Category: casselman river

Authorization moves project past final development hurdle

Megan Miller
The Cumberland Times-News Fri Oct 01, 2010, 07:59 AM EDT

— GRANTSVILLE — The Maryland Department of the Environment issued a permit this week that essentially cleared the last procedural hurdle preventing development of a coal mine under the Casselman River.

The surface water discharge permit will allow Maryland Energy Resources LLC, a subsidiary of the Indiana, Pa.-based Joseph Peles Coal Company, to discharge an average of 500,000 gallons of mine drainage per day, along with variable volumes of stormwater, into the North Branch of the Casselman from an underground mine.

The proposed mine is comprised of more than 4,600 acres and includes 15 million tons of recoverable coal.

The possibility of development of a coal mine in that area has been discussed openly by public officials since at least 2008. The Casselman Basin, which runs beneath Grantsville, is estimated to contain about 116 million tons of coal, according to MDE.

Maryland Energy Resources applied for the discharge permit in February 2009, but a determination was delayed partly because of concerns expressed by the Maryland Department of Natural Resources over the mine’s potential impact on two state endangered species, the hellbender salamander and stonecat fish.

Members of the public echoed those concerns in a May 19 public hearing. They also voiced concerns about acid mine drainage and other issues related to monitoring the mine discharge.

MDE’s written response to public comment stated that the mine will be designed and operated in such a way that water “will not passively flow out of the mine.” The agency stated that management of acid mine drainage and erosion and sediment controls is covered under a separate permit already issued for the project by the Bureau of Mines.

MDE also stated that DNR withdrew its jeopardy opinion regarding the endangered species after reviewing the final conditions of the permit.

Any person who is “adversely affected” by MDE’s decision has until Oct. 30 to request a judicial review in Garrett County Circuit Court, according to the agency.

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Kevin Spradlin
Cumberland Times-News

CUMBERLAND — The Casselman Mine is “one step closer to opening” after the Maryland Department of the Environment approved the operator’s application for a water appropriation and use permit.

Joseph Peles, managing member of Maryland Energy Resources LLC, made the statement in an e-mail to the Times-News in response to an inquiry about the issue.

The permit is effective July 1, but the timeline of when Maryland Energy Resources might begin work remained uncertain as of Tuesday afternoon. The proposed underground mine in Grantsville is comprised of more than 4,600 acres and includes 15 million tons of recoverable coal.

The permit authorizes the company to withdraw a daily average of 342,000 gallons of water on a yearly basis. The water, to be taken from the coal seam of the Allegheny formation, is to be used for dust suppression and dewatering of a deep coal mine.

“This is the final agency determination,” said Jay Apperson, a spokesman with MDE. “There is no further opportunity for administrative review.”

There are, however, at least two more potential roadblocks which the Indiana, Pa.-based company needs to clear.

First, MDE has yet to rule on the company’s application for a surface water permit. Approximately 100 people attended a public hearing last month about that issue. Second, an interested party can petition for judicial review in Garrett County Circuit Court, Apperson said.

Under the water appropriation and use permit issued June 17 to Maryland Energy Resources, officials from MDE’s Water Management Administration may conduct inspections and evaluations to ensure permit compliance. The company must submit semiannual withdrawal reports to MDE.

Water withdrawal must begin within two years of the permit’s issuance or the permit will expire.

The company is responsible for providing a temporary replacement for any residential or commercial water supply that might be “unreasonably interrupted as a result of this water appropriation.” If that fails to resolve the situation, the company must provide a permanent replacement “of a quality and in sufficient quantity for the required uses within a reasonable length of time, not to exceed 90 days.”

Short- and long-term fixes would be installed at the expense of Maryland Energy Resources.

If a private well or spring is “unreasonably impacted” by mining operations, the company is to provide a new or retrofitted well.

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