EPA report: Streams near mining toxic
By Ken Ward Jr., Staff writer
March 15, 2010
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Water quality downstream from surface coal-mining operations in West Virginia and Kentucky greatly exceeds recommended toxicity limits, according to previously unreleased sampling data from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. EPA scientists found toxicity levels as high as 50 times the federal guidelines in water downstream from mining operations. In-stream water samples from 14 of 17 sites EPA tested exceeded the agency’s guidelines. Government officials took the samples in 2007 and 2009, but have never released their own report to outline the findings. Environmental groups obtained the data under the federal Freedom of Information Act, and had Carys L. Mitchelmore, a toxicologist from the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science, analyze it. Mitchelmore’s report was made public Monday when it was attached to a petition asking EPA to take over water pollution permitting for mining from the state of Kentucky. The findings are important because the type of testing provides a more complete and accurate picture of the toxicity of water than sampling for any one pollutant alone. “This is the first-line red flag,” Mitchelmore said in an interview. “This is the best way to show what the whole toxicity of that pollution is.” …
