Coal ash waste from a FirstEnergy Corp. plant in Pennsylvania will be transported to the Murray Energy Corp. reclamation site near Moundsville in West Virginia.
The Intelligencer and Wheeling News-Register reports coal ash from First Energy’s Bruce Mansfield Plant in Shippingport, Pennsylvania, will be transported on four or five Ohio River barges per day.
FirstEnergy spokeswoman Stephanie Walton said Friday the company plans to send 80 percent of the coal combustion residuals produced at the Bruce Mansfield plant to the Moundsville site for reclamation.
Neither Murray nor FirstEnergy would confirm the reclamation site’s exact location.
About 80 percent of the Bruce Mansfield Plant’s coal ash will be used for mine reclamation, while the remainder will continue to be recycled into drywall by National Gypsum at its production facility in Shippingport.
West Virginia regulators have settled a lawsuit brought against Alpha Natural Resources over concerns about the coal producer’s reclamation obligations as it emerges from bankruptcy.
Alpha is one of the biggest coal companies in the country. A Virginia court approved its bankruptcy plan in July. Just prior to that, the company struck a deal with the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection. But in November, Alpha revealed an additional $100 million in unaccounted-for expenses.
Worried that the burden could leave the company unable to pay for reclamation of damaged mine lands, the West Virginia DEP filed a lawsuit against Alpha that sought to hold executives accountable should Alpha fail again after bankruptcy.
Under the settlement announced this week, the DEP has agreed to dismiss the complaint. In exchange, Alpha agreed to post its Boone County headquarters as collateral, appraised at $6.3 million. In addition, the new company emerging from the bankruptcy, Contura Energy Inc., agreed to post an additional $8.5 million in limited guarantees to cover the company’s obligations.
In a release the DEP explained, “Contura agreed to post a $4 million letter of credit and issue a secured $4.5 million guaranty of Alpha’s obligations, each through the end of 2018. By that time, Alpha expects its financial condition to return to the level projected in its prior bankruptcy projections.”
In a release Alpha CEP David Stetson said, “Alpha is pleased that the concerns raised by the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection with respect to the proposed settlement between Alpha, Contura Energy, and the agent for Alpha’s former first-lien lenders have been fully addressed.”
The agreement still needs to be approved in bankruptcy court.
The Cheat River flows pale green and slate gray, glistening in the sunshine as it gathers speed, turns to whitewater and drops between rocks on the way toward the Monongahela River. From there it makes its way to the Ohio River and the drinking water of millions of people.
As West Virginia pushes toward an uncertain economic future, a river that once flowed bright orange charts a course out of mining’s toxic legacies.
The state recently joined conservationists to protect the Cheat’s eight-mile whitewater canyon, collectively buying 3,800 acres from timber investors for $7 million. A new $8 million water treatment plant next year should help alleviate ongoing acid drainage from an abandoned underground coal mine that blew out in 1994, spewing acid and metals.
“In the East, it’s a rare opportunity where you get to protect eight river miles along an area that not only has tremendous biodiversity but also has a lot of recreational opportunities available,” said the Nature Conservancy’s Keith Fisher, a biologist.
Even with President-elect Donald Trump promising a coal industry comeback, most West Virginians have adapted to a world in which other economic engines are needed to revive one of the nation’s poorest states. The two-decade effort to reclaim the Cheat River and its tributaries fits into a broader push to grow tourism in West Virginia, where visitors already spend about $4.5 billion annually.
“Our tourism possibilities in this state are limitless,” Governor-elect Jim Justice said during the campaign. An outdoorsman and mine owner, he told The Associated Press after winning that he wants to protect the state’s air, water and natural beauty, saying it can co-exist with coal.
The Cheat also has a more tangible connection to West Virginia’s coal legacy. Like many waterways in coal-producing states, it remains threatened by mine drainage that turns water acidic.
The state Department of Environmental Protection calls the acidification of waterways coal’s “biggest environmental problem,” affecting hundreds of miles of West Virginia rivers and streams, usually from abandoned mines where those who caused it are long gone. The agency says the Monongahela, Tug Fork, North Branch of the Potomac and several other rivers have all been affected.
The Cheat is clear to the bottom and shallow in November, unlike the spring surge that rises above boulders and draws peak-season rafters and kayakers down the canyon. Its steep walls are lined with hardwoods, oaks, hickories and maples still dropping amber leaves. The water remains high enough to carry small boats.
Part of the 330-mile Allegheny Trail runs parallel for eight miles, high on the river’s east rim. The narrow, grassy former logging tract was once designated for a rail line. Now it’s reopened to hikers, fishermen and hunters and closed to all-terrain vehicles. Commercial rafters never stopped using their rights to a navigable waterway, though they lost business after the blowout.
“Cheat River is so much better than it used to be,” said Doug Wood, a retired state biologist. “As a drinking water source it’s much better than it was before.”
Downstream drinking water systems all have to treat their intake from the rivers for bacteria and other contaminants, some more extensively.
Its acidity was toxic to virtually all aquatic life after the 1994 mine blowout released massive drainage outflows into a tributary, Muddy Creek.
“The Cheat was already a pretty severely polluted river,” said Randy Robinson, then a rafting guide who was on it shortly after the blowout and remembers the nasty, sulfurous smell. “It was like orange paint had been dumped in the river in a way.”
The orange coating on the rocks from iron hydroxide, which persisted for years, has disappeared. The acid levels have been sharply reduced through dozens of water-treatment projects, proven by both testing and the abundance of freshwater fish in Cheat Lake, a downstream river impoundment that has attracted an enclave of upscale homes and townhouses outside Morgantown.
According to Wood, acid drainage is a fairly predictable matter of coal geology, where the nearby rock also contains iron disulfide. With mining, it will produce iron hydroxide and sulfuric acid when combined with oxygen and water that eventually finds a path down and out.
“The problems with the Cheat should have educated our permitting agencies, a long time ago, to prevent them from issuing permits that are going to result in perpetual acid mine drainage,” Wood said. He said that hasn’t happened. Restoring an affected waterway afterward requires costly, active treatment, he said.
The state permitting agency said it does consider geology among many factors. Permits aren’t approved unless an operation is deemed to meet all federal and state legal requirements, spokeswoman Kelley Gillenwater said.
Amanda Pitzer, executive director of Friends of the Cheat, volunteers who monitor and work on its restoration, said the pH level, which is neutral at 7, dropped to toxic 3 and 4 after the blowout.
The Muddy Creek tributary looks milky green now, still showing effects of drainage that also includes aluminum. The creek, though improved, still has no fish.
David McCoy, a state engineer, said 3.4 miles of Muddy Creek still usually test acidic, and the Cheat itself now tests neutral. The new filtration system will use two 80-foot clarifiers, a 100-ton silo and hydrated lime to counter the acidity and capture the sludge of metals that settle out. That sludge will be piped to an injection well underground at a higher elevation.
The Nature Conservancy emphasizes a “pragmatic” approach, working with businesses to promote best practices for limiting environmental impact. The economics of the transition from West Virginia’s post-mining economy can’t be ignored, said Fisher, the state chapter’s director of conservation, and should include recreation and land and water restoration.
All of that brings him back to the big question he and others are trying to answer. Standing on the trail, high above the softly rumbling river, he said it’s about the transition from a coal-dependent economy to something else: “How do you make conservation and economic diversity work together?”
Just months after emerging from bankruptcy, Alpha Natural Resources has revealed $100 million in what it calls “unaccounted for obligations,” causing West Virginia regulators to worry that the burden puts the company at further risk of financial failure.
The Alpha disclosure, made in a recent bankruptcy court filing, has increased fears about there being adequate money available to complete proper reclamation on hundreds of Alpha mining permits across West Virginia, The Charleston Gazette-Mail reported.
The disclosure prompted a strongly worded objection from the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection.
It also brought a related lawsuit by the DEP that threatens the possibility state officials could eventually block a half-dozen former top Alpha executives or affiliated companies from obtaining new coal-mining permits anywhere in the country.
In one recent court filing, DEP lawyer Kevin Barrett referred to the amount of Alpha’s unaccounted for obligations as “whopping.” Barrett said the issue “is devastating” and “seriously threatens” the reorganized company’s ability to perform its legal obligations to reclaim remaining mine sites.
“That’s a lot of money,” said DEP Secretary Randy Huffman. “We just felt like we needed to take some action.”
The DEP filed a legal complaint in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Richmond, Virginia, against Alpha and against six former Alpha executives who are now running a new company that took over Alpha’s most valuable holdings as part of its bankruptcy reorganization.
The complaint seeks to void previous DEP agreements for which the state could not hold those former Alpha officials responsible if the reorganized Alpha ended up going belly up and leaving mines unreclaimed.
If the DEP’s request is granted, those six officials could be linked to any Alpha reclamation problems on the federal government’s “applicant violator system.” The so-called “AVS” is a system that aims to prevent companies or individuals with unresolved environmental violations or unreclaimed mine sites from getting new coal-mining permits.
The DEP’s action in the Alpha case is the latest move regarding growing concerns from environmental regulators, citizen groups and labor organizations that the historic downturn in the Appalachian coal market will leave behind billions of dollars in “legacy liabilities” that range from scarred land and polluted streams to financially strapped health care and pension programs and unpaid taxes.
In the Alpha bankruptcy, most of the company’s larger and more valuable properties — primarily in the western U.S. — were transferred during the court-approved reorganization to Contura Energy, a company formed by Alpha’s major lenders and now led by former Alpha CEO Kevin Crutchfield.
In a press release Friday, independent members of Contura’s board of directors said the DEP’s court filing included allegations the board believed “to be inaccurate and defamatory as they are made without any evidence whatsoever, with no basis in fact, and without merit.”
“The efforts of Alpha’s and Contura’s dedicated management teams continue to ensure the preservation of thousands of jobs and provide value to both companies’ diverse set of stakeholders,” the press release said. “We challenge any inference to the contrary. We intend to work with all parties to resolve these allegations and will vigorously defend the hard-earned reputations and integrity of management to the fullest extent.”
A recent breakdown at an Ohio River dam served as a wake-up call about the aging infrastructure that keeps river commerce flowing. The Ohio is one of the…
A recent breakdown at an Ohio River dam served as a wake-up call about the aging infrastructure that keeps river commerce flowing. The Ohio is one of the country’s busiest working rivers and some navigation controls are approaching the century mark. I went to see these ailing structures and a new multi-billion dollar project in the works.
Credit Nicole Erwin / Ohio Valley Resource
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Ohio Valley Resource
Olmsted is a multi-billion dollar fix for the Ohio, decades in the making.
Critical Stretch of River
Barges are once again moving through this section of the Ohio near Paducah, Kentucky, after a failure at the aging Lock and Dam Number 52 forced a two-day closure in September.
“It’s one of the busiest locations on the inland waterways,” said Army Corp of Engineers Colonel Christopher Beck. “We pass about 90 million tons of cargo through here every year. So it’s critical to both this region, to industry and the nation.”
Lock and Dam 52 uses wooden structures called wickets that work a bit like a bathtub to keep the river at the depth needed for boat traffic. When three wickets broke free of their bases and even more wouldn’t cooperate, a hole let too much water through. That threatened both navigability and a water intake facility used by nearby chemical manufacturing plants.
The shutdown halted traffic and some industry, showing exactly what a failing dam can mean for the region’s commerce. Beck says locks and dams 52 and 53 were originally built in the 1920’s and expected to last 50 years. After 90 years the bandages, tape and temporary fixes are wearing thin.
Credit U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
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U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
A closeup view of the wickets of Dam 52 near Paducah, Kentucky.
“They’re very old structures, we replaced about half of them last year but they’re very old,” Beck said.
Beck said it isn’t unusual for dam operators to try to pick a wicket up and be unsuccessful or end up with a small gap. Although the effect of the recent closure was smaller than the Corps had originally anticipated, each breakdown is a reminder of the tremendous ripple effect on the region’s commerce when river traffic is slowed.
“Industry moves quite a bit up and down the river from coal, to fuels, grains, all those type of things,” Beck said. “Each one of these barges you see going by that’s got a configuration of about 15 different compartments is equal to about a thousand trucks on the road.”
The Big Fix
Just downriver a massive, multi-billion dollar project known as the Olmsted Locks and Dam is underway to keep that commerce afloat.
Olmsted Division Executive Officer Jeremy Nichols led me along a gravel road where pieces of the dam wait to be placed into the river. Stepping onto the dock I climbed into what Nichols described as the Cadillac of crew boats. It’s one of a few pieces of equipment built specifically for the project.
Credit Nicole Erwin / Ohio Valley Resource
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Ohio Valley Resource
“America’s still building,” Jeremy Nichols said. “I think that’s pretty cool.”
A super gantry crane, which is used to lift and carry the concrete shells down to the river, and a catamaran barge were also built for this project. The Catamaran barge is used to carry those shells into the water where they’ll be lowered and put into place.
Olmsted will be operational in 2018 but it won’t be complete until 2022. During those four years the old Lock and Dams 52 and 53 will be removed. Nichols said it takes a tow boat about three hours to get through the dams. With Olmsted in place that will drop to about one hour.
“The two are more expensive than one because right now they have to maintain those structures with roughly the same amount of personnel each that we have that we would need here,” Nichols said. “So one modern structure has a lot less maintenance compared to two 90 year old structures.”
Credit Alexandra Kanik / Ohio Valley Resource
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Ohio Valley Resource
Olmsted’s construction generated about 750 jobs and the facility will employ about 20 when it’s complete. Nichols said Inland Waterways, a federal advisory board that makes recommendations to congress and the army, has made this the flagship lock and dam of the nation.
“As they look at the need for infrastructure upgrades across the United States they’ve identified Olmsted as the number one priority given our location, economic impact and the necessity for replacement of two outdated infrastructure components,” Nichols said.
It will have taken almost 30 years to finish Olmsted from the time the project was awarded to its completion. Nichols said the structure’s lifespan is 50 years but with proper maintenance he thinks it can last about a century.
“It comes back to the old saying, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of a cure, and that’s true. Eventually everything does run out though, you can only maintain it so long,” Nichols said.
He said the key to Olmsted is doing small maintenance that will add up over time.
Big Cost And Big Benefits
The cost of the project is estimated at a little under $3 billion by completion. With a projected annual net benefit of $640 million dollars, Nichols said the project should pay for itself in about five years.
Corps of Engineers Economist Alex Ryan said the focus is on moving river traffic through the busy area.
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“The primary benefit we anticipate for Olmsted will be increasing the efficiency of existing traffic or traffic that’s going to grow in the future,” Ryan said.
Commodities that go through the area are proportionately equal to the passenger traffic at Dallas Love Field, Atlanta Hartsfield, Chicago O’Hare and Los Angeles International airports put together.
“The national level impact of Olmsted is in the reduction in transportation cost so all commodities that are moved on the river are able to be moved more cheaply than they would be over truck or rail,” Ryan said. “That reduces the end user costs for all of those goods.”
“Hoover Dam didn’t take this long”
For the nearby Ashland Manufacturing plant in Calvert City, Kentucky, the new project can’t come soon enough. Ashland depends on the river for materials and water to make a number of pharmaceutical ingredients, and felt the effect of the September closure. Environmental manager Tim Whitaker says the company had to shut down all but two key processes in anticipation of a loss of water.
“It takes awhile to ramp these things back up,” Whitaker said. “This plant runs 24/7 and there was definitely at least a day and a half of lost production for us because of this.”
The closure was a reminder that not just river traffic is affected by dam failures. The effects extend to industry along the river and beyond.
Credit Becca Schimmel / Ohio Valley Resource
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Ohio Valley Resource
A worker on the water intake structure used by Ashland Manufacturing. The company had to halt production when the river level fell.
“We’re the sole source on some products, so there could be ripple effects through the economy from shutting down not just this plant but the other plants in Calvert City,” Whitaker said.
He wonders why it’s taking so long to complete Olmsted and argues that The Hoover Dam didn’t take this long. That’s true — remarkably, the Hoover Dam was built in just five years — but it’s also not an “apples-to-apples” comparison. For one thing, the Colorado River does not carry commercial traffic, as the Ohio does.
Some dam construction involves a temporary structure known as a cofferdam used to seal off a section of the waterway. The cofferdam closes an area off, water is pumped out, and construction is done. Once construction is complete the cofferdams are demolished and removed.
But Nichols of the Corps said that’s not feasible in this case.
“A cofferdam that can withstand the Ohio and the elevation during flood stage, that’s a very big structure we have to put in the river anyway. Plus river traffic would be reduced for it,” Nichols said.
Commodities shipped by waterway have become too important to impede traffic even for building a new dam. So Olmsted is being built without blocking the flow.
“They can’t do anything without divers”
Olmsted calls for a construction method called “in the wet.” The pieces of the dam are built on land and then placed in the water. The method saves money and reduces shipping delays.
Nichols said there’s no way to let the water out to inspect or construct the dam; the only way to get a look at the structure as it’s being built is with sonar or divers. Originally, the project didn’t call for any divers.
“That statement wasn’t very well thought out, that’s all I can say,” Mark Cervantes said.
Cervantes, a construction representative, noted that the project recently marked its 10,000 dive.
“They can’t do anything without divers.”
Credit Becca Schimmel / Ohio Valley Resource
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Ohio Valley Resource
An Olmsted diver. The project has required more than 10,000 dives so far.
Cervantes said only divers can walk around, feel and tell what it is really like down there and how everything fits. The current is too strong and the water too murky to send remotes down.
He said conditions are always changing. One day divers can go down and see their hands in front of them and the next day they can’t.
Credit Becca Schimmel / Ohio Valley Resource
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Ohio Valley Resource
A support crew pulls a diver to the surface by the “umbilical” line at the Olmsted construction site.
Although divers have a support team above them and the occasional Asian carp to keep them company down below, they go down solo. Most of the time they’re cleaning or checking on equipment; every now and then they find a unique Ohio River souvenir: a bowling ball.
“Supposedly there’s somebody upriver that has a pneumatic cannon that shoots old bowling balls in the river,” Cervantes said.
Mark Cervantes said divers are essential for the work at Olmsted. “America’s still building” Credit Becca Schimmel / Ohio Valley Resource
Olmsted is two years ahead of schedule but whether industry can wait remains to be seen. Lock and Dams 52 and 53 are rated as failing dams. Industry can only hope that the temporary fixes will withstand another two years. Nichols said this project is getting the Corps’ full attention.
“Everybody from congress on down in the industry sector have said that it’s extremely important that we get Olmsted done so we don’t run into another 52 situation only it being worse,” he said. “Every day that we’re not operational the risk increases on those structures.”
Credit Nicole Erwin / Ohio Valley Resource
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Ohio Valley Resource
The construction process at Olmsted allows barges to pass while work is underway.
The American Society of Civil Engineers gave America a “D” on its latest infrastructure report card in 2013. Although the nation’s infrastructure is suffering, Nichols is proud of a project that’s working to remedy that.
“You hear a lot of things about America doesn’t build like we used to, our infrastructure’s getting bad,” he said. “When you see stuff like this, it’s a good feeling knowing that so many hundred Americans are doing trade jobs and engineering work and building something massive as part of America’s infrastructure inventory. America’s still building and I like that.”
Last month the Coalfield Development Corporation and Solar Holler announced they would expand an already existing partnership to help transition miners from coal jobs into a new industry. The announcement meant a new training facility at West Edge in the Westmoreland neighborhood of Huntington, but will work with laid off miners throughout the state’s southern coalfields.
Credit Coalfield Development Corporation
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Conceptual drawing of the Solar Training facility.
The Huntington solar training institute is just one of many training programs that the Coalfield Development Corporation offers to coal miners looking for work outside of the industry. The non-profit also trains laid off miners to work in hazmat and asbestos removal. Workers in the different programs also take classes at local community colleges.
Shepherdstown-based Solar Holler works to install solar panels at businesses and organizations around the state.
Deacon Stone is the President of Rediscover Appalachia and a Project Manager with the Coalfield Development Corporation. Workers who deconstruct and renovate housing units in the southern part of the state will also help renovate the new training space this winter.
Until then training continues in places like Mingo county, where students are taught the ins and outs of hanging solar panels.
“We have Solar Holler playing a developer role churning up business that our young people will get to educationally and experientially benefit from when they do the actual installs and we’re doing all of that work already,” Stone said.
Credit Coalfield Development Corporation
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Conceptual drawings of the Solar Training facility.
The partnership between the Coalfield Development Corporation and Solar Holler began in 2015 and has already led to some installations around West Virginia. One is at Edward Tucker Architects. The group recently bought and renovated a new space in Huntington and decided to add the solar panels to their facility. Ed Tucker is the President of Edward Tucker Architects. He said it just made sense to work with the budding relationship.
“We’re really excited about Coalfield’s program and the ability to put local folks to work cause we understand that spending in our community and keeping the dollars at home and investing in the people at home is a good thing,” Tucker said.
Tucker said they qualified for a USDA grant to help fund the project and are doing a leasing program for the 51 panels that sit atop the building. He said it won’t be long before they see the benefit in their electric bills. He says it’s expected to cut their electric costs in half.
Dan Conant is the Founder of Sollar Holler. He said it’s projects like these and more that are in the works that make the development of a training facility in Huntington all the more exciting.
“It’s going to mean that we can build out our facilities so that everything they could possibly see out in the real world, they will have experienced first,” Conant said. “It’s going to speed up all the installations because they will have seen it before.”
The partnership choose projects based on a triple-bottom line. They look for projects that are good for people, good for the planet and good for profit to help the program continue to function as a hands on experience for laid off workers who need a new career.
