DEP Contractor Fails to Maintain Sediment Control
At 4:30 PM on Sunday, May 16th a small afternoon shower exceeded the capacity of Mountaineer Grading's sediment control on its Edwight Slate Dump Reclamation Project. Coal River Mountain Watch has been actively monitoring this site over the past 2 weeks. Two sediment flow violations were reported on Friday, May 7th and Tuesday, May 11. Similar to the pictures below runoff from the site turned the Coal River a chocolate brown for several hours.
On Thursday, May 13th the West Virginia DEP's Office of Abandoned Mine Lands and Reclamation who is overseeing the contract responded to CRMW's complaint, "I was on site yesterday trying to remedy the NPDES concerns as was other DEP personnel (Environmental Enforcement). The project has been shut down until all necessary BMP’s are in place"
CRMW will follow up with Environmental Enforcement this week to review the inspection reports and inquire about the specific charges Mountaineer Grading is facing for violating the WV NPDES regulations and the Federal Clean Water Act.
On Thursday, May 13th the West Virginia DEP's Office of Abandoned Mine Lands and Reclamation who is overseeing the contract responded to CRMW's complaint, "I was on site yesterday trying to remedy the NPDES concerns as was other DEP personnel (Environmental Enforcement). The project has been shut down until all necessary BMP’s are in place"
CRMW will follow up with Environmental Enforcement this week to review the inspection reports and inquire about the specific charges Mountaineer Grading is facing for violating the WV NPDES regulations and the Federal Clean Water Act.
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