By Spencer Hunt
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
Short-staffed and facing a money shortage, state inspectors are falling behind in making sure Ohio coal companies clean up after themselves.
Environmental advocacy groups worry that fewer inspections could mean more pollution problems.
The Ohio Department of Natural Resources typically relies on a team of 18 to inspect monthly the 86 working coal mines scattered across eastern and southeastern Ohio. Most of the work involves strip mines, where inspectors look for problems that could pollute streams.
They also monitor work at 125 nearby reclamation sites, where coal companies must replace tons of topsoil and rock that had been removed over the years to get to the coal.
Four inspectors left the department in April and have not been replaced. State officials say the smaller staff still visits the working mines monthly but now visits reclamation sites about every three months.
"We've had to re-prioritize our inspectors' time to focus on our actively producing mines," said John Husted, the state's mining chief. "It's not as much of a priority for our staff to be out" inspecting reclamation work.
Read more here.
Thursday, August 13, 2009
Hearing set for Obama OSM nominee; citizens oppose confirmation
By Ken Ward Jr.
Charleston Gazette
CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- As a U.S. Senate committee prepares for a confirmation hearing on President Obama's nominee to run the U.S. Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement, coalfield citizen groups are urging lawmakers to reject nominee Joseph G. Pizarchik of Pennsylvania.
The Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources scheduled a hearing for Thursday morning to consider Pizarchik's nomination.
But the Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition, the Citizens Coal Council and the Environmental Integrity Project are asking coalfield citizens and environmentalists to call and write lawmakers to oppose Pizarchik.
The groups said they were "deeply disappointed and concerned" by Obama's nomination and said confirmation of Pizarchik would be "a direct blow to the heart of all citizens living in the coalfields ... and a victory for coal operators."
Since 2002, Pizarchik has been director of the Bureau of Mining and Reclamation within Pennsylvania's Department of Environmental Protection. Before that, he was assistant director and general counsel for the agency for 11 years.
Read story here.
Charleston Gazette
CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- As a U.S. Senate committee prepares for a confirmation hearing on President Obama's nominee to run the U.S. Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement, coalfield citizen groups are urging lawmakers to reject nominee Joseph G. Pizarchik of Pennsylvania.
The Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources scheduled a hearing for Thursday morning to consider Pizarchik's nomination.
But the Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition, the Citizens Coal Council and the Environmental Integrity Project are asking coalfield citizens and environmentalists to call and write lawmakers to oppose Pizarchik.
The groups said they were "deeply disappointed and concerned" by Obama's nomination and said confirmation of Pizarchik would be "a direct blow to the heart of all citizens living in the coalfields ... and a victory for coal operators."
Since 2002, Pizarchik has been director of the Bureau of Mining and Reclamation within Pennsylvania's Department of Environmental Protection. Before that, he was assistant director and general counsel for the agency for 11 years.
Read story here.
Enviro Groups Tread Lightly With Endangered Species Act in Appalachia
By PATRICK REIS of Greenwire
Published in the New York Times
The last ice age turned the Appalachians into North America's Noah's Ark.
The mountain peaks provided a last green refuge above the glaciers, drawing species from across the eastern half of continent. Some 10,000 years later, many have stayed, and the mountains are home to one of the highest concentrations of biodiversity -- from flying squirrels to freshwater mussels -- in the country. Just last month, biologists stumbled across an entire new genus of salamanders in Southern Appalachia, the first new vertebrate genus discovered in the United States in 50 years.
Beneath that biodiversity sits 28.5 billion tons of anthracite coal, according to 1998 Department of Energy estimates. The mineral is so central to the region's identity and economy that West Virginia last month declared it the official state rock.
The lucrative coal is obtained through mountaintop removal -- dynamiting the tops off the mountains and dumping the leftovers into mountain valleys and stream beds. Environmental groups say the practice is horribly destructive to the region's water, land and wildlife -- but they have been reluctant to use a powerful weapon, the Endangered Species Act, in fighting it.
Read more here.
Published in the New York Times
The last ice age turned the Appalachians into North America's Noah's Ark.
The mountain peaks provided a last green refuge above the glaciers, drawing species from across the eastern half of continent. Some 10,000 years later, many have stayed, and the mountains are home to one of the highest concentrations of biodiversity -- from flying squirrels to freshwater mussels -- in the country. Just last month, biologists stumbled across an entire new genus of salamanders in Southern Appalachia, the first new vertebrate genus discovered in the United States in 50 years.
Beneath that biodiversity sits 28.5 billion tons of anthracite coal, according to 1998 Department of Energy estimates. The mineral is so central to the region's identity and economy that West Virginia last month declared it the official state rock.
The lucrative coal is obtained through mountaintop removal -- dynamiting the tops off the mountains and dumping the leftovers into mountain valleys and stream beds. Environmental groups say the practice is horribly destructive to the region's water, land and wildlife -- but they have been reluctant to use a powerful weapon, the Endangered Species Act, in fighting it.
Read more here.
Enviros seek OSM takeover of WVDEP
Ken Ward Jr.
Coal Tattoo Blog, Charleston Gazette
Citing continued failure to apply the stream buffer zone rule to the footprint of valley fills, a coalition of environmental groups late today demanded a federal takeover of the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection’s mining program.
The petition, filed by the Appalachian Center for the Economy and the Environment and other groups, asks the U.S. Office of Surface Mining to substitute federal enforcement of this key strip-mining rule:
West Virginia has long refused to enforce the buffer zone rule, and it still refuses to do so. The State’s systematic failure to apply the rule to those activities that are most harmful to the streams the rule was intended to protect defies logic. Indeed, the WVDEP’s decision to exempt valley fills and huge stream elimination projects from the scope of the rule’s protections renders the regulation meaningless.
Read the story here.
Coal Tattoo Blog, Charleston Gazette
Citing continued failure to apply the stream buffer zone rule to the footprint of valley fills, a coalition of environmental groups late today demanded a federal takeover of the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection’s mining program.
The petition, filed by the Appalachian Center for the Economy and the Environment and other groups, asks the U.S. Office of Surface Mining to substitute federal enforcement of this key strip-mining rule:
West Virginia has long refused to enforce the buffer zone rule, and it still refuses to do so. The State’s systematic failure to apply the rule to those activities that are most harmful to the streams the rule was intended to protect defies logic. Indeed, the WVDEP’s decision to exempt valley fills and huge stream elimination projects from the scope of the rule’s protections renders the regulation meaningless.
Read the story here.
DEP seeking water quality data for West Virginia waters
The West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection is compiling water quality data on the state’s streams and lakes for its next Integrated Water Quality Monitoring and Assessment Report. This report is developed by DEP and submitted to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency every two years as required by the federal Clean Water Act, and includes the Section 303(d) list of impaired waters. The next report is due in April 2010 and will be based upon water quality data collected through June 30, 2009.
In addition to data collected directly by DEP, the agency will compile and assess water quality data collected by other persons, agencies, watershed associations, or permitted facilities. Those wishing to contribute data should send it to Steve Stutler at Stephen.J.Stutler@wv.gov, (304) 926-0499, Ext. 1086, or Steve Young at Stephen.A.Young@wv.gov, (304) 926-0499, Ext. 1042. The deadline to submit data is September 30, 2009.
A data form is available to download at www.wvdep.org/wv303d. Documentation describing the collection and analytical methodologies associated with the data should be provided as it will help the agency assess data quality. If data was subject to a quality assurance/quality control plan, submit it with the data. For an example of a QA/QC plan, go to http://www.epa.gov/quality/qs-docs/g5-final.pdf.
Although electronic data submission is highly preferred and encouraged, non-electronic submissions may be sent to DEP at the Division of Water and Waste Management, Attn: Steve Young, 601 57th St. S.E., Charleston, WV 25304.
In addition to data collected directly by DEP, the agency will compile and assess water quality data collected by other persons, agencies, watershed associations, or permitted facilities. Those wishing to contribute data should send it to Steve Stutler at Stephen.J.Stutler@wv.gov, (304) 926-0499, Ext. 1086, or Steve Young at Stephen.A.Young@wv.gov, (304) 926-0499, Ext. 1042. The deadline to submit data is September 30, 2009.
A data form is available to download at www.wvdep.org/wv303d. Documentation describing the collection and analytical methodologies associated with the data should be provided as it will help the agency assess data quality. If data was subject to a quality assurance/quality control plan, submit it with the data. For an example of a QA/QC plan, go to http://www.epa.gov/quality/qs-docs/g5-final.pdf.
Although electronic data submission is highly preferred and encouraged, non-electronic submissions may be sent to DEP at the Division of Water and Waste Management, Attn: Steve Young, 601 57th St. S.E., Charleston, WV 25304.
You're Not From Around This Watershed, Are You?
Tim Collins, carrying on a family tradition, suggests that for long-term development, we must organize around our relationships to water and to the other communities, urban and rural, along those same waterways.
From the Daily Yonder.
Read the story here.
From the Daily Yonder.
Read the story here.
Court Invalidates Air Permit For Virginia City Coal-Fired Power Plant
ABINGDON, Va. – Despite a court ruling invalidating one of the air permits issued to the Virginia City Hybrid Energy Center, the coal-fired power plant will be completed on schedule, Dominion Virginia Power officials vowed Tuesday.
“Dominion is pleased that today’s decision upholds virtually all of the conditions in both air permits, which may be the most stringent in the country,” the power company said in a written statement released in response to the court ruling. “We expect the remaining issue regarding mercury emissions will be resolved in a manner that will allow the Virginia City Hybrid Energy Center to be completed on schedule.”
While affirming the main air permit for the plant, under construction outside St. Paul in Wise County, Va., the Richmond Circuit Court issued a ruling Tuesday invalidating the second air permit, which controls mercury emissions. Both permits are required for construction.
In her ruling, Circuit Judge Margaret P. Spencer agreed with the environmentalists’ argument that an “escape hatch,” which would have allowed loosening of emission restrictions after the plant is operating, is unlawful.
“The establishment of a flexible ‘limitation’ with an ongoing analysis … is not a limitation determination prior to construction of a facility, as required by law,” Spencer wrote.
The court’s decision came in response to a legal challenge made by a coalition of environmental groups after the permits were granted last year by the State Air Pollution Control Board.
Cale Jaffe, who argued the case for the Southern Environmental Law Center and other groups opposing the plant, called the ruling a victory, as did Kathy Selvage, vice president of Southern Appalachian Mountain Stewards, which is based in Big Stone Gap.
“I think what it means to the citizens of Wise County is that they will have cleaner air to breathe; it will have less mercury in it,” Selvage said. “There will be less mercury deposited into the soil in which we grow our gardens, there will be less mercury deposited into one of our best natural assets, which is the Clinch River, but overall there will be healthier children and grandchildren in Southwest Virginia because of this ruling.”
According to the statement from Dominion, the company does not object to removing the “escape hatch” from the permit.
Greg Edwards, spokesman for Dominion, said the $1.5 billion power plant project is more than one-third complete.
The court affirmed the issuance of the permit governing other emissions for the plant, rejecting environmentalists’ assertion that, among other things, it violated the Clean Air Act by failing to set limits for carbon dioxide emissions.
“There is no legal requirement that the board conduct a best available control technology [BACT] analysis for carbon dioxide,” Spencer wrote, “because carbon dioxide is not subject to regulation under the Clean Air Act.”
dmccown@bristolnews.com | (276) 791-0701
“Dominion is pleased that today’s decision upholds virtually all of the conditions in both air permits, which may be the most stringent in the country,” the power company said in a written statement released in response to the court ruling. “We expect the remaining issue regarding mercury emissions will be resolved in a manner that will allow the Virginia City Hybrid Energy Center to be completed on schedule.”
While affirming the main air permit for the plant, under construction outside St. Paul in Wise County, Va., the Richmond Circuit Court issued a ruling Tuesday invalidating the second air permit, which controls mercury emissions. Both permits are required for construction.
In her ruling, Circuit Judge Margaret P. Spencer agreed with the environmentalists’ argument that an “escape hatch,” which would have allowed loosening of emission restrictions after the plant is operating, is unlawful.
“The establishment of a flexible ‘limitation’ with an ongoing analysis … is not a limitation determination prior to construction of a facility, as required by law,” Spencer wrote.
The court’s decision came in response to a legal challenge made by a coalition of environmental groups after the permits were granted last year by the State Air Pollution Control Board.
Cale Jaffe, who argued the case for the Southern Environmental Law Center and other groups opposing the plant, called the ruling a victory, as did Kathy Selvage, vice president of Southern Appalachian Mountain Stewards, which is based in Big Stone Gap.
“I think what it means to the citizens of Wise County is that they will have cleaner air to breathe; it will have less mercury in it,” Selvage said. “There will be less mercury deposited into the soil in which we grow our gardens, there will be less mercury deposited into one of our best natural assets, which is the Clinch River, but overall there will be healthier children and grandchildren in Southwest Virginia because of this ruling.”
According to the statement from Dominion, the company does not object to removing the “escape hatch” from the permit.
Greg Edwards, spokesman for Dominion, said the $1.5 billion power plant project is more than one-third complete.
The court affirmed the issuance of the permit governing other emissions for the plant, rejecting environmentalists’ assertion that, among other things, it violated the Clean Air Act by failing to set limits for carbon dioxide emissions.
“There is no legal requirement that the board conduct a best available control technology [BACT] analysis for carbon dioxide,” Spencer wrote, “because carbon dioxide is not subject to regulation under the Clean Air Act.”
dmccown@bristolnews.com | (276) 791-0701
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