The Sunday Dominion Post ran a story listing 21 stream where conditions exist to which the Golden Algae could spread.

 

Would there be some benefit to asking DEP to promulgate an emergency rule to 1) establish a TDS standard, at least on those streams, and 2) to prohibit water withdrawals from Dunkard Creek to contain the spread of the Golden Algae?

 

An emergency rule would only persist for 18 months, and is intended to give DEP time to get a permanent rule through legislative rule-making, but it would be something they could do to demonstrate resolve in halting the fish kill.  Given the nature of the fish kill, I think we (or they) could make a credible argument that this constitutes an emergency and warrants an emergency rule.

 

Whaddya Tink?

 

JBK

>>> "Beth Little" <blittle@citynet.net> 10/18/2009 5:19 PM >>>

 

 

 

Attached and below are some recent articles about the fish kill in Dunkard Creek.  This is emerging as a major issue, and any suggestions for how to proceed would be welcome.  Some local activists are meeting Monday at 11:45 at Zen Clay in Morgantown (join us if you can), but any ideas from anywhere would be appreciated.  My initial perception is that the fish kill is simply a symptom of the long-running lack of enforcement by DEP, and the Club's current legal action is already addressing those issues.  But those will take years, and we really need to be coming up with solutions before this stuff spreads.

 

Jim Kotcon

304-293-8822 (office)

304-594-3322 (home)

>>> "Donald C. Strimbeck" <dcsoinks@comcast.net> 10/18/2009 9:03 AM >>>

 

 

DUNKARD CREEK-DP-18OctY2K9

Front page Morgantown Dominion Post Sunday 18 October 2009:

http://olive.dominionpost.com/Repository/ml.asp?Ref=RFBvc3QvMjAwOS8xMC8xOCNBcjAwMTAx&Mode=Gif&Locale=english-skin-custom

21 streams at risk for fish kill algae

 

7 Mon creeks on watch list

 

BY DAVID BEARD The Dominion Post

 

   The West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) fears 21 other state streams have conditions conducive for growth of the same Dunkard Creek fishkill algae.
During an interim meeting last week, the Joint Legislative Oversight Commission on State Water Resources also learned:
The golden algae toxins killed the fish and mussels, but no one yet knows how the algae got there. Legislative action may be needed to control the conditions that could lead to future outbreaks. The puzzle has to be solved before fish can be returned to Dunkard Creek.
   As investigators learned what makes the algae thrive, particularly the total dissolved solids (organic and inorganic minerals, salts, metals and other matter), Scott Mandirola of the West Virginia DEP said, they began asking, “What other streams are potentially affected by this?”
   They compiled a list of 21 waterways of about 10 miles or more in length that had the right “conductivity,” a measure of the flow of electric current that reflects TDS levels.
   “Those streams are now identified as being potentially at risk if these algae were allowed to spread,” he said.
   Frank Jernejcic, District 1 fisheries biologist for the West Virginia Division of Natural Resources (DNR) identified seven of them, besides Dunkard, as being in this area — the Monongahela River drainage basin: Buffalo Creek, Elk Creek, Bingamon Creek, Paw Paw Creek, Pyles Fork, Indian Creek and Dents Run.
   Jernejcic told the commission that the algae outbreak has eliminated about 99 percent of the fish along the 30-mile stretch of Dunkard Creek in West Virginia.
   The kill destroyed 18 species of fish and 14 species of mussels — all the mussels in the creek — he said.
   He didn’t have information on the extent of the fish kill in the Pennsylvania portion of the creek. The Pennsylvania DEP referred questions to Eric Levis, spokesman for the Pennsylvania Fish & Boat Commission, who did not return calls placed over the course of two days.

Investigators search for algae source    

Mandirola told the legislators that the golden algae, known as Prymnesium parvum, first appeared in Texas in 1985. It mainly kills fish and, unlike red tide, isn’t harmful to humans.
   Experts analyzed some of the dead fish, he said, and confirmed algae toxins killed them — affecting the livers and gills most severely.
   Investigators know the algae likes brackish water, and that Dunkard has the conditions — the right acid levels and high total dissolved solids (TDS), including sulfates and chlorides (salt) — that favor golden algae growth.
   But, Jernejcic said, “why it’s there, how it got there and what caused it to reach the levels ... that would have caused the fish kill” is still a mystery.
   The golden algae is a symptom — they haven’t gotten to the cause.
   “We believe with confidence that it’s golden algae toxins that are killing the fish,” Mandirola said. “They like the environment that’s there. We need to see what we can do about the environment.
   “They’ve not come up with a clean, easy way to get rid of it,” he said. “The best approach is to learn how to live with it and learn how to control what it doesn’t like. If you can make the environment unfavorable ... they won’t be able to produce the toxin, they won’t be able to bloom and they won’t cause the problems.”
   Helen Humphreys, spokeswoman for the Pennsylvania DEP, said her agency is continuing to collect information so it can come to its own conclusion about the cause.
   “The algae needs a brackish, salty environment to thrive,” she said. “Dunkard Creek is a freshwater stream, but high TDS levels have made it salty. So, where is it coming from?”
   Investigators said they think it may possibly be linked to mine drainage, which is associated with high TDS levels, especially during low flow times, when rainwater isn’t diluting the discharge.
   Tests show high TDS levels in the Dunkard as far upstream as St. Leo, near the mouth of the South Fork tributary, southwest of Wadestown near the Marion County border. There is a mine drainage pool in this area, and at a point above a beaver dam, above the drainage pond, the algae cell count drops dramatically.
   And other mine pools drain into the Dunkard in both states.

Legislation may be needed to get solids under control    

Getting TDS levels under control is part of the answer, and legislation may be needed, several people said.
   “How long are we going to keep going before we say, ‘Let’s draw a line in the sand?’ ” Jernejcic said after the meeting.
   Asked if it would require legislative action, he said, “I suspect.”
   Dr. Duane Nichols, a water expert, retired WVU professor and member of the Upper Monongahela River Association, gave his opinion to the commission: “We have called for water quality standards. ... We need a statewide standard for total dissolved solids.”
   Delegate Tim Manchin, D-Marion and co-chairman of the commission, said legislation may involve “a couple avenues.”
   One could be adopting overall stream quality regulations regarding factors related to chlorides (salt) and TDS. Pennsylvania already has some TDS standards, he said.
   Another could involve implementing some treatment measures for mine drainage.
   “How much discharge do you allow?” he asked.
   Beyond that, he said, “At what point does this start having an impact on our economic community?”
   Right now, he said, commissioners are trying to bring themselves up to speed so they’ll be ready if and when the DEP brings forth proposed legislation.
   Pennsylvania and West Virginia DEP officials have credited CONSOL Energy with being cooperative during the investigation. Consol has ceased discharges from mine pools along the creek while investigators study the cause.
   Humphreys said the Pennsylvania DEP believes discharge from the Blacksville No. 1 and Blacksville No. 2 mines could have contributed to the high TDS and chloride levels, according to a letter the department sent to CONSOL dated Oct. 7.
   In the letter, the Pennsylvania DEP requested information about the various mine pools in the Dunkard Creek watershed and how they are connected.
   The Pennsylvania DEP also requested copies of all of CONSOL’s discharge monitoring reports for the Blacksville No. 2 mine and copies of the company’s permits and permit applications, among other things.
   Humphreys said the Pennsylvania DEP would review the information from CONSOL, once the company sent it.
   The Pennsylvania DEP also sent a letter to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency this month, asking the agency to revoke an Underground Injection Control permit that allows CNX Gas Co. — a subsidiary of CONSOL — to inject wastewater into the Morris Run Borehole at the inactive Blacksville No. 1 mine.
   The permit allows CONSOL to dispose of up to 150,000 barrels per month of coal-bed methane wastewater, which contains up to? 25,000 milligrams per liter of TDS, according to the letter.
   EPA spokesman David Sternberg said the agency is evaluating the letter and is preparing a response to it.
   Sternberg said he did not know when the response would be mailed.
   CONSOL voluntarily stopped injecting the wastewater into the borehole Oct. 2.