Stream Classification – What’s that?
Have you ever wondered if one stream is prioritized in a level of “importance” differently from another? Well, I sure have. That’s not a...
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Photo and Article are provided by the Dominion Post Newspaper
Three Fork Creek and the Tygart River May Be
Facing A New Threat of Acid Mine Drainage
Save The Tygart Watershed Association is a local, non-profit organization dedicated to improving the Tygart River and its tributaries. Three Fork Creek, which begins in Preston County and enters the Tygart River at Grafton, is now alive again with aquatic life due to facilities constructed by the WV Department of Environmental Protection (WVDEP) to treat acid mine drainage. With new treatment facilities going on-line this year, we hope for similar results on Little Sandy Creek, which also begins in Preston County and flows directly into Tygart Lake. These facilities cost millions of federal and state dollars to build and maintain. They are necessary due to abusive coal mining practices which started in the late 1800s.
These streams now face new threats. Arch Coal’s Leer Mine near Grafton has proposed a permit revision which we believe will have major adverse impacts to water quality in both of these tributaries.
Photos were made available by the WV DEP
Photos were made available by the WV DEP
The revision proposes the creation of a gravity discharge of 3,465 gallons per minute of water from the deep mine works into Three Fork Creek. This water is projected to have a high amount of iron and will require treatment for a total of 38 years before untreated water will meet water quality standards. The specific conductance of the water will be at a level which the WVDEP rates as “a definite stressor”.
A previous revision protected Little Sandy Creek by limiting mining under it and its major tributaries. In the proposed revision, these protections have been removed, and the company could subside the Creek and its tributaries, resulting in tremendous damage.
BY JENIFFER GRAHAM AND
JESSICA NELSON
Newsroom@DominionPost.com
It’s been more than 10 years since the Whitetail Kittanning Mine closed. More than one year since contamination was discovered.
Four households are still without a permanent water supply.
And a borehole continues to dump pollutants into Raccoon Creek.
The following information was gathered through research by The Dominion Post reporters and provided by Save the Tygart Watershed Association.
Every tale has its start, The story of the Whitetail Mine began.
(Click Here For The Article)
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