West Virginia inspectors discovered two coal-ash dams they didn’t know about at an American Electric Power site in Mason County.
A buddy who used to work for the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection was fond of saying the coal industry might as well be open with the public about mountaintop removal mining. “They haven’t figured out yet how to hide a strip mine,” my buddy used to joke.
Well, apparently that’s not true for coal-ash impoundments.
During an inspection sweep of West Virginia’s coal-ash dams, the WVDEP stumbled upon two such dams that they didn’t even know existed. Both were located at the site of American Electric Power’s Little Broad Run Landfill, near its Philip Sporn Power Plant in Mason County, W.Va.
According to a report released last week by WVDEP:
The Little Broad Run site is designed as a fly ash landfill; however, design of storm water control measures resulted in the construction of two impoundments (Area 6 and Area 7) on the surface of the landfill. The height of both structures separately exceeds the 25 foot limit of the Dam Control and Safety Act.
The report added, in describing problems with these two dams:
1. No spillway exists except for drainage through the landfill liner and one pump.
2. The embankments consist of highly erodible fly ash materials without apparent connection to natural ground foundation. No vegetation exists to stabilize the fly ash from erosion.
3. No emergency spillway or means to discharge the Dam Safety Rule design storm exists.
4. Downstream hazard potential appears to be high – loss of life is likely if the dams were to fail.
Brian Long, coordinator of WVDEP’s dam safety program, told me he didn’t think AEP deliberately ignored registering these with the state or building them to meet dam safety rules:
This developed over time. It wasn’t something they set out to do. They just kept building it a little bit bigger and “oops” all of a sudden, it was big enough for the Dam Safety Act jurisdiction.
But this discovery by WVDEP really should come as no surprise … Remember that a U.S. Government Accountability Office report issued recently found that the federal EPA isn’t sure exactly how many of these toxic-coal ash impoundments there are:
The exact number of surface impoundments at utility coal fired power plants is not known. However, EPA is currently undertaking an effort to identify the number and location of all surface impoundments in the United States and, as of September 14, 2009, had identified over 580 surface impoundments nationwide.
Lisa Evans, a coal-ash expert with the group Earthjustice, told me:
The fact that neither fed nor state regulators know where these potentially deadly ponds are speaks mountains about the very poor state of waste regulations and it tells you how far we have still to go.
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The West Virginia Dam Control & Safety Act was enacted in 1973 and is contained in Chapter 22-14,. Code of West Virginia.
http://www.damsafety.org/media/Documents/PDF/WV.pdf
http://www.legis.state.wv.us/WVCODE/Code.cfm?chap=22&art=14
(Excerpt)
It is unlawful for any person to place, construct, enlarge, alter, repair, remove or abandon any dam under the jurisdiction of the secretary until he or she has first: (a) Filed an application for a certificate of approval with the department; and (b) obtained from the department a certificate of approval: Provided, That routine repairs which do not affect the safety of a dam are not subject to the application and approval requirements. A separate application for a certificate of approval must be submitted by a person for each dam he or she desires to place, construct, enlarge, alter, repair, remove or abandon. One application may be valid for more than one dam involved in a single project or in the formation of a reservoir.
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Has any action been taken against AEP and/or the registered professional engineer(s) who performed unlawful acts in this matter?
(On second thought, it seems to be a waste of money to file a compliant — the imposed fines are less than the cost to file and process the complaints.)
Complaints may be filed against individuals and firms by submitting a letter to the Board specifying the allegation(s) and providing copies of documents and/or other evidence supporting the allegation(s). All formal complaints must be accompanied by the official Complaint Form of the WV Board and shall be sworn to and verified by the complainant before a notary public. (more)
http://www.wvpebd.org/enforcement.asp
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Case No. 2009-8 Varo Engineers, Inc.
http://www.wvpebd.org/pdf_word_files/DisciplinaryActions/C_2009-8.pdf
(Excerpt)
Respondent Firm admits they provided engineering services for a project located in the State of West Virginia without a license to practice enginnering in this Sate and without a Certificate of Authorization. . . . The Board ORDERS Respondent Firm to pay a civil penalty in the amount of Five Hundred Dollars ($500) for practicing engineering in West Virginia with a Certificate of Authorization.
Case No. 2009-9 Kenneth Lovorn / Lovorn Engineering Associates
http://www.wvpebd.org/pdf_word_files/DisciplinaryActions/C_2009-9.pdf
(Excerpt)
The Board ORDERS Respondent Lovorn to pay a civil penalty in the amount of Three Hundred Dollars ($300) for practicing engineering in West Virginia on an expired license.
Thanks for that information rhmooney3. So basically AEP can build an illegal dam and face no material consequences?
It’s things like this that make me really skeptical that a company like AEP can be expected to safely capture and store carbon forever.
Well, why am I telling you what you should already know?
Here’s what happens in Floirda:
http://www.fbpe.org/disciplinaryaction.asp
P.S. As a public utility, AEP is profiting by charging its customers to try carbon-storage.
Also: how much western coal are those in West Virginia and Ohio buying through AEP and other utilties rather than coal from their own states?
Bob Mooney,
I don’t think that a PE was involved as AEP didn’t actually file any application. I haven’t reviewed the permit files on the “landfill” involved here, so I don’t know if a PE was involved in any activity there that would merit any action by the engineering board.
If you look at the report itself, starting on page 30, http://www.wvdep.org/Docs/18349_Status%20of%20WV%20Fly%20Ash%20Dams-Landfills.pdf you’ll see that an administrative order was issued by WVDEP to AEP to take a number of steps to bring these two dams into compliance.
That report doesn’t mention any fines assessed against AEP. Under the statute, I believe that WVDEP is allowed to assess fines of up to $5,000 per day of violation for any violations of the dam safety law. There are also criminal penalties that may be levied.
Ken.
Well, The Board can issue an ORDER against AEP itself if no profession engineer was involved, but it seems that there were some of them accoding to this document from AEP:
Coal Fly Ash Survey – AEP Philip Sporn
http://www.epa.gov/osw/nonhaz/industrial/special/fossil/surveys/survey-sporn.pdf
(This really not worth discussing since $300 or $500 makes it disappear — I might send a check so as to help resolve the concern about ash ponds.)
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