Explanations of terms and events in main story

By JENIFFER GRAHAM
AND JESSICA NELSON

These explanations of terms and events used in the above story and throughout the series may help offer a bit more insight.
The Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement Western Region (OSMRE) says when a company submits a permit to open a mine, it must also post a bond. The bond ensures there will be money to reclaim the mine should the company go bankrupt. According to Stan Jennings, president of Save the Tygart Watershed Association, the bonds are never enough to cover the reclamation. A bond release is a three-phase process through which a coal company can be released from responsibility for the mine and sometimes receive back part of the bond it posted when the mine opened. OSMRE says a “Phase I bond release may occur upon the completion of backfilling, regrading and drainage control, in accordance with the approved reclamation plan.” Similar guidelines exist for underground mines. A company must finish and receive approval for all three phases before the bond can be completely released.
According to a 2016 WVDEP document, a Post Underground Mining Assessment (PUMA) is required when an application for a Phase 1 bond release is submitted, or the company must provide sufficient evidence that a PUMA is not necessary for the bond release process to continue. A 2012 policy requires hydrologic analyses for underdrainage mines and those with a potential for blowing out or other adverse impacts to ensure that any post-mine drainage meets water quality standards.
All dates regarding the PUMA and Phase 1 bond release are taken from documents made publicly available after the application for bond release was withdrawn. Despite the unusual timeline, these dates are correct according to available documentation.
According to Jennings, a mine’s down-dip section is one of the lowest elevations of the mine. Coal seams aren’t flat — they are contoured like the hills — so the down-dip would be a low section of the seam where water would likely pool. The Whitetail mine slopes toward Newburg, so the lowest elevation is just outside of town. The dewatering borehole (completed October 2019) was drilled in a down-dip section of the mine, which allows the water to be forced out by gravity. The mine water then flows into Raccoon Creek.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association (NOAA) defines subsidence as the “sinking of the ground because of underground material movement … most often caused by the removal of water, oil, natural gas or mineral resources out of the ground by pumping, fracking or mining activities.”
According to the U.S. Geological Survey, “Artesian water is really not different from other groundwater, except for the fact that it flows to the land surface because pressure in the rocks underground force it to the surface,” such as the pressure that might result from water filling a sealed mine. Therefore, an artesian well is a well (man-made or natural) where pressure and gravity cause the water to flow to the surface without pumping. The water pooling in Scott Rankin’s yard may have been a result of an artesian well.
According to the University of Kentucky Geological Survey, “Blowouts occur when hydrostatic pressure within flooded, abandoned coal seams becomes too powerful for the coal barriers to withstand.” Jennings added that, in a blowout, hundreds of thousands of gallons of water could rush out, destroying roads and houses. Two blowouts at the T&T coal mine in 1994-95 poured millions of gallons of acidic water into a main tributary of the Cheat River, according to the Friends of the Cheat website. Fish were killed as far as 16 miles downstream in Cheat Lake, and the Cheat River turned bright orange.
According to the EPA, a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) is typically a license for a facility to discharge a specified amount of a pollutant into a receiving water under certain conditions. The permit will generally specify an acceptable level of a pollutant or the pollutant parameter in a discharge (for example, a certain level of bacteria or heavy metals). A mine is not allowed to discharge contaminants into a West Virginia waterway without an NPDES permit. The process to receive a NPDES permit takes roughly six months and includes a public comment period.