On May 28th, DEP Secretary Randy Huffman distributed the Department’s portion of the study mandated by Senate Concurrent Resolution-15, which required DEP to identify the impact of coal slurry injection on ground and surface water in the state. While the study found no evidence that coal slurry injection, by itself, affected surface water quality, Huffman issued a two-year moratorium on the approval of coal slurry injection into mine voids that had not previously been approved. “None of the sites chosen for the hydrologic assessment showed water quality impacts to surface waters caused by coal slurry injection alone,” Huffman said. “However, the study did point out areas where improvements can be made in the Underground Injection Program. While the Department of Health and Human Resources conducts its portion of the study, we will be making changes to our permitting program and gathering more information from the operators.” In addition to the moratorium, the study calls for recommendations such as requiring site-specific groundwater monitoring during the injection process, requiring a full baseline survey for organic constituents and heavy metals for all nearby surface and groundwater resources for all new permits and monitoring wells within a half mile of the mine pools receiving injection. The full study is available at http://www.wvdep.org/item.cfm?ssid=9&ss1id=989.
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