West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection Story Archives - Page 2 of 21

W.Va. Tire Collection Events Scheduled In April

Free tire collection events are scheduled around West Virginia this month.

The events are 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. April 23 behind the Go-Mart in the Cabin Creek community in Kanawha County, 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. April 23 at Clay County High School, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. April 23 at the Old Oak Ridge Trucking Lot in Elkins and 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. April 30 at the HL Wilson Trucking Lot in Moorefield, the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection said.

Each person may dispose of up to 10 tires. The tires must be off the rims. Only car and light truck tires are accepted, the agency said.

Ongoing tire collections are held regularly in Boone, Brooke, Calhoun, Fayette, Hancock, Mason, Mercer, Monroe, Pocahontas, Putnam, Tucker, Wayne and Wyoming counties.

Upcoming tire collection events are listed on the department’s website.

Bill For Air, Water Quality Rules Clears Senate Judiciary Committee

A bill moving forward in the Senate would lessen some of the state’s criteria for limiting pollutants in West Virginia waterways.

House Bill 2382 is a rules bundle, updating several air-and-water-quality rules that the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection enforces with recommendations from the federal government.

One of these rules, dealing with water quality, would adopt 24 of 94 recommended updates that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency made in 2015, all relating to the regulation of certain pollutants in waterways.

In testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee Monday, DEP Deputy Secretary Scott Mandirola said the department was working monthly with stakeholders to consider adopting another 32 of these recommendations from the federal government.

States are allowed to adopt EPA recommendations and amend them using certain scientific standards. Mandirola said West Virginia used “one-in-a-million” cancer risk and federal fish consumption standards, in reworking the 24 new criteria included in House Bill 2382.

About half of the 24 updates would result in less regulation of water pollutants than West Virginia already has in place.

“Any time you increase exposure to toxins and carcinogens, you’re increasing risk to public health,” said Angie Rosser, executive director of the West Virginia Rivers Coalition. Several members of that group spoke against the bill during a public hearing in February.

Rosser also said that her group is frustrated that the rules bundle excludes the 32 updates the DEP is still considering. All 56 updates were first proposed to the state Legislature in 2019.

The state Senate ordered the DEP to study the rules more after objections from some of the industries that the department regulates.

Mandirola said Monday that the 24 updates being introduced this year simply had the most consensus around them. He also said that none of the updates in House Bill 2382 would result in changes to West Virginia’s adherence to the Clean Water Act.

Ohio and Pennsylvania have adopted their own versions of all 94 of the recommended criteria from the EPA, according to testimony from Mandirola.

If this rules bundle passes the Senate, already having cleared the House of Delegates, the EPA still has to approve all updates before the DEP can enforce them.

Emily Allen is a Report for America corps member.

Court Says Lawsuit Against W.Va. DEP Over Mine Reclamation Fund Can Proceed

A federal court has ruled that a lawsuit brought by environmental groups over West Virginia’s coal mine reclamation fund can continue.

In an order issued Friday, U.S. District Judge Robert Chambers dismissed a request by the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection to toss the July lawsuit filed by environmental groups.

The three organizations — the Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition, West Virginia Highlands Conservancy and Sierra Club — argued the state agency violated federal mining laws when it failed to alert federal mine regulators it was putting more than 100 mining permits controlled by one company — ERP Environmental Fund— into a special receivership in order to avoid forfeiting the permits to the state.

The groups noted that the move, as well as recent bankruptcies of Murray Energy and Blackjewel Mining L.L.C., jeopardized already inadequate funds the state relies on to clean up coal mining operations when companies walk away. Under the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act, state regulators are required to inform the Office of Surface Mining, Reclamation and Enforcement, or OSMRE, when there are significant changes to the state’s coal mine cleanup program, including financial changes.

According to documents filed by the DEP earlier this year, the state’s Special Reclamation Fund would be “overwhelmed” if ERP’s permits were forfeited. The agency said the company has an estimated $115 million in bonds, but it would cost at least $230 million to remediate all of the company’s operations. The difference would fall to the reclamation fund.

According to a Jan. 9, 2020 report to the West Virginia Legislature, as of Sept. 30, 2019, the Special Reclamation Fund had just over $58 million in cash and investments. It is funded by a 12.9 cent tax per ton of coal mined in West Virginia.

State regulators asked the court to dismiss the suit for a myriad of reasons, all of which the court denied. In a statement, the Sierra Club said it expects the case to eventually go to trial.

Environmental Groups Sue DEP Over W.Va. Coal Reclamation Fund

A new lawsuit brought by environmental groups raises the alarm over the solvency of a fund that can be used to clean up coal mining operations when mining companies walk away.

Three groups — the Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition, West Virginia Highlands Conservancy and Sierra Club — filed the citizen’s suit Thursday against the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection and its secretary, Austin Caperton.

The complaint alleges the agency violated federal mining laws by failing to alert federal mine regulators that recent actions jeopardize the state’s Special Reclamation Fund.

Those actions include the bankruptcies of Murray Energy and Blackjewel Mining L.L.C., the possible bankruptcy of Southeastern Land, LLC and an emergency motion filed by the DEP in March seeking to place more than 100 permits controlled by coal operator ERP Environmental Fund into a special receivership so they wouldn’t be forfeited

“The WVDEP has failed to properly manage its reclamation program, which has led to a dire situation, one in which there is not enough money to clean up mines abandoned by their insolvent operators,” said Karan Ireland, senior campaign representative with the West Virginia Sierra Club.

The solvency of the state’s Special Reclamation Fund and bonding program have long drawn criticism over whether they would be sufficient to cover all of the reclamation work needed across the state.

The lawsuit draws largely from the court actions the DEP took in March against ERP. In an emergency motion the agency wrote that transferring the company’s more than 100 permits to the state’s Special Reclamation Fund “would overwhelm the fund both financially and administratively, with the result that the actual reclamation and remediation of the ERP mining sites could be delayed.”

A spokesperson for the DEP said the agency “cannot discuss pending litigation and cannot comment at this time.”

Environmental Groups To Sue State Over W.Va. Coal Fund

Environmental groups announced Monday that they plan to sue the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection over what they say is the agency’s failure to adhere to federal reporting requirements for a coal mine reclamation fund.

The West Virginia Highlands Conservancy, Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition and the Sierra Club filed a notice of a pending lawsuit. The groups said in a news release that the DEP failed to notify the U.S. Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement if significant funding or budget changes were to affect the enforcement and administration of the special reclamation fund.

Money from the reclamation fund is used to complete mine reclamation when the amount of bonds that are forfeited by companies are less than the actual cost of reclamation. Most of the funding for the special reclamation fund comes from a tax of 27.9 cents on each ton of clean coal mined in the state.

The groups allege the state now considers the fund to be dramatically underfunded and unable to cover the costs of coal mine reclamation.

DEP acting spokesman Terry Fletcher said the agency was viewing the notice and he declined further comment Monday.

The DEP in March sued a company that acquired more than 100 mining permits from Patriot Coal Corp.’s 2015 bankruptcy. Most of the permits are in West Virginia and others are in Kentucky, Illinois and Tennessee.

The DEP said the company, ERP Environmental Fund Inc., laid off all of its employees, ceased operations and abandoned its mining sites. The DEP is seeking to have a special receiver appointed to assume control of the company’s assets to assure compliance with environmental laws.

The environmental groups’ notice said the DEP indicated in its lawsuit that the special reclamation fund would be overwhelmed if it were to take responsibility for ERP’s permits. The notice claims the state now considers the reclamation fund to be dramatically underfunded and unable to cover the costs of coal mine reclamation.

W.Va. DEP Holds Public Hearing On Rockwool Stormwater Permits

More than 100 people spoke at a public hearing in Shepherdstown this week hosted by the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection.

The hearing was for two proposed stormwater-related permits to be issued to Denmark-based Rockwool in Ranson, Jefferson County.

Jefferson County’s predominantly karst geology – a porous, spongy type of rock that is prone to sinkholes – was a major talking point at Wednesday night’s public hearing.

“Our karst geology should not be a toilet for Rockwool’s contaminants,” local resident Ruth Hatcher said from the podium of the Storer Ballroom in Shepherd University’s Student Center.

Hatcher was one of more than 100 speakers at the DEP’s hearing who spoke out against issuing two stormwater management permits to Rockwool.

Rockwool, a stone wool manufacturing plant that is currently under construction in Ranson and has drawn heated debate across the region for more than a year, is requesting for its Construction Stormwater Permit (WVR108876) to be reissued. The permit requires regulation of erosion control and stormwater runoff during construction of a facility.

Rockwool is also requesting an Industrial Stormwater Permit (WVG611896), that would regulate stormwater after construction is complete.

But residents are concerned that if an accident occurs, the runoff would affect the area’s karst geology, seeping into the ground and contaminating drinking water for a large portion of Jefferson County residents.

Out of the more than 100 speakers, only one person spoke in favor of the stormwater permits.

Those opposed to Rockwool are hopeful that if the permits are not issued, it could effectively stop construction of the Rockwool plant.

The public comment period ends at 8:00 p.m. on Oct. 31, 2019.

Public comments can be submitted via email at dep.comments@wv.gov.