Permit for Tucker County Underground Mine Questioned

Federal regulators say a 2,000-acre underground mine approved by the state could pollute streams with acid mine drainage because the technology that would be used to control tainted water is unproven.

A U.S. Office of Surface Mining review of Mettiki Coal LLC’s permit for its underground E Mine in Grant and Tucker counties found dozens of flaws, according to OSM reports released this week. The review was prompted by a citizen complaint filed by Joe Lovett of the Appalachian Center for the Economy and the Environment.

Lovett and other opponents contend that Mettiki’s plan to eliminate potential acid mine drainage from the mine is unproven. Mettiki, based in Oakland, Md., has proposed sealing the mine after the mining is done, pumping out the mine’s water, mixing it with alkaline material and pumping it back in until the water covers the acidic areas.

“Every previous attempt to do this or something similar has been a failure,” Jay Hawkins, an OSM hydrologist, wrote in one of the reports.

The permit issued by the state Department of Environmental Protection in 2004 requires Mettiki to limit acid mine drainage production and treatment to 17 years. But OSM hydrologists said the mine’s discharge could contain 30 times the legal limit of iron for decades.

They also said the permit contains conflicting information about how much water would be pumped into or drained out of the mine. One permit document says 767 gallons per minute while another says 588 gallons per minute. The hydrologists said the mine’s long-term effects on water quality could not be accurately projected without such information.

They also questioned how the company plans to deal with oxygen, which could foster the formation of more acid if it enters the mine workings. While Mettiki and DEP have said oxygen cannot enter the mine workings, the hydrologists said there are numerous potential pathways.

Mettiki and DEP also cited examples of other alkaline treatment efforts to support the permit that are not comparable to the E mine, the hydrologists said.

One example cited by Mettiki and DEP was a state hydrologist’s report dealing with treatment of coal refuse piles.

“This is analogous to comparing pineapples and hand grenades,” Hawkins wrote. “They may look similar, but that is as far as it goes.”

Last week, Roger Calhoun, director of the OSM field office in Charleston, rejected the DEP’s response to citizen complaints about the permit as “arbitrary, capricious and an abuse of discretion.”