(C) Virginia Mercury This story was originally published by Virginia Mercury and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Selenium discharges from Southwest Va. mine trigger debate over testing [1] ['Charlie Paullin', 'More From Author', '- June'] Date: 2023-06-29 Environmental groups and a Southwest Virginia mining company are arguing over how Virginia regulators should measure water levels of selenium after the company released the chemical into waterways at levels exceeding state limits as far back as 2015. Clintwood JOD, LLC is asking the State Water Control Board to look at fish tissues rather than water samples to determine levels of selenium, a chemical that at excessive levels can cause harm to fish and humans, in Knox Creek and its tributaries in Buchanan County. Clintwood says the fish tissue method, which is recommended by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, will better “reflect the latest scientific knowledge and provide a more updated method of evaluating selenium impacts to surface waters.” But environmental nonprofit Appalachian Voices argues Virginia should maintain its current testing methods, which it says will provide a more accurate picture of the discharges’ impacts. The dispute has become part of a broader criticism by environmental groups like Appalachian Voices and the state chapter of the Sierra Club that Virginia is relying too much on compliance agreements with companies that violate state pollution standards rather than issuing formal notices of violation that are linked to financial penalties. Clintwood JOD, based out of Kentucky, has been mining in Southwest Virginia since 2019, when it took over operations previously run by Booth Energy. Clintwood JOD currently has15 mines in Virginia including the Laurel Branch Surface Mine, Gobbler Spur Surface Mine, Abners Fork Glamorgan Mine and Pawpaw Strip Mine. The selenium problems are linked to the Laurel Branch Surface Mine, where reports made by the company to state regulators show selenium levels at one point reaching 50 micrograms per liter, more than 10 times above Virginia’s legally allowed amount. The reports were obtained by Appalachian Voices through a Virginia Freedom of Information Act request and shared with the Mercury. The company did not respond to requests for comment for this story. When Clintwood JOD took over from Booth Energy, it also inherited a compliance schedule set by the Virginia Department of Energy in 2016 that requires the company to install treatment facilities for selenium discharges on Race Fork and Pounding Mill Creek, both of which lie within in the Knox Creek watershed, by 2026. The company must meet construction benchmarks along the way. “Because it is expected to take time to construct a water treatment system and meet other water quality milestones, the company will not be issued violations for selenium discharges until the end date of the compliance schedule,” said Tarah Kesterson, a spokesperson for the Virginia Department of Energy. “In the meantime, the agency is still closely monitoring water quality to make sure no [harmful] impacts occur” outside the boundaries covered by the mining company’s permits. “If that happens, we will take enforcement action,” she said. What is selenium? Selenium is found in raw coal and, when exposed to air or water, can leach into waterways. Once there, fish and amphibians, as well as water birds, mammals and reptiles, can consume the chemical. “Impacts may be rapid and severe, eliminating entire communities of fish and causing total reproductive failure in aquatic birds,” Dennis A. Lemly wrote in a volume on coal mining research, technology and safety. “Few environmental contaminants have the potential to affect aquatic resources on such a broad scale.” In small quantities, selenium can boost immune function, improve hair and nail health and support a healthy thyroid, some research has found. But chronic exposure can cause fatigue, nail and hair damage, and neurotoxic effects. “Higher selenium levels in a waterway will result in fish and aquatic plants with higher selenium levels,” a report by the International Joint Commission of the Health Professionals Advisory Board states. “Selenium can have beneficial or toxic effects, depending on the amount.” Public drinking water supplies in North America generally have selenium concentrations of less than 2 micrograms per liter, according to another paper by the IJC. But ambient water concentrations of just 5 to 10 micrograms of selenium can bioaccumulate, or build up over time, as it gets passed through the food chain, leading to more dangerous levels. Virginia sets an upper selenium limit of 20 micrograms per liter on an acute, or immediate test, and 5 micrograms per liter over a period of time. Water monitoring reports by the Virginia Department of Energy obtained by Appalachian Voices show the selenium levels in outfalls from the Laurel Branch Surface Mine were below 5 micrograms per liter in some locations. But discharge amounts also consistently reached anywhere from 12 to 26 micrograms per liter — nearly three to five times the allowable acute amount — at multiple outfall locations and, at one outfall in February, hit 50 micrograms per liter. The act of selenium entering the environment through the mining processes, is “much more common than I wish it was,” said Willie Dodson, Central Appalachian field coordinator for Appalachian Voices. How Virginia tests selenium Virginia currently determines selenium levels using water column testing, which measures the amount of dissolved selenium in a particular volume of water. In contrast, the U.S. EPA says fish tissue tests are a more sensitive and reliable indicator of the negative effects of selenium on aquatic life except for instances where there are no fish in a body of water or when selenium additions are recent. Under the Clean Water Act, the federal government requires monitoring of selenium but leaves the method of testing up to states. In Virginia, the Department of Energy is responsible for monitoring mine discharges, but the Department of Environmental Quality and State Water Control Board must agree on how pollution levels will be measured. Virginia has long used the water column monitoring method following regulations introduced in response to the federal Surface Mine Control and Reclamation Act of 1977. In 2017, DEQ considered switching to the fish tissue monitoring method following proposals from the EPA, but elected not to because the federal agency had not yet finalized its rules. “DEQ advised the (State Water Control) Board that EPA’s technical support documents and implementation guidance are as important as the criteria themselves; and it could be premature to initiate a rulemaking without the documents and guidance,” a summary of the decision states. “The ‘How’ to protect aquatic life from a toxicant is as vital as the ‘What’ to allow acceptable levels of the contaminant.” But while Clintwood has argued fish tissue monitoring is a more accurate assessment of selenium, Dodson of Appalachian Voices said it is more cumbersome and costly than water column monitoring. Furthermore, he said, because tissue testing could be conducted up to a quarter-mile away from the mines, it could underestimate water levels. “Regulators can go to the exact place where water is discharging from the mines and test the water there,” Dodson said. “What Clintwood JOD wants is to go … into a larger stream that is receiving water from all manner of other tributaries that will dilute the impact to test the fish. It’s very convoluted, unnecessary.” If approved, the tissue method would be modeled after systems used in West Virginia and Kentucky, according to Clintwood JOD’s request. West Virginia places a limit of 15.8 micrograms of selenium per gram of fish egg/ovaries on a chronic basis, according to the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection. Compliance schedules vs. violations The compliance schedule set by the Virginia Department of Energy sketches out steps Clintwood JOD must take to bring selenium levels in line with state standards, culminating in the completion of treatment facilities by 2026. “This schedule was the result of a reasonable potential analysis conducted by our agency that found Clintwood JOD would likely be out of compliance with Virginia’s in-stream selenium criteria if practices continued as is,” Kesterson said. However, three environmental groups — Southern Appalachian Mountain Stewards, Appalachian Voices and Sierra Club — contend the compliance schedule is allowing the company to avoid formal violations even though it is not meeting state standards. “The compliance schedule for selenium appears to be a transparent attempt to buy time for Virginia Energy and the applicant to finalize a site-specific fish-tissue criterion,” the groups wrote in a March 29 letter to the Virginia Department of Energy. Dodson compared the state’s enforcement approach with Clintwood JOD to its approach to the cleanup of three coal mines owned by West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice in Virginia. The state entered into a compliance agreement with the Justice-owned A&G Coal in 2014, but by January 2023, the mine sites had still not been fully restored. A legal settlement between the three environmental groups and A&G this January extended the cleanup timelines even further but attached larger penalties to any failure to meet those deadlines. Tim Cywinski, communications manager with the Virginia chapter of the Sierra Club, argued that “compliance schedules have yet to prove they result in deterrence.” “Coal companies shouldn’t get special treatment, yet the lack of enforcement and accountability across our agencies essentially gives them a free pass to pollute,” he said. But correcting discharge issues can’t happen “overnight,” Kesterson said. “The compliance schedule is a tool to make sure the company is doing their due diligence to solve the issue of these selenium discharges,” Kesterson said. “There are dates they have to meet, things they have to do periodically and report that to us. It is an extra step for companies. If they don’t meet what’s in that schedule then we will issue a violation, but at this point Clintwood JOD has complied with the compliance schedule every step of the way.” [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.virginiamercury.com/2023/06/29/selenium-discharges-from-southwest-va-mine-triggers-debate-over-testing/ Published and (C) by Virginia Mercury Content appears here under this condition or license: Creative Commons BY-NC-ND 4.0. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/virginiamercury/