Tag: Coal Slurry

UPDATE: Coal Slurry Spills into Crooked Run in Boone County

West Virginia environmental officials say coal slurry leaked into Crooked Run near Peytona in Boone County, south of Charleston. 

 

Updated March 24, 2017 1:00 p.m.

According to the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection (WVDEP), an Imminent Harm Cessation Order remains in effect at the Admiral Processing operation near Peytona, W.Va. in Boone County. This follows the announcement that a coal slurry leak was reported there March 23. Admiral Processing is an affiliate of Alpha Natural Resources.

Jake Glance, Public Information Officer with the WVDEP, says all the outfalls, or the water leaving the processing facility, have been stopped. “Stockpiled coal is being moved out of the area to facilitate site clean up,” Glance said in a press release Friday. “Water containing coal slurry is being pumped from containment ponds to slurry ponds.”

Inspectors with the WVDEP’s Division of Mining and Reclamation (DMR) believe the slurry leaked from a hole ½ inch wide in a 90 degree elbow joint in a pipe and the hole had a maximum flow of 30 gallons per minute. The slurry leaked for approximately three hours. The amount of coal slurry leaked into a containment pond and then into Crooked Run is still uncertain.

DEP inspectors say the facility had an alarm system on the site that was to alert them if pressure significantly dropped in the pipe, indicating leaking slurry. But it appears the amount that was leaking was not large enough to trigger the alarm.

Crooked Run flows into Drawdy Creek, which in turn flows into the Coal River. A full chemical and biological assessment is being conducted on Drawdy Creek. Additional enforcement action against Admiral Processing is possible pending the result of the biological assessment.

DEP inspectors are also investigating a report of a second coal slurry leak at the site at approximately 5:45 p.m., when contaminated water was being pumped out of Crooked Run. A pump backfilled because of a valve fail, causing a second release. The amount of coal slurry leaked in the second incident is under investigation. 

The nearest public water system is Lincoln County PSD, which has an intake approximately 17 miles downstream on the Coal River. St. Albans also has an intake on the Coal River, approximately 35 miles downstream. The West Virginia Bureau for Public Health (BPH) continues to coordinate with the water utilities.

Original Post March 3, 2017 5 a.m.

The Department of Environmental Protection said in a news release Thursday an imminent harm cessation order was issued for the Admiral Processing operation, which is an affiliate of Alpha Natural Resources.

The amount of slurry spilled into Crooked Run is being investigated. The agency said inspectors believe the slurry came from a burst pipe at the facility.

Crooked Run flows into Drawdy Creek, which then flows into the Coal River. Officials at water treatment plants in Lincoln County and St. Albans have been notified of the spill. Both have intakes on the Coal River, and they are being shut down overnight as a precaution.

Coal Company Seeks OK to Expand Slurry Impoundment

A Murray Energy company wants to expand a coal slurry impoundment in Harrison County to increase its capacity.

The former Consolidation Coal Co., now called Murray American Energy Inc., is seeking state approval to broaden the impoundment by 103 acres and increase its height by 70 feet.

Department of Environmental Protection permit supervisor Randy Moore tells The Exponent Telegram that the company’s proposal would be a substantial expansion.

At current mining conditions, Moore says the expansion would extend the impoundment’s life span an estimated 11 to 12 years.

Murray acquired Consolidation Coal from CONSOL Energy in December 2013 and changed the company’s name.

West Virginia Plant Faces Fines in Slurry Spill

  West Virginia environmental regulators have proposed more than $21,000 in fines for a Kanawha County plant that spilled coal slurry into a creek.

The fines are for three citations issued after 108,000 gallons of slurry spilled into Fields Creek from Patriot Coal’s Kanawha Eagle preparation plant on Feb. 11.

Department of Environmental Protection spokesman Tom Aluise told the Charleston Daily Mail that the company is contesting about $20,000 in penalties associated with two orders issued after the spill. One stopped all work except cleanup at the plant. The other was a notice of violation stemming from discolored water entering the Kanawha River during cleanup on Feb. 19.

A Patriot Coal spokeswoman didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday.

Coal Company Cited by MSHA for Coal Slurry Death

A coal company has been cited by federal mining regulators for the November 2012 collapse of a Harrison County coal slurry impoundment that left a miner dead.
 
Dozer operator Markel Koon of Shinnstown and his machine were swept into the impoundment when an embankment collapsed at the Robinson Run Mine’s Nolan Round impoundment near Lumberport. He was 58.
 
The Charleston Gazette reports that U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration investigators cited Consolidation Coal Co. for three alleged violations. The death occurred when the impoundment was operated by a subsidiary of Pittsburgh-based CONSOL Energy.
 
According to a report provided to family members on Wednesday, mine management tried to expand a coal-slurry impoundment faster than was considered safe, and continued the work despite warnings that the site was becoming unstable.
 

W.Va. Company That Spilled Coal Slurry Cited Again

State environmental regulators have cited another violation at the West Virginia plant that spilled coal slurry into a stream last week.

The Department of Environmental Protection said the Kanawha Eagle preparation plant let more blackened water flow into the Kanawha River downstream Wednesday.
 
The additional release into the Kanawha occurred after snow melted and raised water levels in the affected stream, Fields Creek. The rising levels stirred up silt at the bottom of the creek. The creek overran some dams used to slow down water and catch slurry particles before they hit the Kanawha River.
 
On Feb. 11, the Kanawha County plant owned by Patriot Coal spilled 108,000 gallons of slurry, temporarily turning Fields Creek black.
 
State tests showed water quality at a treatment plant downstream in Huntington hasn’t changed.
 

Coal Wastewater Spills Into McDowell Creek

State regulators say snowmelt has sent wastewater at a former coal impoundment site spilling over sediment control ponds and into a McDowell County creek.

Department of Environmental Protection mining and reclamation acting director Harold Ward said Wednesday the spill occurred in Gary at a site formerly owned by U.S. Steel Mining.

DEP spokesman Tom Aluise says the amount that spilled wasn’t immediately known.

The Charleston Gazette reports DEP officials took over the impoundment site a decade ago after a burst drainage pipe sent polluted water into the Tug Fork River. Gary Partners LLC had reactivated the site’s mining permit and was more recently recovering buried fine coal particles.

But Ward says a closure order had been issued because Gary Partners had stopped paying the DEP under a royalty-permit deal.

Exit mobile version