Pillar Energy injection well has potential to pollute local streams and perhaps the Cheat River

From an Article by Rick Steelhammer, Charleston Gazette, January 20, 2020

After receiving 1,100 comments opposing a permit to dispose of nearly 600 barrels of brine and other drilling waste daily by injecting it into an inactive well along a Tucker County stream, the state Department of Environmental Protection has agreed to hold a public hearing on the matter.

The permit, sought by Pillar Energy LLC of Charleston, would authorize the operation of a disposal well along Horseshoe Run near the community of Leadmine to serve the company’s gas drilling activity in the area. The disposal well is located within about 250 feet of the trout stream, according to a map accompanying the permit application.

According to the Friends of Blackwater, a public hearing on the permit request is expected to take place sometime in March, following a two-month extension of a public comment period that ended last week.

Comments submitted to the DEP by members of the conservation group raised concerns about the dangers of drilling waste leaking from the injection well or nearby storage tanks into the groundwater or Horseshoe Run, a tributary of the Cheat River. Major flooding took place along Horseshoe Run in July 2018 and June of last year, they noted.

If the permit in its current form is issued, it “could undermine years of restoration work on the Cheat that has been completed to return ecological health to the watershed,” said Judy Rodd, Friends of Blackwater director.

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FRIENDS Of BLACKWATER Invite Participation in Public Hearing

On Thursday March 5th, from 5-8 PM, the WV Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) is holding a public hearing for the Pillar underground injection well permit renewal that FOB is opposing, worried that it will contaminate Horseshoe Run and the Cheat River.

Join us at the hearing at the Tucker Co Board of Education Gym at 100 Education Ln, Parsons, WV 26287 (above RT. 72 north of the Parsons stop light) and sign our petition here to stand with FOB and 1700 other supporters to oppose this potential source of water pollution.

CONTACT US: FRIENDS OF BLACKWATER, PO Box 247
571 Douglas Rd, Thomas WV 26292. 304-345-7663
info@saveblackwater.org. — https://saveblackwater.org

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See also: Tri-State Environmental wants to put two injection wells on a piece of land in Barnesville OH | WTOV News 9, March 2, 2020

“There’s definitely not a reason for the public to be concerned. Brine is water that is naturally occurring in the earth,” said ODNR’s Adam Schroeder. [This is certainly a misleading statement as the brine contains many trace elements some of which are radioactive. DGN, FCWV].

The public comment period is open through March 14.

Wild Wonderful WV for Kayaking & Whitewater Rafting

Cheat River Canyon Preserved  in Northcentral WV

From an Article by Rebecca Olsavsky, The Intelligencer / Wheeling News-Register, April 13, 2014

Tucked away in the rocks of north-central West Virginia is the secret to a multi-million dollar conservation effort – a “threetooth” snail that actually has just one tooth. Cheat Canyon, the only place on Earth the Cheat threetooth snail calls home, will be protected for future generations by a conservation partnership that includes The Nature Conservancy, The Conservation Fund, and the West Virginia Division of Natural Resources. The snail is federally listed as a threatened species.

The groups announced the partnership on Thursday. When the $7 million project is completed, it will conserve most of the canyon not already included in Cooper’s Rock State Forest and Snake Hill Wildlife Management Area.

The canyon, a deep gorge through which the Cheat River flows between Rowlesburg in Preston County to Cheat Lake in Monongalia County, is a popular whitewater rafting destination and home to diverse wildlife such as the endangered Indiana bat. (The newly preserved section is from Albright downstream to the Big Sandy and includes Cornwall cave where the Indiana bat resides.)

Within the Cheat, the threatened threetooth snail lives in deep, cool rocky habitats often identifiable by their coverage from rhododendrons. WVDNR Wildlife Specialist Craig Stihler said the snail’s name can be misleading – it has one tooth on its shell, not three. The tooth keeps snail-eating beetles from pulling the creature out of its protective flat shell. Stihler said the quarter-sized Cheat threetooth snail never ventures more than a meter – a little more than 3 feet – from its habitat.

Acquiring a 7-mile stretch of one of West Virginia’s most iconic landscapes turned out to be no small feat, as there have been various conservation efforts under way since 1976. This particular effort has been in the works for the past five years.

In partnership with The Nature Conservancy, The Conservation Fund acquired 3,800 acres along the Cheat River. The Conservation Fund negotiated the purchase from The Forestland Group, a timber investment firm that currently owns the property. The Nature Conservancy is providing $3 million in private funding and is acquiring 2,300 acres of the property, and will retain 1,300 acres as the new Charlotte Ryde Nature Preserve, funded from a bequest from the estate of Charlotte Ryde. The DNR will acquire the remaining acreage – about 2,500 acres – to complement existing public recreation lands on the lower Cheat River.

Additional funding comes from money dedicated for land conservation from the West Virginia Outdoor Heritage Conservation Fund, a $1.5 million grant from the Land and Water Conservation Fund through the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Cooperative Endangered Species Conservation Fund, and $400,000 from the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection.

“Private, state and federal funds used for conservation not only leverage each other; they also reflect the national significance of the state’s land, water and wildlife resources, the commitment of West Virginia’s citizens through our public investment in our ‘Wild and Wonderful’ outdoors, and the creativity to bring together various partners to go the distance and reach this milestone,” said Reggie Hall, West Virginia state director for The Conservation Fund.

Hall thanked Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin for recognizing the value of the landscape to West Virginians. “We are very lucky that a lot of things came together,” added Rodney Bartgis, state director of The Nature Conservancy in West Virginia.

Bartgis believes without the Cheat threetooth snail’s need for protection, gathering the proper funding for the project would have proven near impossible. Curtis Taylor, chief of the WVDNR Wildlife Resources Section, said every management decision the group makes moving forward will center on the question, “Is this good or bad for the snail?”

Along with working to protect the snail’s habitat, the groups also are considering a plan to re-open a section of the Allegheny Trail that had been turned into a logging road. “It’s not a matter of opening a gate,” Bartgis said, citing trail uses, safety regulations and funding terms as items to consider beyond maintaining the snail’s habitat.

In terms of connecting the trail to the Cheat River, the groups are treading carefully on the idea of developing additional put-ins or take-outs for fishermen and whitewater rafters to have increased access to the water. Steve Brown, stream restoration program administrator for the DNR, said there are limited places for such access. One possible spot, located between the rapids of Big Nasty and Even Nastier, already shows the remains of a path to the river. Plus, the access point doesn’t feature a prime snail habitat.

The river, having dealt with mine drainage over the years, is steadily recovering because of the decades of work and millions of dollars in investments by local people, state agencies, and groups such as Friends of the Cheat.

Friends of the Cheat Executive Director Amanda Pitzer believes the true sign of success is when visitors can walk down to the river and catch a fish. As a population of smallmouth bass is growing as a result of investments to improve water quality, Pitzer’s vision of success is becoming a reality. “Over 20 years we’ve worked with many partners. We’re seeing the Cheat River come back,” Pitzer said about efforts to mitigate the acid mining drainage problem. “The water quality is only going to get better.”

Although Bartgis emphasized “there’s a fair amount of work to go,” the Cheat Canyon conservation partnership is ready to progress carefully with projects that will conserve the area for wildlife to live and outdoor enthusiasts to enjoy – even if it moves at a snail’s pace.

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NOTE: It is time to acknowledge the longstanding work of Ken Hotopp, conservation biologist, for his studies and advocacy to protect the Cheat Canyon and its natural habitat in the 1990’s.  And, of great importance was the work of Charlie Wallbridge and many others in 2002 to promote public access and public ownership in the Cheat Canyon.

The Cheat Lake Environment & Recreation Association (CLEAR) has been one of the leaders over the past 10 or more years to preserve the Cheat snail and Indiana bat in the Cheat Canyon, including the legal action filed on April 6, 2005 shown below.  And, CLEAR has been an active participant in efforts to bring this Canyon into the public domain, including a routing there for the Allegheny Trail.

PROTECTING NATURAL HABITAT:  CLEAR et al. v. Allegheny Wood Products, Inc.

The Cheat Lake Environment and Recreation Association, the Friends of Blackwater, and the Sierra Club of WV  brought suit against Allegheny Wood Products, a timber company, concerning the company’s logging activities in Cheat River Canyon, West Virginia, which harm the endangered Indiana bat and the threatened flat-spired three toothed-land snail — an extremely rare species known to occur in the Cheat River Canyon — in violation of Section 9 of the Endangered Species Act. The parties entered into a settlement agreement in February 2007, under which AWP agreed to set aside permanent reserve areas as habitat for the snail; to engage in a collaborative scientific process to identify and protect additional snail habitat; and to adopt measures for minimizing impacts on the Indiana bat.