The West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection has issued an order to Consolidation Coal Company (Consol) that establishes guidelines for how the company is to manage its Blacksville #2 and St. Leo discharges through the summer and fall.
The order is a follow-up to an order issued to the company in December, which expires April 30.
Under the new order, Consol is required to reduce its discharge at the St. Leo facility by 50 percent; monitor for chlorides, total dissolved solids, selenium and specific conductivity twice a month and report results to the DEP; and adhere to chloride limits of either 230 or 860 mg/l, based on stream flow.
The company will continue to monitor for golden algae weekly at 16 different sampling sites and if the algae is detected, the company is to notify the WVDEP as soon as it obtains the results, and the sampling frequency shall increase to twice per week, with results provided to the WVDEP within 4 days of sampling.
“This order is written in such a way that the agency can change the parameters if the algae appear to be blooming,” said Scott Mandirola, director of the Division of Water and Waste Management. “Rather than water temperature being the variable that triggers adjustments to this order, as was appropriate during the winter months; water flow and the presence of golden algae will be the triggers that require the company to make changes during the summer and fall.”
In addition, Consol is required to continue development of an enhanced wastewater treatment facility and maintain an accounting system to track the volume and disposal of all reject water generated by the reverse osmosis pilot treatment project it began under the previous order.
The order is effective from midnight Friday night to October 31, 2010.