SELENIUM–WHAT ARE THE FISH TELLING US?
By Cindy Rank
I first saw the village of Mud in Lincoln County on a 1996 trip with a legislative interim committee charged with studying the state’s mitigation policy. We went to view Connelly Branch Hollow, a beautiful lush valley that was to be buried beneath a proposed 2.5 mile long valley fill planned as part of a 2,000 acre permit at the Hobet 21 mountaintop removal mine complex along the Boone Lincoln County line.
Witnessing the not-so-gradual expansion of the now 20 square mile Hobet 21 complex has become more difficult with each of numerous visits over the past 12 years.
The disappearance of the local communities of Mud, then Berry Branch, and the massive disruption of forest and streams is always alarming, but a trip to that area and a visit to the Caudill- Miller homeplace last Friday proved to be more difficult than ever.
- Mining along the Mud River road and up Sugar Tree Branch around the back of the remaining 25 acres of the Caudill homeplace has expanded tremendously since our last visit three short months ago.
- The gargantuan preparation being done to enable the dragline (Big John) to cross back over the Mud River near the mouth of what once was Connelly Branch is incredible and dwarfs the tiny Mud River Road through the area.
- Discharge reports show levels of selenium discharged from the Hobet mining operations into the Mud River and its headwater tributaries often exceed the limits allowed by federal and state law.
- Documentation about increased levels of selenium in the Mud River itself and research by WV Department of Environmental Protection (WVDEP) Water Assessment Team indicate fish deformities and other impacts on aquatic life in the Upper Mud River Reservoir are likely related to toxic levels of selenium from these discharges upstream.
- Fish advisories have been issued by the Health Department that individuals should avoid eating fish due to harmful selenium levels in certain state streams and lakes, including Upper Mud River Reservoir.
Despite this growing body of research and knowledge, WV DEP continues to allow violations of selenium limits at mine sites where problems are known to exist.
Because the DEP continues to delay enforcement of selenium limits, the WV Highlands Conservancy and others have taken action to hasten that enforcement.
As reported in earlier articles in the Voice, we joined the Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition (OVEC) and Coal River Mountain Watch in challenging WV DEP’s practice of extending compliance orders for companies not meeting the appropriate selenium limits. Those challenges are awaiting ruling by the Environmental Quality Board of West Virginia.
In a separate action, early in 2007 WV DEP went to court presumably to enforce permits for two particular mines – one at Hobet 21 on the Mud River and another at Apogee Ruffner complex on Rum Creek. After a nearly a year long delay by DEP, the Highlands Conservancy and OVEC filed a Clean Water Act suit against those companies in federal court.
We asked the court to require the companies to comply with the Clean Water Act, to insist that selenium limits be enforced and that civil penalties be assessed for violations by discharges in excess of those limits.
A hearing is scheduled in this matter in the District Court at Huntington May 20, 2008.
I’m certain not everyone will be alarmed by the possible selenium related problems in the Mud River and the Upper Mud River Reservoir. It often takes dead bodies’ of canaries, fish or people to recognize even the most serious of problems.
However, current research and information mentioned above has prompted Dennis Lemly, a well-known and recognized expert on selenium, to conclude the following in his draft report to the court on our behalf.
“Based on comparisons between the concentrations of selenium found in West Virginia monitoring investigations and the known toxic effects of those concentrations as demonstrated in research studies of streams and reservoirs across the Southeast and Midwest, using the same fish species and environmental exposure conditions present in West Virginia, it is highly probable that a substantial amount of both Type 1 and Type 2 selenium poisoning is taking place in the Mud River ecosystem.”
And further, “This assessment is validated by the finding of selenium- induced deformities in newly hatched fish collected from Upper Mud River Reservoir in 2007. Clearly, the Mud River ecosystem is a tinderbox on the brink of a major toxic event. It is essential to reduce waterborne selenium concentrations before reproductive toxicity spirals out of control and fish populations collapse. The warning signs are evident. Now is the time to take action.”
No Comments
RSS feed for comments on this post.