Unlined leach ponds would sit atop Castle Mountain Fault

Our family knows all to well the financial loss of destroyed property from mining, the contamination of well water from mining and the pain full devastating loss of life from coal mining related illnesses.

We have heard the big promises of high paying jobs, the increase in revenue to the state, the great reclamation that will be done and how it will all look better after they are done. We have witnessed the political corruption, and the attacks on good people to discredit their character simply because they speak out against mining.

West Virginia is the second highest coal producing state yet remains the poorest. Water pollution is a huge environmental and financial problem for the state.

The Wishbone Hill Usibelli Coal Mine has the potential to be an environmental disaster. According to Usibelli’s permit their slurry pond is 759 acre feet, that’s 247,321,212.60 million gallons of toxic water, there are 8 sediment ponds that can hold 39,066,324.35 million gallons, for a combined total of 286,387,536.95 million gallons of waste water. Their slurry pond is an unlined leach system. The chemical flocculant that, according to Usibelli’s permit, will be used to wash the coal is anionic polyacrylamide.

Coal slurry contains a large range of constituents, including dissolved minerals that have been leached or washed out of the coal and other rocks. In addition, the slurry contains chemicals added to facilitate the washing or water re-use process. One of these chemicals is acryl amide. Acryl amide (AMD) is a known carcinogen, neurotoxin, and genotoxin. EPA lists AMD as a class B2 carcinogen, which is considered to be a probable human carcinogen. Chronic exposure to AMD has been shown to cause cancerous tumors in animal studies at multiple organ sites when applied to their drinking water or by other means.

In February 1972, three dams holding a mixture of coal slurry and water in Logan County, W.V. failed, 130 million gallons of toxic water were released into the Buffalo Creek Flood. Out of a population of 5,000 people, 125 people were killed, 1,121 were injured, and more than 4,000 were homeless. Despite evidence of negligence the Pittston Coal company called the event an “Act of God.”

In October 2000, 300-million gallons of coal slurry rushed into nearby creeks and the big Sandy River, smothering 110 miles of waterways in Kentucky and West Virginia. The spill released about 30 times more liquid than the Exxon Valdez, poisoned water supplies in many communities and killed most aquatic life.

Both proposed coal mines, Wishbone Hill, and Range Alaska have the potential of being devastating disasters for the Valley, they are located on the Castle Mountain Fault line. Palmer and most Valley residents get their water from aquifers.

Just to point out the magnitude that this disaster could have when compared to the Exxon Valdez oil spill, that spill was 11 million gallons, the Wishbone Hill Coal mine alone could spill 286,387,536.95 million gallons of toxic waste water into our water table and into the Matanuska River.

Who will be responsible for this environmental disaster when it happens and what plan has the borough and the state put in place to respond to it?

There are rules, regulations, and laws to over see mining operations, the problem is in enforcement or lack there of.

Earthquakes don’t care about regulations. To permit toxic ponds located above populated areas is completely irresponsible. No amount of jobs is worth one life.

Bonnie Zirkle is a Palmer resident .