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| Conservation
Issues |
DNR investigating fish kill in Monongalia County
Apparently sludge pond spilled into Little Indian Creek
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Jason M. DeProspero/The Dominion Post
A stream flows down a hillside, mixing with Little Indian Creek near the Arkwright Mine recently. |
Reprinted with permission from The Dominion Post
BY EVELYN RYAN
State fish biologists can't really tell how many fish were killed about two weeks ago when sludge from an acid
mine drainage pond slopped into Little Indian Creek.
"We found dead fish, but you have to dig through sediment to get them," said Frank Jernejcic, district
biologist for the state Division of Natural Resources.
"There's a couple of inches of iron sediment over the stream bottom, which covers up dead fish. That makes
it really difficult. It's only happened one or two times before to me."
The spill "involved 2.4 miles of Little Indian Creek," he said, and along "U.S. 19 to the mouth
on Indian Creek. It also killed some fish in Indian Creek down to the Monongahela River, but not in the river."
Little Indian Creek springs up near Little Ind ian Creek Road, County Route 41, in the south central part of Monongalia
County.
The acid mine drainage pond is part of the old Arkwright mine operation, said CONSOL Energy spokesman Tom Hoffman.
The pond was being reclaimed by a contractor when some sludge in the pond's bottom apparently slopped over a temporary
dike into the stream.
When the company was informed of what happened, he said, it was told no fish were killed.
Jernejcic said the DNR will go into the area above the spill in the next couple of weeks, before the fish start
reproducing, and determine the fish population there.
That figure will be extrapolated to determine how many fish were in the area hit by the sludge, he said. "That's
a pretty fair way to do it. We do it on the numbers, and we don't want to inflate the numbers."
His job, he said, is to count the fish killed and arrive at a value.
It was "a very short duration event," Hoffman said. "Some sort of temporary dike failed and sludge
ran into the creek. The description I heard was this was not a very big spill. They stopped it pretty quickly."
The state Division of Environmental Protection was on the scene right away, he said.
DEP Inspector Steve Ball said he couldn't get a good estimate on the quantity of sludge spilled, but there was
"definitely enough to discolor the creek and cause a fish kill."
The sludge was acidic and had a high iron content, discoloring about six miles of the stream. The fish kill only
occurred on about two miles of the stream, he noted.
Ball issued an "imminent harm" cessation order the night of the spill, which carries penalties. That
was modified two days later to a "notice of violation," which also carries penalties. Ball said he also
filed charges in Magistrate Court here.
The notice of violation will run until the pond is reclaimed and there's no possibility of additional discharge,
he said. That should be in about another week or two.
Jernejcic said most of the dead fish he found were darters, fish that grow up to 4 inches or so and live under
rocks in the stream. He also found minnows. He said darters are a good indicator of a stream's health. The stream
also supported some sunfish, a few smallmouth bass, and suckers. |
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