Almost two dozen Donegal-area residents and environmental activists urged state regulators Wednesday to reject a mining company’s request to renew its permit to discharge water from its Donegal Township mine.
They contend that the water pollutes the creek, and digging out coal has damaged homes and water supplies.
“Our community is losing water quality with this mine here,” Jerry Gearhart, a former board member of the Mountain Watershed Association, told state Department of Environmental Protection officials at a public hearing Wednesday.
The hearing was for LCT Energy LP of Johnstown’s request to renew a permit discharge treated mine water into Champion Creek.
The DEP is reviewing LCT Energy’s request for a renewal of its National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System for its 2,800-acre Rustic Ridge No. 1 Mine underneath Donegal Township, Westmoreland County and in neighboring Saltlick Township, Fayette County. The renewal of the permit by environmental regulators is pending in its draft form.
About 65 people atteded the two-hour hearing, and none who spoke were in favor of the DEP renewing LCT Energy’s mine water discharge permit.
Several residents spoke of mine subsidence of homes and concerns about the loss of well water and springs from Rustic Ridge’s mining operations. Some residents also called for stricter requirements on the level of pollutants that LCT Energy is permitted to discharge into Champion Creek.
There is no deadline for the state regulators to make a decision on renewing the mine permit, said Lauren Camarda, a DEP spokeswoman at the Pittsburgh office. Since LCT Energy applied for the renewal of its water discharge permit, Camarda said that it’s on an administrative review until the DEP makes a decision. The company and opponents of LCT have the right to appeal whatever decision that DEP makes on the permit, Camarda said.
Simultaneously, mine expansion?
While the state is reviewing LCT’s request, the mining company three years ago applied for a 1,400-acre expansion of Rustic Ridge Mine No. 1. It wants to mine coal north of the Pennsylvania Turnpike’s Donegal exit and underneath an area along Route 711.
Melissa Marshall, an environmental attorney for Mountain Watershed Association, asked the DEP officials to pause their review of LCT’s request to consider the mine water that would pumped from that mine expansion.
Marshall said the application to renew the water discharge permit fails to address how the additional water will be handled. She said it could overwhelm the existing treatment facility along Indian Creek.
But LCT has said it has the additional treatment capacity for the water that would be pumped from an expanded mining area.
The DEP considers that permit for expanding the mine a separate review process, Camarada said.
The mine water discharged from Rustic Ridge Mine No. 1 into Champion Creek flows into Indian Creek. It goes through a treatment system before emptying into the Mill Run Reservoir. Water flowing from the Mill Run Reservoir spillway goes into the Youghiogheny River.
Area resident Paul Martin is concerned additional water from an expanded mining operation would create potential flooding of Champion Creek, in addition to even more polluted mine water.
Westmoreland County Commissioner Ted Kopas, the only county commissioner at the meeting, said that while he is not inherently opposed to mining, the DEP should listen to the powerful testimony of those residents who spoke against renewing the permit.
“Let’s do the right thing here,” Kopas said. “There’s no way to consider an extension of an existing permit that has caused so much damage.”
Any decision the state makes should be based on law, science and reasoning, Kopas said.
April Storm of Donegal Township, who lives near the headwaters of the Loyalhanna Creek watershed, questioned why the state would approve the permit renewal when pollutants like selenium are in mine water, which destroys aquatic life.
By allowing LCT Energy to renew its discharge permit, the state is allowing mining that can result in a loss of residents’ well and spring water, said Annie McDougall.
Judith Miller of Helen Ridge Lane in Donegal Township, expressed her concern about the mine subsidence that already has impacted the homes of several of her neighbors.
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“I fear that I will be living next to a mine-created slum,” Miller said.
Joe Napsha is a TribLive reporter covering Irwin, North Huntingdon and the Norwin School District. He also writes about business issues. He grew up on Neville Island and has worked at the Trib since the early 1980s. He can be reached at jnapsha@triblive.com.