KWA challenges permit that would allow for expanision of mining activity
Jason Flickner
June 2007
The Kentucky Waterways Alliance is challenging plans by Nally & Hamilton to mine within the watershed of a public drinking water supply and recreation area in Knott County. The coal company has applied for a 262-acre surface and 94-acre underground coal mine on the Knott / Letcher County border. The company proposes to discharge into first and second order tributaries within five miles of Carr Creek Lake, a public drinking water supply. Carr Creek Lake is currently listed on the 303(d) list of impaired streams for and total suspended solids (TSS) due to mining activity. Additionally, the Kentucky Division of Water (KDOW) recently approved the Knott County Water and Sewer District’s plans for an $8.6 million drinking water treatment plant on Carr Creek Lake, providing 2-4 million gallons-per-day to eastern Kentucky residents.
This application is an expansion of mining activity already in the same watershed. This highlights an alarming practice by coal companies to incrementally expand the size of a coal mining operation by amending its original permit. In practice, this allows the coal company’s to subdivide the cumulative impacts of the coal mining process.
The Kentucky Waterways Alliance (KWA) submitted comments on the permit application requesting that the Division of Water deny the general discharge permit coverage, which the company must obtain in addition to
a mining permit since it is discharging into public waters. KWA believes the permit would violate several sections of existing laws. The foundation of the objections are:
1. Defeated Creek and Breeding Creek are 1st Order Tributaries of Carr Creek Lake and Blair Branch and Sugar Branch are 2nd Order Tributaries of Carr Creek Lake.
2. Every proposed sediment structure will discharge within five miles of an existing drinking water intake.
3. Carr Creek Lake already is a 303(d) listed lake for sedimentation/siltation and total suspended solids (TSS) pollutants.
KWA believes the coal company failed to perform a meaningful analysis of alternatives to dumping pollutants into the streams, as required by law, or provide adequate documentation of compliance with Kentucky’s antidegradation policy. The analysis is supposed to include site-specific responses, justifications, and documentation, but Nally & Hamilton failed to provide any engineering reports, economic feasibility studies, or other supporting documentation.
“The mixed blessing of headwater counties such as Knott and Letcher is that we have the benefit of having greater control over our waterways than communities downstream,” said Evan Smith, coordinator for the Letcher County Head of 3 Rivers Project and of Headwaters, Inc. “However this comes at the cost of having limited access to large water bodies from which drinking water can be drawn.
“Carr Creek Lake is one of the few large water bodies in the area and has the potential of serving thousands of east Kentucky homes and businesses with clean drinking water.” So far the KDOW has not responded to KWA’s comments or officially ruled on Nally & Hamilton’s permit application.
