U.S. axes permit for Arch's giant mountain coalmine

The Obama administration revoked a permit on Thursday for Arch Coal Inc's proposed Spruce 1 mountaintop coal mine (left) in West Virginia, effectively shutting one of the biggest in the United States and the largest single mountaintop removal mine permit in West Virginia history. The 2,300-acre operation at the Mingo Logan Coal Co.'s Spruce No. 1 coal mine in West Virginia has been mired in litigation since 1998.

The Spruce Mine is one of the largest mountaintop removal mines ever proposed in Central Appalachia and would result in the destruction of 2,278 acres of temperate rainforest and the burying of 7.5 miles of streams in the Spruce Fork sub-watershed.

Peter Silvan (lower right), an assistant administrator for water at the EPA stated today:

"The proposed Spruce No. 1 Mine would use destructive and unsustainable mining practices that jeopardize the health of Appalachian communities and clean water on which they depend. Coal and coal mining are part of our nation’s energy future, and EPA has worked with companies to design mining operations that adequately protect our nation’s water. We have responsibility under the law to protect water quality and safeguard the people who rely on clean water."

In making its decision to veto the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ approval of the 2,300-acre mine proposed for the Blair area of Logan County, EPA noted that it reviewed more than 50,000 public comments and held a major public hearing in West Virginia. EPA officials said their agency is “acting under the law and using the best science available to protect water quality, wildlife and Appalachian communities who rely on clean waters for drinking, fishing and swimming.”

EPA’s decision prohibits five proposed valley fills in two streams, Pigeonroost Branch, and Oldhouse Branch, and their tributaries. In the case of the Spruce mine, the agency issued a statement Wednesday saying the company's proposed practices "will lead to unhealthy levels of salinity and toxic levels of selenium that turn fresh water into salty water." It also noted that after a year of negotiation, "Mingo Logan did not offer any new proposed mining configurations in response" to the agency's concerns. (Left: example of mine run-off into streams)

The final EPA decision document withdrawing the Clean Water Act Section 404 permit is available here. EPA has also now posted some appendices to that document, including a response to comments.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers had approved a permit for the mine in 2007, but it had not been fully constructed.

The EPA went on to state that "EPA’s final determination on the Spruce Mine comes after discussions with the company spanning more than a year failed to produce an agreement that would lead to a significant decrease in impacts to the environment and Appalachian communities. The action prevents the mine from disposing the waste into streams unless the company identifies an alternative mining design that would avoid irreversible damage to water quality and meets the requirements of the law. Despite EPA’s willingness to consider alternatives, Mingo Logan did not offer any new proposed mining configurations in response to EPA’s Recommended Determination.

EPA believes that companies can design their operations to make them more sustainable and compliant with the law. Last year, EPA worked closely with a mining company in West Virginia to eliminate nearly 50 percent of their water impacts and reduce contamination while at the same time increasing their coal production. These are the kinds of success stories that can be achieved through collaboration and willingness to reduce the impact on mining pollution on our waters. Those changes helped permanently protect local waters, maximize coal recovery and reduce costs for the operators."

In today’s announcement, EPA outlined these concerns that the proposed mining operation would have:

• Disposed of 110 million cubic yards of coal mine waste into streams. (At right pollutants are released into the water by coal operations)
  

• Buried more than six miles of high-quality streams in Logan County, West Virginia with millions of tons of mining waste from the dynamiting of more than 2,200 acres of mountains and forestlands.

• Buried more than 35,000 feet of high-quality streams under mining waste, which will eliminate all fish, small invertebrates, salamanders, and other wildlife that live in them.

• Polluted downstream waters as a result of burying these streams, which will lead to unhealthy levels of salinity and toxic levels of selenium that turn fresh water into salty water. The resulting waste that then fills valleys and streams can significantly compromise water quality, often causing permanent damage to ecosystems and streams. (At right)
  

• Caused downstream watershed degradation (at right) that will kill wildlife, impact bird life, reduce habitat value, and increase susceptibility to toxic algal blooms.
  

• Inadequately mitigated for the mine’s environmental impacts by not replacing streams being buried, and attempting to use storm water ditches as compensation for natural stream losses.

The mine would have employed 250 workers and produced about 44 million tons of coal over 15 years, while also burying more than seven miles of streams. The EPA used its authority under Section 404 of the Clean Water Act - which it has used only 12 other times in its history - to argue that the subsequent valley fills would harm the area's water quality, habitat and wildlife.

Lawmakers from West Virginia said the EPA's move would hurt the state's economy. "Today's EPA decision is not just fundamentally wrong, it is an unprecedented act by the federal government that will cost our state and our nation even more jobs during the worst recession in this country's history," Senator Joe Manchin (right), a Democrat, said in a release.

Senator Jay Rockefeller (left), also a Democrat, wrote a letter to President Barack Obama, that said: "as a nation we must not fall into the trap of forcing unnecessary choices between protecting the environment and having good paying jobs that support energy independence."

St. Louis-based Arch said it would vigorously defend the permit in court. EPA's revocation of the permit blocks an additional $250 million in investment and 250 jobs, the company said.

It was the latest move by the Obama administration to crack down on mountaintop mining, in which companies blast high peaks to uncover coal seams and often toss the resulting rubble into valleys.

Obama's EPA (left: EPA Director, Lisa Jackson) started requiring big carbon dioxide polluters, such as coal-fired power plants, to hold permits for emitting the planet-warming gas.

Environmentalists applauded the EPA action.

"A full veto of the proposed Spruce No. 1 Mine is a true victory for the communities nearby, and for all Americans across the country who are fighting to protect our precious natural resources from industrial pollution," said Joan Mulhern, senior legislative counsel for Earthjustice.

"While this is only one mine of many, we hope this veto will be the beginning of the end of the devastating practice of mountaintop removal mining by bringing the fundamental legal protection of the Clean Water Act to the whole Appalachian region, once and for all."

Joe Lovett, director of the Appalachian Center for the Economy and the Environment, said:

It is a relief after all of these years that at least one agency has shown the will to follow the law and the science by stopping the destruction of Pigeonroost Hollow and Oldhouse Branch. (See map at right; click for larger view)

Today, the EPA has helped to save these beautiful hollows for future generations. Unfortunately, the Spruce Mine’s impacts are not unique. Although we are grateful for the EPA’s action today, EPA must follow through by vetoing the scores of other Corps permits that violate the Clean Water Act and that would allow mountaintop mines to lay waste to our mountains and streams."

Source:
The Washington Post,"Obama administration cracks down on mountaintop mining", accessed January 15, 2011
West Virginia Gazette,"Breaking news: EPA vetoes Spruce Mine permit",by Ken Ward, accessed January 15, 2011
Reuters,"U.S. axes permit for Arch's giant mountain coalmine", accessed January 15, 2011

Project’s Fate May Predict the Future of Mining

Federal officials are considering whether to veto mountaintop mining above a little Appalachian valley called Pigeonroost Hollow, a step that could be a turning point for one of the country’s most contentious environmental disputes. (Left: Jimmy Weekley, who lives in Pigeonroost Hollow, W.Va., has been fighting the Spruce 1 coal project for years) .

The Army Corps of Engineers approved a permit in 2007 to blast 400 feet off the hilltops here to expose the rich coal seams, disposing of the debris in the upper reaches of six valleys, including Pigeonroost Hollow.

But the Environmental Protection Agency under the Obama administration, in a break with President George W. Bush’s more coal-friendly approach, has threatened to halt or sharply scale back the project known as Spruce 1. The agency asserts that the project would irrevocably damage streams and wildlife and violate the Clean Water Act. (At right: Above is an existing mining operation, adjacent to the Spruce 1 site, which is to the upper left of the cleared areas. Much of the debris from blasting is dumped into adjacent valleys, threatening streams and wildlife below.).

Because it is one of the largest mountaintop mining projects ever and because it has been hotly disputed for a dozen years, Spruce 1 is seen as a bellwether by conservation groups and the coal industry. (Left: Aerial view of a mountain top mine in Boone County, W.Va. In many such projects, hundreds of feet of soil and rock are blasted off the peaks, with much of the debris filling in adjacent valleys. The debris often leaks toxic chemicals into streams below.)

The fate of the project could also have national reverberations, affecting Democratic Party prospects in coal states. While extensive research and public hearings on the plan have been completed, federal officials said that their final decision would not be announced until late this year — perhaps, conveniently, after the midterm elections.

Environmental groups say that approval of the project in anything like its current form would be a betrayal. (Right:Although the Spruce 1 project remains in limbo until a final decision by the Obama administration, a subsidiary of Arch Coal has been sending letters warning of blasting to nearby residents including Charles Bella of Blair, W.Va.)

“Spruce 1 is a test of whether the E.P.A. is going to follow through with its promises,” said Bill Price, director of environmental justice with the Sierra Club in West Virginia. “If the administration sticks to its guns,” Mr. Price predicted, “mountaintop removal is going to be severely curtailed.”

Coal companies say politics, not science, is threatening a practice vital to local economies and energy independence. “After years of study, with the company doing everything any agency asked, and three years after a permit was issued, the E.P.A. now wants to stop Spruce 1,” said Bill Raney, president of the West Virginia Coal Association. “It’s political; the only thing that has changed is the administration.” (Right: Signs of the coal industry like this train in Boone County are everywhere in southern West Virginia. Mountain top mining, which is less expensive than deep mining and has grown over the last two decades, accounts for perhaps 40 percent of the state’s coal production. Credit: Todd Heisler/The New York Times)

While the government does not collect statistics on mountaintop mining, data suggest that it may account for about 10 percent of American coal output, yielding 5 percent of the nation’s electricity. The method plays a bigger economic role in the two states where it is concentrated, Kentucky and West Virginia.

The proposal to strip a large area above the home of 70-year-old Jimmy Weekley, Pigeonroost Hollow’s last remaining inhabitant, was first made in 1997 by Arch Coal, Inc., of St. Louis. The legal ups and downs of Spruce 1 have come to symbolize the broader battle over a method that produces inexpensive coal while drastically altering the landscape.

Spruce 1 started as the largest single proposal ever for hilltop mining, in which mountains are carved off to expose coal seams and much of the debris, often leaking toxic substances, is placed in adjacent valleys.

After years of negotiations and a scaling back of the mining area to 2,278 acres, from its original 3,113 acres, the Spruce 1 permit was approved by the Army Corps of Engineers in 2007 and limited construction began. But this spring, the E.P.A. proposed halting the project.

The announcement caused an uproar in West Virginia. The E.P.A. held an emotional public hearing in May and stopped accepting written comments in June. Arch Coal has objected publicly, but did not respond to requests to comment for this article.

The Obama administration’s E.P.A. has already riled the coal companies by tightening procedures for issuing new mining permits and imposing stronger stream protections. But environmental groups were worried in June, when the agency approved a curtailed mountaintop plan in another site in Logan County, W.Va. Now, as negotiations between the E.P.A. and Arch Coal continue, the Spruce 1 battle is being closely watched as a sign of mountaintop mining’s future.

Feelings run high in the counties right around the project area. (Right: Coal remains important to West Virginia’s economy and many businesses join the coal companies in supporting mountain top mining. This billboard just south of Charleston was paid for by Walker Machinery, which supplies Caterpillar equipment to the mines. Credit: Todd Heisler/The New York Times)

“Spruce 1 is extremely important to all of southern West Virginia because if this permit is pulled back, every mine site is going to be vulnerable to having its permits pulled,” said James Milan, manager of Walker Machinery in Logan, which sells gargantuan Caterpillar equipment. The loss of jobs, Mr. Milan said, would have devastating effects on struggling communities.

Maria Gunnoe (left), an organizer for the Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition and a director of SouthWings, which organizes flights to document environmental damages, said that if Spruce 1 went forward, “it’s going to mean the permanent erasure of part of our land and our legacy.”

“We can’t keep blowing up mountains to keep the lights on,” said Ms. Gunnoe, a resident of nearby Boone County who has received death threats and travels with a 9 millimeter pistol.

Mr. Weekley, whose house is in sight of the project boundary, remembers the day in 1997 when he decided to fight it. Nearby mining under previous permits had filled his wooded valley with dust and noise. (Right: The lower boundary of the Spruce 1 project, already marked off by the company, is within sight of Jimmy Weekley’s house in Pigeonroost Hollow. Other residents of the valley have left, most of them bought out by Arch Coal, but Mr. Weekley has defiantly remained, turning down large offers for his eight acres. Credit: Todd Heisler/The New York Times)

“You couldn’t see out of this hollow,” he recalled. “I said, Something’s got to be done or we’re not going to have a community left.”

He and his late wife became plaintiffs in a 1998 suit claiming that the project violated environmental laws. A ruling in their favor was overturned, setting off litigation that continues.

Mr. Weekley said that he had rejected offers of close to $2 million for his eight acres and that he had seen the population of the nearby town of Blair (left) dwindle to 60 from 600, with most residents bought out by Arch Coal.

A rail-thin man who enjoys sitting on his porch with a dog on his lap, Mr. Weekley uttered an expletive when told that coal industry representatives, including Mr. Raney in an interview, referred to the upper tributaries filled in by mining as “ditches” that can be rebuilt. In fact, some of the streams to be filled by Spruce 1 are intermittent, while others, including Pigeonroost Creek, flow year-round. (Right: Pigeonroost Creek runs by the home of Jimmy Weekley. The headwaters of the stream would be filled in by the Spruce 1 project, and Mr. Weekley fears the worst. “If they get that permit, there won’t be a stream here,” he said. Credit: Todd Heisler/The New York Times)

“I caught fish in that stream as a child, using a safety pin for a hook,” Mr. Weekley said. “If they get that permit, there won’t be a stream here.”

In documents issued in March, the E.P.A. said the project as approved would still smother seven miles of streambed.

Filling in headwaters damages the web of life downstream, from aquatic insects to salamanders to fish, and temporary channels and rebuilt streams are no substitute, the agency said. The pulverized rock can release toxic levels of selenium and other pollutants, it noted.

The effects of Spruce 1 would be added to those of 34 other past and present projects that together account for more than one-third of the area of the Spruce Fork watershed, the agency said.

The debate over Spruce 1 and other mountaintop mine permits has been a source of division and anguish among local residents.

Michael Fox, 39, of Gilbert, is a mine worker who like many other miners here thinks the objections are overblown. “I have three kids I want to send to college,” Mr. Fox said.

One former mountaintop miner who says he now regrets his involvement is Charles Bella, 60 (left). He is one of the remaining residents on Blair’s main street, along the Spruce Fork, which is fed in turn by Pigeonroost Creek.

“I know it put bread on my table, but I hate destroying the mountains like that,” Mr. Bella said.

Source:
New York Times, "Project’s Fate May Predict the Future of Mining", accessed July 18, 2010