Hobet Deal Cuts Stream Impacts, Preserves Jobs
Jan 5th, 10
Coverage on one of our recent projects
By Ken Ward Jr.
Staff Writer
Read more in Coal Tattoo (link to http://blogs.wvgazette.com/coaltattoo/).
CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Patriot Coal will cut in half the length of streams buried by its Hobet 45 mountaintop-removal mine, but still produce nearly the same amount of coal as the company originally hoped, under a deal announced Tuesday by the Obama administration.
Company officials modified their mining plan under pressure from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, which could have blocked Patriot from receiving a Clean Water Act permit for the operation.
The deal protects the jobs of more than 350 employees and avoids what could have been a huge battle with the United Mine Workers union and West Virginia's congressional delegation.
U.S. Sen. Robert C. Byrd, D-W.Va., praised all sides for working to resolve the dispute.
"By choosing cooperation over confrontation, Patriot and the EPA are creating a template for how coal operators and regulators can work together to protect mining jobs while also abiding by federal laws that protect the land, water and people from negative environmental impacts," Byrd said in a prepared statement.
But environmentalists criticized the deal, saying it still allows the Hobet 45 operation to bury more than three miles of streams.
Also, while the deal calls for increased monitoring of water quality impacts -- especially increased conductivity caused by mine runoff -- the agreement would not stop mining if the monitoring detects water pollution violations. Instead, the deal calls for the company to conduct increased "mitigation" projects that environmental groups and most scientists don't believe work.
"This is a political deal, not a scientific deal," said Joe Lovett, director of the Appalachian Center for the Economy and the Environment. "This is the administration's capitulation to West Virginia's congressional delegation."
In mountaintop removal, mine operators blast apart hilltops to uncover valuable, low-sulfur coal reserves. Leftover rock and dirt -- the stuff that used to be the mountains -- is dumped into nearby valleys, burying streams.
Statewide, surface mining accounts for about 41 percent of West Virginia's coal production, with mountaintop removal accounting for about 61 percent of that.
Hundreds of miles of Appalachian streams have been buried by waste rock and dirt from mining operations. EPA is concerned about scientific studies that have increasingly found significant water quality problems downstream from surface mines.
Agency officials said Tuesday that mining can "contaminate surface waters for hundreds of years" and that data from coalfield communities indicates mining is responsible for causing fish kills and contaminating fish and wildlife.
The Hobet permit allows Patriot to continue mining, and use of its huge dragline machine, at the Hobet 21 mountaintop-removal complex along the Boone-Lincoln county border. The complex is among the few mountaintop-removal operations where workers are represented by the UMW.
The 600-acre permit, dubbed Hobet 45 by the company, has been a major concern for the UMW and was one of more than 20 West Virginia mining permits targeted by EPA for additional scrutiny as part of a more detailed review of mountaintop removal.
Without the new permit, production at Hobet 21 was expected to wind down over the next two to three years. With its original permit, Patriot Coal hoped to mine an average of about 2.1 million tons of coal annually for about six years.
In a letter to the corps, EPA regional administrator Shawn Garvin said the deal with Patriot includes "avoidance and minimization measures" that cut in half -- from more than six miles to just more than three miles -- the length of streams to be buried by mining waste.
"These avoidance and minimization measures have been incorporated in a manner that still allows for extraction of 91 percent of the coal reserves originally proposed to be mined," Garvin said in the letter.
Garvin said the company has also agreed to mine design changes "that are expected to be protective of water quality impacts." Garvin said there is expected to be little base discharge from the mine into Berry Branch, one of two streams downstream from the operation. At the other stream, Stonecoal Branch, "coal will be mined below the level of the stream and, therefore, any water infiltrating the backfilled area will have a low probability of discharging," Garvin said in the letter.
"We are encouraged that, through a constructive process of engagement and discussion, we have reached agreement with EPA on a mine plan that minimizes impact to the environment," said Patriot Chief Executive Officer Richard M. Whiting. "In light of the importance of the Hobet 45 permit to our operations and our employees, we are hopeful that we can begin work in the permit area in the very near future."
UMW President Cecil Roberts said the permit deal "is good news for everyone -- our members, their families, their communities, their company and the state of West Virginia."
In its Tuesday news release, EPA also announced that U.S. District Judge Robert C. Chambers had granted the Obama administration's request for 60 more days to negotiate with Arch Coal Inc. over a permit for its non-union Spruce Mine, the largest mountaintop-removal permit in West Virginia history.
"These are important examples of EPA's work to bring clarity to this process," said EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson. "Our role, along with the Army Corps of Engineers, is to ensure that mining companies avoid environmental degradation and protect water quality so that Appalachian communities don't have to choose between jobs and their health.
"Working closely with mining companies, our federal and state partners, and the public, our goal is to ensure Americans living in coal country are protected from environmental, health and economic damage," Jackson said.
In a related development, Byrd announced that federal and state agencies would next week begin hosting "regular meetings with any interested coal companies ... to clarify the technical details and requirements associated with the processing of permit applications."
Byrd's office said the meetings "will help companies to conform their proposed mining plans to federal and state laws."