West Virginia A Geothermal Hotspot?

A new report from Southern Methodist University says that there is tremendous geothermal energy potential in West Virginia, principally in the eastern part of the state. Furthermore, it's in a geologically stable area,which means that operations would be less likely to cause the sort of minor earth tremors that stopped a geothermal project in Switzerland.

Any renewable resource that holds the promise for reliable, base load electrical supply is welcome. The wells would have to be fairly deep, but there's a great deal of knowledge of well drilling in the state, thanks to the presence of an innovative oil and gas industry. I'll look forward to hearing more about this.

ORSANCO Passses on TDS Criterion; Adopts Variance From Mixing Zone Prohibition

The Ohio River Valley Water Sanitation Compact (ORSANCO) has approved changes to its Pollution Control Standards at a meeting held late last week. They include specification of design flows to be used for setting permit limits to protect human health criteria (the 7Q10 for noncarcinogens; the harmonic mean flow for carcinogens), and a provision to allow consideration of variances to mixing zone requirements. This latter was in response to requests by industry for relief from ORSANCO’s prohibition of mixing zones for bioaccumulatives, such as mercury, which resulted in discharge limits that were more stringent than could be met with current technology.

The proposed adoption of a total dissolved solids criterion of 500 ppm was deferred until additional information on occurrence and sources can be obtained. That matter will be reconsidered at the Commission’s February meeting.

You can see a press release from ORSANCO at http://www.orsanco.org/images/stories/files/pressreleases/2010standardsrelease.pdf

Environmental Groups File Citizen Suit Against Fola Coal

The Sierra Club and WV Highlands Conservancy announced today that they have filed suit in federal district court against Fola Coal Co's Surface No. 3 mine in Clay and Nicholas Counties, alleging violations of the Clean Water Act and the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act. The public statement from the organizations is found here. The opening of the statement is set forth below.

(Charleston, WV) –Prompted by stream pollution from the Fola Coal Company’s Surface Mine No. 3 in Nicholas and Clay counties, the Sierra Club and West Virginia Highlands Conservancy today filed an enforcement action against the company in federal court. Water quality tests conducted by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection, and the company itself have shown that the waters immediately below the mine are significantly degraded. These studies reveal that Twenty Mile Creek and Boardtree Branch, both of which receive waste discharges from the 1700-acre surface mine, are biologically impaired and toxic to aquatic life.

Judge Rules on Definition of Deep Well

State law provides different rules for deep and shallow gas wells. Deep wells are subject to pooling and field rules, and the spacing required between wells is different, depending on whether they are deep or shallow. The Oil and Gas Conservation Commission has authority over deep wells, while the Shallow Gas Review Board hears appeals on shallow gas wells.

Shallow wells are those that are drilled no further than 20 feet into the top of the Onondaga formation. (The 20 feet is needed to drill the "rat tail" and complete the well, but no gas can be produced in the Onondaga.) The dividing line between deep and shallow wells never was much of an issue until development of the Marcellus Shale, which lies directly on top of the Onondaga formation. Drilling of horizontal wells in the Marcellus is preceded by a vertical well and a rat tail that usually goes more than 20 feet into the Onondaga. The Onondaga isn't produced, and after the rat tail is logged out it can be filled with cement.

The question arose as to whether a well drilled more than 20 feet into the Onondaga is a deep well, and subject to deep well spacing, or a shallow well. The issue was originally taken to Supreme Court on a writ of prohibition, which sent it to Judge Murensky in McDowell County. Judge Murensky went with a strict interpretation of the statute and said that if a well went more than 20 feet into the Onondaga it is a deep well, even if only the formations above the Onondaga is produced. You can see his opinion here.

An effort was made during the last Legislative session to change the definition to allow drilling into the Onondaga without converting the well to a deep well. A similar effort may be made in 2011.

Manchin Announces Lawsuit Against EPA, Corps Over Coal Mining Policies

Governor Manchin held a press conference today to announce the filing of a complaint later today against EPA and the Corps of Engineers, alleging that they have unlawfully interfered with coal mining in West Virginia. The state will be represented by Ben Bailey, a well-regarded attorney who has represented the state before in matters involving the DEP. The West Virginia record report is found here, and the AP report is here.

Gov. Manchin is in an unusual position. He remains very popular in West Virginia, where he has done an excellent job as governor. In fact, the Republicans are running ads praising his work as governor, suggesting he should stay in the state to continue that work. I've heard a number of people say the same thing - the state could keep a good governor, and send a vote against Pres. Obama to the Senate in the form of Manchin's opponent, John Raese. Who would have thought that a popular governor would be defeated because he was too good? This lawsuit may be part of the Manchin counterattack, to show he wouldn't be an Obama yes-man, but to be fair it can't be solely a political ploy, as it was being discussed in the state before Sen. Byrd even died.

Secretary Huffman Appoints Task Force To Study Marcellus Drilling

DEP Secretary Randy Huffman has appointed a commission to advise him with regard to Marcellus Shale development in West Virginia. You can read the Daily Mail/AP report about the commission and Secretary Huffman's appointments here.

Marcellus Shale is a hot topic in West Virginia, but not quite the battleground that it is in Pennsylvania. There they have had total dissolved solids problems in some state streams, somerimes as a result of drillling activities, but TDS from drilling activities hasn't been a problem in West Virginia, because discharges of produced water to state streams is generally forbidden.

EPA Issues Draft Chesapeake Bay ‘Pollution Diet’

EPA has just announced its draft Total Maximum Daily Load for the Chesapeake Bay, limiting the amount of nutrients that each state can send to the Bay. I tried to get onto the EPA website and see what West Virginia's apportionment is, but error messages kept appearing, probably because so many people are trying to get on the website. Here's EPA's press release:

(PHILADELPHIA – September 24, 2010) The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency today released a draft Chesapeake Bay Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL), a mandatory “pollution diet” designed to restore the Chesapeake Bay and its vast network of streams, creeks and rivers. The Bay is a complex ecosystem and an economic engine for the region, supporting a variety of industries from fishing to tourism.

The draft TMDL -- which EPA is legally required to produce – sets limits on the amount of nitrogen, phosphorus and sediment pollution discharged into the Bay and each of its tributaries by different types of pollution sources. It is designed to meet water quality standards that reflect a scientific assessment of the pollution reductions necessary to restore the health of the Bay ecosystem. The draft TMDL calls for 25 percent reductions in nitrogen and phosphorus and at least a 16 percent reduction in sediment to achieve a healthy Bay and local rivers. These reductions, which the science indicates are necessary to achieve a healthy watershed, would be achieved by a combination of federal and state actions.

Development of the draft TMDL followed careful EPA review of pollution reduction measures proposed by the States and the District of Columbia earlier this month in their Watershed Implementation Plans.

As a result, the draft TMDL allocations released today reflect a combination of defined state commitments and supplemental EPA measures which tighten controls on permitted “point sources” of pollution, such as wastewater treatment plants, large animal agriculture operations and municipal stormwater systems.

EPA will now work with federal partners like the Department of Agriculture, to assist Bay watershed states and the District of Columbia as they revise and strengthen the implementation plans before final versions are due on November 29.

“While EPA felt that the plans submitted by Maryland and the District of Columbia represented a strong start, others still contained gaps that reduced EPA’s confidence that the State could achieve all the pollutant reductions necessary to meet its contribution to Bay restoration,” said EPA Regional Administrator Shawn M. Garvin,. “We are hopeful that the jurisdictions will provide a greater level of assurance in their final plans, so that EPA can reduce the federal measures in the final TMDL. EPA strongly prefers to achieve the necessary pollution reductions through the state plans rather than federal actions because the states have more flexibility and can achieve reductions from a wider range of sources than EPA.”

The Draft TMDL which contains evaluations of the plans and EPA adjustments for all seven jurisdictions can be found at http://www.epa.gov/chesapeakebaytmdl.

The release of the draft TMDL begins a 45-day public comment period that will include 18 public meetings in all six watershed states (Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Delaware, New York and West Virginia) and the District of Columbia. A full public meeting schedule, including registration links for online broadcast is available on the Bay TMDL web site: http://www.epa.gov/chesapeakebaytmdl. The web site also provides instructions for accessing the draft TMDL and providing formal comments.

The TMDL is designed to ensure that all pollution control measures to fully restore the Bay and its tidal rivers are in place by 2025, with 60 percent of the actions completed by 2017. The final TMDL will be established December 31.

On July 1, EPA set draft Bay-wide limits for nitrogen and phosphorus at 187.4 million and 12.5 million pounds per year, respectively, and on Aug. 13 set a range of allowable sediment pollution levels at between 6.1 and 6.7 billion pounds per year. These Bay-wide pollution limits were further divided by jurisdiction and major river basin based on state-of-the-art modeling tools, extensive monitoring data, peer-reviewed science, and close interaction with state partners.

The TMDL is supported by accountability measures to ensure cleanup commitments are met, including short-and long-term benchmarks, a tracking and accounting system, and additional federal actions, if necessary, to spur progress. It will build on state programs already in place, some of which are helping reduce pollution and improve the Bay’s health – for instance, Maryland reported a record sign-up this fall for one of its most successful agricultural pollution control programs, achieving more than 150% of its two-year goal for the Chesapeake Bay.

The TMDL was prompted by insufficient restoration progress over the last several decades in the Bay. The TMDL is required under federal law and responds to consent decrees in Virginia and D.C. dating back to the late 1990s. It is also a keystone commitment of a federal strategy to meet President Obama’s Executive Order to restore and protect the Bay.