mine Steele Shaft treatment plant.
The project would allow Dana Mining Co., a company affiliated with AMD, to mine coal in the area of the Humphrey Mine.
DEP revoked a permit revision to AMD’s post mining activity permit for the same project in February after two environmental groups filed an appeal with the state Environmental Hearing Board.
However, work on the Calvin Run project was started recently, apparently without the granting by DEP of another revision to the post mining permit. DEP said Thursday that it is preparing a response to OSM and would not comment further because the matter may involve legal issues. Copyright Observer Publishing Co.