Agreement proposed for Steele Shaft
Companies that operate the Steele Shaft treatment plant in Dunkard Township will construct a system to treat additional abandoned mine water discharges on Dunkard Creek under a proposed consent agreement reached with the state Department of Environmental Protection.
However, the companies will not be required to bring the plant into compliance with the established water quality-based discharge limits for nine years or within that time treat the mine water for total dissolved solids, which earlier were a problem in Dunkard Creek as well as in the Monongahela River.
The agreement was presented for approval last week to a federal bankruptcy judge presiding in the Longview Power LLC bankruptcy filing.
The two companies that built and operate Steele Shaft, Dana Mining Co. of Pa. LLC and AMD Reclamation Inc., are affiliates of Longview, which operates a 700-megawatt coal-fired power plant in Monongalia County, W.Va., just south of the Greene County border.
AMD built the Steele Shaft treatment plant in 2003 with partial funding from the state to treat polluted water in the abandoned Shannopin Mine. Acidic water in the mine had reached a level at which it could breach the surface and pollute Dunkard Creek.
Dana also needed to lower the water level in the Shannopin mine to enable its 4 West Mine to safely mine the Sewickley seam coal overlaying the Pittsburgh seam previously mined by Shannopin. Rising water in Shannopin had begun to flood the Sewickley seam jeopardizing Dana’s mining operations.
Dana later also began treating water at Steele Shaft from Consol Energy’s closed Humphrey Mine as its mining operations moved into the area above the Humphrey Mine.
The permit for the treatment plant, issued in 2003, required it to meet the “best available technology” limits for pH, iron, manganese and aluminum, but did not contain effluent limits for osmotic pressure, sulfates or total dissolved solids, the agreement states.
Total dissolved solids later became a problem on the Monongahela River and contributed to the fish kill in 2009 in Dunkard Creek, though upstream from the Steele Shaft discharge.
Because of changes in the Mon and Dunkard Creek, DEP later required Steele Shaft to meet a more stringent standard than that required for best available technology defined as “water quality based effluent limits.”
Dana has told DEP compliance with the new standards “would represent an enormous technical and financial challenge” to the companies, the agreement states.
Technology to treat for total dissolved solids, such as reverse osmosis, would involve “capital and operation costs magnitudes higher than conventional mine drainage treatment,” the agreement notes.
As an “alternative to immediate compliance” with the newer standards, the companies have proposed building a system to treat discharges from the abandoned Maiden Mine and Maiden 3 Mine that also pollute Dunkard Creek.
To judge the impact on the stream from this project, the companies will monitor the aquatic life in the stream. The agreement notes DEP will conduct its own monitoring and make its determination regarding the impact of the company’s plan solely on its own data.
The companies also have proposed securing access to a passive treatment system on the Mathews farm that treats abandon mine discharge but which has become problematic, the agreement states.
In addition, they will establish a trust fund to partially fund the long-term operation and maintenance of the Steele Shaft plant by paying $300,000 annually for 20 years.
As long as the companies comply with the obligations set forth in the agreement, they do not have to meet the water quality based effluent limits for 108 months, or nine years, the agreement states.
The companies must address the discharge in such a way that it meets the water quality based effluent limits within 108 months of the agreement’s effective date, said DEP spokeswoman Amanda Witman, in an email response to questions about the agreement.
“The means by which they accomplish that would best be addressed by the company, although it’s most likely that it will be achieved by upgrading the Steel Shaft plant,” she said.
A spokesman for Dana Mining could not be reached for comment.
The agreement also notes that throughout negotiations with DEP, the companies indicated they may choose to halt operations at 4 West Mine and Steele Shaft at the end of the compliance schedule if the affluent limits cannot be achieved by the implementation of the plan.
DEP will solicit public comments on the agreement before it becomes effective. It also will submit the agreement to the federal Environmental Protections Agency for its review.