Donegal-area residents will have the chance next month to challenge a plan to discharge millions of gallons of mine wastewater into local tributaries.
The state Department of Environmental Protection has scheduled a June 16 hearing to gather input on a draft permit for LCT Energy LP’s proposed Rustic Ridge Mine No. 2. If approved, the Johnstown-based company would be permitted to dump water from the underground mine — which lies beneath Mt. Pleasant and Donegal townships — into two unnamed tributaries of Jacobs Creek.
The 6 p.m. hearing at St. Raymond of the Mountains Parish, 170 School House Road, Donegal Township, was scheduled after community members raised concerns regarding the potential impact on local drinking water and ecosystems.
The agency’s website lists Aug. 10 as the target date for a DEP decision on the wastewater discharge permit application. Laina Aquiline, a DEP spokeswoman at the agency’s Pittsburgh office, could not be reached for comment.
LCT Energy expects water quality and quantity data related to the proposed Rustic Ridge Mine No. 2 will conform to applicable standards and regulatory requirements, and the operations are not likely to adversely impact water quality and quantity, said Mark Tercek, president of LCT Energy.
The Mountain Watershed Association, a Melcroft-based environmental organization that requested the public hearing, has serious concerns about the impact of the mining on the community and the additional flow of pollutants into tributaries that serve as the headwaters of Jacobs Creek, said Stacey Magda, community organizer for the association. There are more than 100 private wells and springs in the proposed mining area of Rustic Ridge Mine No. 2, Magda said.
The permit sets limits on pollution discharges and requires the wastewater to be safe so that humans and aquatic life are protected. Since mining began at Rustic Ridge Mine No. 1 in 2019, Tercek said LCT has not had a single violation of its permit.
With the anticipated flow rate of wastewater from LCT Energy at 2 million gallons a day into small tributaries, the streams could overflow their banks and create risks downstream, Magda said. That additional load of wastewater is a real concern to people who live and do business in that area, she said.
The wastewater from Rustic Ridge Mine No. 2 would not be discharged into the same streams as the ones receiving wastewater from Rustic Ridge Mine No. 1, Tercek said. Rustic Ridge Mine No. 1 operates in Donegal Township in Westmoreland County and Saltlick Township in Fayette County.
The company expects the wastewater pumped from the proposed Rustic Ridge Mine No. 2, which would spread underneath 2,320 acres, will be of similar quality to water pumped from the Rustic Ridge Mine No. 1, Tercek said. If so, the water will not require chemical treatment to meet DEP-mandated discharge limits; instead, it will go through treatment ponds and then be discharged, Tercek said.
The wastewater from the coal seam at Rustic Ridge Mine No. 2 is known to be acidic and elevated in metals content, Magda said.
Last August, residents from the Donegal area asked DEP officials during a public hearing to deny the mining permit to LCT Energy for its Rustic Ridge Mine No. 2, whose surface area is near the intersection of Keyser and Clay Pike roads in Mt. Pleasant and Donegal townships.
LCT Energy is mining the 1,450-acre expanded section of Rustic Ridge Mine No. 1, Tercek said. The company’s April 2025 permit approval to mine the expanded area allows it to mine north of the Pennsylvania Turnpike in the Donegal area.