Plan for Steele Shaft approved
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A federal bankruptcy judge presiding in the Longview Power LLC bankruptcy approved an agreement allowing two Longview subsidiaries that operate the Steele Shaft mine water treatment plant to continue discharging into Dunkard Creek, Greene County.
The judge approved an agreement negotiated between the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection and Dana Mining Co. and AMD Reclamation Inc., which built and operate the treatment plant in Dunkard Township.
The companies are affiliates of Longview, which runs the 700-megawatt coal-fired power plant in Monongalia County, W.Va. Longview filed for bankruptcy in 2013.
AMD built Steele Shaft to treat polluted water from the abandoned Shannopin Mine. Dana also needed to lower the water level in the mine to enable its 4 West Mine to mine Sewickley seam coal overlaying the Pittsburgh seam previously mined by Shannopin.
The plant later also began treating water from Consol Energy’s closed Humphrey Mine.
The permit for the plant, issued in 2003, required it to meet the “best available technology” limits for pH, iron, manganese and aluminum, but did not contain effluent limits for osmotic pressure, sulfates or total dissolved solids, the consent agreement between the companies and DEP states.
Because of changes in the Monongahela River and Dunkard Creek, DEP later required Steele Shaft to meet a more stringent standard than required for best available technology defined as “water quality based effluent limits.”
During negotiations, Dana told DEP compliance with the new standards “would represent an enormous technical and financial challenge” to the companies, the agreement states.
As an “alternative to immediate compliance” with the newer standards, the companies proposed building a system to treat discharges from the abandoned Maiden Mine and Maiden 3 Mine that also pollute Dunkard Creek.
In addition, the companies will establish a trust fund to partially fund the long-term operation and maintenance of Steele Shaft by paying $300,000 annually for 20 years.
As long as the companies comply with obligations set forth in the agreement, they do not have to meet the more stringent water quality-based effluent limits for nine years, the agreement states.
DEP is now soliciting public comments on the agreement, which are due by Dec. 1, according to a notice in the Pennsylvania Bulletin.