West Virginia Rivers Coalition

Deadline for Public Comments on Two Projects Due by August 12^th

[Your Comments Needed by 5 pm, Tomorrow, 8/12/16]

The WVDEP is currently accepting comments on two 401 Water Quality Certification Applications. What is a 401 permit? Read our 401 fact sheet to learn more. The permit application for these large projects should be very detailed, but both lack information that WVDEP needs to certify the projects will not impact our water.

Rover Pipeline 401 Application
The proposed Rover pipeline would install approximately 60 miles of new 24 and 36-inch pipelines through Hancock, Marshall, Wetzel, Doddridge and Tyler counties to transport natural gas to markets in Ohio and Michigan. The project would impact approximately 175 streams and involve 3 crossings under the Ohio River. To submit comments to the WVDEP on Rover’s inadequate 401 application click here.

Antero 401 Application
The proposed Antero landfill and wastewater treatment facility encompasses approximately 486 acres in Doddridge and Ritchie Counties. The facility would treat fracking wastewater for re-use and dispose of the salt byproducts in the attached landfill. It is still unclear how they plan to dispose of the sludge byproduct. The project would impact 89 streams and 11 wetlands and is located 4 miles upstream of Harrisville’s drinking water intake. To submit comments to WVDEP on Antero’s insufficient 401 application click here.

Comments on each 401 application must be submitted separately. Please send your comments on these projects by 5pm, tomorrow, August 12.

>>> For more information contact West Virginia Rivers Coalition,

www.wvrivers.org – (304) 637-7201

###=====================================
Notice Issued by WV Department of Environmental Protection

[Antero Project Comment Period Extended to August 23^rd]

Thursday, August 11, 2016 @ 8:35 AM

=====================================
The public comment period for a state water quality certification requested by Antero Landfill Project and Antero Treatment LLC has been extended to August 23rd.

The comment period was initially slated to end on August 12th but was extended by the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection’s Division of Water and Waste Management due to significant public interest.

Pursuant to Section 401 of the Federal Clean Water Act, the state may either certify, certify with conditions, deny or waive certification that the proposed activity will comply with Sections 301, 302, 303, 306 and 307 of the Federal Clean Water Act and other appropriate requirements of state law.

When issuing certification, the WVDEP may consider the proposed activity’s impact on water resources, fish and wildlife, recreation, critical habitats, wetlands and other natural resources under its jurisdiction. Procedural and interpretive regulations governing the scope of the department’s certification, public comment, hearings and appeals are in Title 47, Series 5A.

The 401 permit application is connected to a project that involves construction of a non-commercial industrial solid waste disposal landfill located in Ritchie and Doddridge Counties. The landfill would accommodate salt generated from the adjacent Antero Clearwater Water Treatment and Reuse Facility. Construction of the site would include an access road between the landfill and the treatment facility.

The Water Quality Certification application is available for inspection between the hours of 9 a.m. and 4 p.m., Monday through Friday, at the following location:

WV Department of Environmental Protection
Division of Water and Waste Management
401 Certification Program
601 57th Street SE
Charleston, WV 25304

Comments and information relating to Section 401 Water Quality Certification for this activity will be considered if postmarked prior to August 23rd. All such comments and information should be mailed to the address above or emailed to dep.comments@wv.gov.

===========================================
To view past notices of open public comment periods, login at:

http://apps.dep.wv.gov//MLists2/

Ohio County Program on Ohio River

Wheeling Water Warriors: Awareness Rally

This Saturday, 6/15/13, from noon to 4:00 pm in Garden Park in Warwood the Wheeling Water Warriors are having an awareness rally.

There will be free music provided by Joe Zelek, Cabin Fever Strings Band, and Uncle Eddie and Robin.

Dr. Ben Stout, Professor of Biology at Wheeling Jesuit University, will be speaking on the six (6) reasons Greenhunter should not open their proposed facility in Warwood. Lots of information and handouts will be available.

There will be free children’s activities as well. We hope to see you all there!!!!

Erin Bowers, Wheeling Water Warriors

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Opposition to GreenHunter Frack Water Plant Persists

From Article By Ian Hicks, Wheeling Intelligencer, June 4, 2013

As GreenHunter Water officials prepare to present their site plan for a proposed frack wastewater recycling facility in Warwood to the Wheeling Planning Commission, residents who fear for the safety of their drinking water again brought their concerns to City Council.

“You’re sitting in those chairs because the good people of Wheeling elected you to them. … The decisions you make or don’t make will impact many other people than in just Wheeling,” Warwood resident Robin Mahonen told council members during their meeting Tuesday.

Mozart Road resident Erin Bowers also presented council members with copies of a 2011 U.S. Geological Survey study on the presence of radium in fracking wastewater. The study states radium levels are higher in produced water from the Marcellus Shale compared with other shale formations in the Appalachian Basin.

Although drilling waste set off radiation alarms more than 1,000 times at Pennsylvania landfills during 2012, neither the Nuclear Regulatory Commission nor the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection consider radioactive material in that waste to be dangerous.

The company has an easement it believes gives it the right to use an existing pipe that runs beneath the trail to load water onto barges for transport, but city officials contend GreenHunter Water would need a zone change to use the docks, which would require council’s approval.

But barge loading isn’t yet part of GreenHunter’s site plan because the Coast Guard and other federal agencies have yet to decide whether to allow transport of fracking wastewater on inland waterways. Company officials have said they will proceed with the Wheeling facility regardless of that decision and simply move the water by truck if necessary.

Councilwoman Gloria Delbrugge said city officials have been invited to tour GreenHunter Water’s plant in New Matamoras, Ohio, on Thursday morning, and the Wheeling Planning Commission will meet to review the company’s Warwood site plan at 6 p.m. Monday.

Delbrugge, who represents Warwood, has been an outspoken opponent of the planned facility since the company announced its acquisition of the former Seidler’s Oil Service Property on North 28th Street in March.