Pickering Knob, WV
Holden
Tuesday, August 1st, 2006
Penny Loeb is a distinguished author and the web designer for http://www.wvcoalfield.com , who has generously allowed her articles to be reprinted here.
The river runs orange through Holden.
Orange rivers are a fairly common sight in the northern part of the state. The higher-sulfur coal there is more likely to produce the orange water, known as acid mine drainage. The sulfide minerals in coal oxidize when exposed to air and water. That process releases manganese, aluminum and iron (which turns the water orange).
The southern part of the state has lower-sulfur coal and tends to have less acid mine drainage and fewer orange streams. One exception is the river in Holden. The acid mine drainage there is being caused by drainage from old, abandoned deep mines. Until recently, most of Holden’s mine-related problems did come from those abandoned mines. Now, however, two new mountaintop removal mines are starting up to the north and west of the abandoned mines.
Rebecca Hunt has been leading the fight to get the abandoned mine problems fixed. Recently she started a local group in Holden affiliated with the Citizens Coal Council (the national umbrella group of citizens groups fighting for better treatment by coal mines).
Her own house was being damaged by the water draining into the cellar from the abandoned mine behind it. She refused to take no for an answer. The federal Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act provides a fund, paid for by coal companies, to clean up problems from abandoned mines. However, the disbursement of the money is based on coal currently being mined in a state, not on the number of abandoned mines. Therefore, Wyoming, which has few problems from abandoned mines gets more than West Virginia, which has hundreds.
However, in mid-January, Rebecca’s hard work paid off. The state Division of Environmental Protection acknowledged that the problems deserved inclusion in the Abandoned Mine Land Reclamation Program. This means, she said, that the mine will be reclaimed. However, she is not sure whether anything will be done to repair the homes. The law, she said, provides for buying houses if the damage can’t be repaired. Rebecca has also been told that the river, which has run orange for decades, may be put in the stream restoration program.
Now Rebecca is turning her attention to the new mountaintop mines. On Jan. 31, she hosted a meeting at the school, to which media and legislators were invited. Half the meeting was an explanation of the designation of the properties for clean up under the abandoned mine program. The second half was informational about the new mines.
“Those people don’t know what’s going to happen to them,” she said. Only four houses are within half a mile of the mine. Therefore, only those four were offered pre-blast surveys. However, most of the rest of the community is within three-quarters of a mile. Under law, these don’t qualify for pre-blast surveys.
Rebecca has gotten maps of the new mines at the DEP. She noticed that the mines are starting to join together around Holden. This is happening in Rum Creek, Clear Creek to Kayford, and Laurel Creek as well. “This isn’t mountaintop removal,” she said. “It is ridge removal.”
