If you subscribe to the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection’s public notice e-mail system, you just never know what interesting stuff is going to show up in your inbox.
Starting a few weeks ago, the notices started announcing public comment periods on requests from various coal companies to extend their deadline for stopping violations of the state’s water quality standards for toxic selenium … Riverside Energy, Litwar Processing, Independence Coal. There was a whole parade of them.
Mine operators are understandably hoping to take advantage of the loophole given them last year by lawmakers, allowing WVDEP to extend these compliance deadlines another two years, to July 1, 2012.
But WVDEP officials are now saying these public notices — I counted more than a dozen of them — went out “prematurely,” at least according to Tom Clarke, director of the agency’s Division of Mining and Reclamation. According to Tom:
There are several applications pending before the DEP at this time seeking extensions of selenium compliance schedules. None have been granted. Some of the applications may be denied. Even on applications that the DEP believes should be granted, it will not be in a position to act until after draft permits are advertised for public comment and USEPA has had an opportunity for comment as well. It is possible that some of the agency’s permitting personnel have prematurely authorized applicants to advertise draft permits on this subject for public comment in cases where an agency decision to do this has yet to be made.
Remember that the WVDEP has been bending over backward to give the coal industry time to stop its selenium pollution (see previous posts here, here and here, among others) — despite a warning from a leading selenium expert that mining-related selenium pollution had pushed one West Virginia watershed to the brink of a major toxic event.
Currently, many coal operators around the state are facing a deadline next month to stop their selenium violations. And WVDEP Secretary Randy Huffman told me yesterday his agency was going to be “holding a pretty tough line on that.”
But, lawmakers did speak to the issue, Randy told me — even if WVDEP opposed the legislation allowing two-year extensions. Randy said WVDEP staff will be looking on a permit-by-permit basis at whether mine operators have spent money and effort to try to end their violations, and still just need more time to perfect treatment technologies.
Keep an eye on this one, and take a look at this video to watch what Randy Huffman said last year regarding giving the coal industry beyond April 2010 to clean up its selenium problems (This quote comes about a minute into the West Virginia Public Broadcasting video):
There is a lot of work going on right now, a lot of research going on right now. And I hope for the sake of the streams and the river and for the sake of the coal companies that they are able to meet that deadline in April 2010, because that’s when we intend to enforce the law on that.
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I havent heard any texts on Coal Tattoo about the recent Supreme Court’s decision on water & stream pollution. The court seems to favor the polluters,as I understand it. We all know we need more jobs, but not at the expense of poisoning our waters.
Shelby,
Perhaps you are talking about the rulings described in this NY Times story?
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/01/us/01water.html
Ken.
The laws of physics, chemistry, biology, and the United States don’t apply in WV. The ongoing delay, delay, delay, study, study, study is much like playing Russian roulette with our state’s water and communities. I’m not surprised that Jason Bostic says coal industry data shows selenium is okay. It’s like a tobacco company executive saying that tobacco industry data shows that tar, nicotine, and all the other stuff in tobacco is okay. If the tobacco industry were as powerful in WV as the coal industry is, we’d have cigarette machines in the elementary schools, because their data says it’s actually good for kids to smoke.
vernon do you have a link to industry reports or commentary by this bostic fella?
Only what he says in the video link. I don’t know if they have any real data or if they’re just doubting the validity of data provided by scientists.
TN-HOUSE “Selenium Bill” – 6/3/09
Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZGXESYhmx64 (9:44 minutes)
Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aQlHT_7Yeqo (5:17 minutes)
2/25/10
Cynthia Gould reports on coal ash in Perry County, AL
and the impacts to local residents.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B8uoHQyEGLY (3:51 minutes)
Can anyone tell me who these DEP “staffers” are who acted “prematurely”?> It seems to me if that is a for real statement then those folks should be punished. If it is not for real and Tom Clarke and Randy Huffman are just running scared and seeking to knee-jerk react and/or hide behind stall tactics then they owe some explanation to the Legislature and the rest of the state.
It’s unfortunate for Mr. Huffman that he was caught on tape promising to do something in a definite time frame – now as the head of the Department of Environmental PERMITTING he might actually have to DO something.
Or not. My money’s on the or not. For the simple reason that if he actually trys to enforce this April deadline, even by the end of April, the resultant screeching from the coal industry will travel to a certain mansion on Kanawha Boulevard so fast it will make Randy’s head spin, and another delay will be granted because “more study” is needed.
If anyone wants to learn about Selenium, I suggest that they google “Kesterson Reservoir”. That should be enough to make anyone speed things up. California ignored selenium for far too long and paid a dear price for delay.
[...] turns not that not all of the public notices issued by WVDEP indicating it planned to approve selenium compliance extensions were sent out in [...]