DEP ignores retention pond spill

by: heath_harrison

Wed Jan 20, 2010 at 05:34:04 AM EST

Posted Monday by Climate Ground Zero:

A gushing spill from a failed retention pond that began last night continues today, despite the state Department of Environmental Protection having been notified last night. The gray and muddy water is spilling out of Appalachian Fuels' Big Creek strip mine in Fayette County.

A complaint was called in to the WVDEP Spill Hotline last night by a citizen who spotted the brown water gushing into the Gauley River just a couple of miles upriver from Gauley Bridge around 5:30 pm January 15th. Abandoned Mines Land inspectors visited the site and confirmed that a retention pond had failed. As yet, there appears to be no action to mitigate the spill.

Good morning West Virginia

by: Clem Guttata

Tue Sep 29, 2009 at 08:43:19 AM EDT

Here's what's caught my eye lately. What's caught yours?

* So far, the Obama EPA has been one giant step sideways on the issue of Mountaintop Removal coal mining. The latest news is the EPA plans a major scientific review of mountaintop removal. This may or may not lead to a different level of enforcement.

* Via W.A. comes this rememberance of labor history: How Jock Yablonski's life (and death) led to Rich Trumka's rise within the AFL-CIO.

* The Dunkard Creek Massacre is shining a bright light on a major water quality issue in West Virginia (and beyond). Conductivity is a looming problem for coal and the WVDEP.

* The latest W.Va. DEP statement on Dunkard Creek is:

The West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection now believes a golden algae bloom is linked to a large fish kill on Dunkard Creek, in northern West Virginia and southwestern Pennsylvania. DEP staff members investigating the incident narrowed down the causes of the fish kill after consulting with algae experts from West Virginia University, North Carolina and Texas.

The algae found in Dunkard Creek has been tentatively identified as Prymnesium parvum, commonly called golden algae, which occurs worldwide, but primarily in coastal waters that have higher salt or mineral content. The algae produces toxins that can affect gill-breathing organisms and the most visible result of a fish kill caused by golden alga is dead and dying fish and mussels of all species and sizes.

The characteristics of the fish kill are almost identical to what is seen in other parts of the country that also have had golden algae kills.

"Narrowing down the cause will allow us and anyone who may be found to be responsible to find a solution, " said Cabinet Secretary Randy Huffman. "Some members of our investigation team are now turning their attention to finding ways to minimize or eliminate the algae bloom. We are also evaluating what can be done to prevent this from happening in the future, in Dunkard and other watersheds."

As a start, Randy Huffman could stop giving blanket permission to coal mines to continue polluting streams above legal conductivity limits.

* Last weekend the Wood County Democrats held a rousing meeting and the West Virginia Environmental Council has a productive statewide meeting in Flatwoods. If you attended any recent Democratic party or progressive activist meetings, please share your impressions.

* If you haven't seen it yet, you should definitely check out the great series of posts that Dawn Miller has written on Metro Government. Consolidation is one of those "boring" wonkish topics that really can make a big difference. It's an important dialogue for progressives to take part in.

Get ready for Blog Action Day on Climate Change on October 15, 2009. Sign up now to commit to writing a post on 10/15/09 about climate change. If you don't have your own blog home, we welcome anyone who wants to write a diary here. (Cross-posts are always welcome, too!)

Flickr image credit: KathyCat102

WVDEP staff correct Sec. Huffman's Senate testimony

by: Clem Guttata

Fri Aug 21, 2009 at 17:07:30 PM EDT

Ken Ward, Jr. has the bomb shell revelation.

West Virginia Environmental Protection Secretary Randy Huffman's testimony in June at a congressional hearing on mountaintop removal has drawn a lot of comment, and even helped fuel a protest calling for his resignation.

It turns out that even some folks within Huffman's own agency were none too happy with his staunch defense of the coal industry before a hearing of a Senate Environment and Public Works subcommittee.

Behind the scenes, a respected biologist at the WVDEP's Division of Water and Waste Management responded with a strongly worded memo that challenged Huffman's statements and urged agency officials to make sure the secretary "will be better informed the next time he represents our agency's current state of knowledge to federal authorities and elected representatives."

There's a real management issue over at the West Virginia Dept. of Environmental Protection that Secretary Huffman did not have accurate information before his Senate testimony (and hadn't even seen the corrective memo today).

Sec. Randy Huffman is in quite a pickle now. He's either incompetent at running an agency that requires the free-flow of scientific information or he committed perjury in his Senate testimony.

It is a real embarrassment to the state of West Virginia that a major state government agency is in danger of federal takeover for mismanagement.

Head over to Coal Tattoo for full details.

Staffing levels at W.Va. Department of Environmental Protection

by: Clem Guttata

Tue Jul 07, 2009 at 13:05:48 PM EDT

The Office of Legal Services (OLS) will have only 4 attorneys left after one of the attorneys retires at the end of July.  As recently as 1-2 years ago, there was a staff of 10 attorneys in that department. The Chief of the OLS has asked to replace positions as people leave, but has not been given permission. People who have been there a while say this office was even bigger (15? attorneys) in the past.

Also, three of the seven spots on the Surface Mine Board are vacant (two from June retirements). Gov. Manchin was not announced any plans for filling these spots yet.

I certainly welcome clarification from the W.Va. DEP if any of this information is inaccurate.

What I'd like to know about W.Va. DEP

by: Clem Guttata

Mon Jul 06, 2009 at 19:42:45 PM EDT

How many unfilled positions are there at the W.Va. DEP? What is the history of unfilled positions in the department?

The more I learn about Secretary Randy Huffman's DEP, the more I can see why some people suggest turning over its operation to the Federal Environmental Protection Agency.

Obama's OSMRE asks Manchin's DEP to do its job

by: Clem Guttata

Thu Jul 02, 2009 at 16:33:38 PM EDT

Last week W.Va. Department of Environmental Protection (sic) Secretary Randy Huffman was on Capitol Hill boasting about his department's surface water runoff regulation approach.

This week the Obama administration U.S. Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement sent him back with homework. They want the W.Va. DEP to do a better job.

Who knows, with enough Federal pressure we may go from having a DEP with regulations that might help with surface water run-off issues to one that actually follows through and enforces surface water run-off regulations.