Bankrupt C&K Coal Co. Inc. has been warned by the state Department of Environmental Protection not to carry out its planned July 7 shutdown of treatment facilities at 75 polluted mine-water discharge sites in five Western Pennsylvania counties.
Closing the treatment facilities will cause fish kills in a three-quarter-mile headwater stretch of Mill Creek in upper Jefferson County and at the Rascic site, in an unnamed creek at the juncture of Butler, Clarion and Venango counties.
The DEP will assess penalties and possibly enter into the Clarion-based bankruptcy proceedings if the company shuts the treatment facilities and violates its legal obligation to treat mine-water discharges.
Altogether, there are 75 discharges ranging from 2 gallons a minute to 40 gallons a minute being treated by 54 treatment systems on 41 permits in Clarion, Butler, Jefferson, Venango and Cambria counties.
The company has posted $7.9 million in bonds for its mining operations, but in a filing in the company's bankruptcy case, the DEP made a formal demand for an additional $15 million in bonds that it said was needed to fund perpetual treatment of the discharges. The federal bankruptcy court has not ruled on the demand.
"C&K Coal is attempting to use bankruptcy as a way to escape its legal obligation to clean up mine water and prevent the discharge of harmful pollution into local watersheds," DEP Secretary Kathleen McGinty said. "DEP has a duty to ensure environmental health and uphold the law. The department will do whatever it takes to force C&K Coal to meet its legal commitment and protect the health of the state's waterways."
C&K Coal filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in March and later declared its intent to halt treatment operations. DEP and the company have been negotiating since May to ensure operations continue.
This week, however, the company formally notified DEP that it will terminate mine drainage treatment and stop purchasing treatment materials. Four employees were completing treatment shutdowns on Thursday, and one will finalize shutdown of the entire operation on Monday. All five employees will lose their jobs after operations are terminated.
The discharges are treated in two ways, either actively or passively.
Active treatment involves adding highly alkaline chemicals to acidic mine water to neutralize the drainage. Termination of these operations will have an immediate impact on water quality.
Passive treatment uses wetlands or other systems to filter drainage. Termination of passive treatment facilities will not have an immediate effect but eventually will impact waterways without future maintenance and upgrades.
DEP inspectors currently are checking sites to determine if treatment operations have ceased. If the company fails to comply with DEP's notice, the department can assess penalties or take action to force the forfeiture of bonds to maintain treatment of the discharges.
Kurt Knaus, a DEP spokesman, said the company could be charged with failure to treat discharges or not complying with discharge limits.
Pennsylvania has more than 2,000 abandoned and flooding mine pools statewide, discharging polluted water from about 5,000 known points and threatening the health of rivers and waterways. Treating the problem could cost $5 billion.
The state spent $10 million between 1998 and 2001 on the problem, some of it from a federal fund not included in next year's Bush administration budget.
Don Hopey can be reached at dhopey@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1983.
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