Dunkard Creek...again

A article written by Don Hopey, Pittsburgh PostGazette, on January 10,2011 begins with this: "A dispute over drilling bore holes into Consol Energy's Humphrey No. 7 deep mine in Greene County without a state permit an the planned pumping and discharge of minimally treated mine water into Dunkard Creek has bubbled over again."

For those who may not have followed the Dunkard Creek disaster in late '09, all living things in a 38 mile stretch of this waterway were killed off. Whether it was brought on by frac juice or the dumping of mine waste water is still an open question. However, with this in mind, why in the hell would anyone want to dump more poison in the creek?

The answer is actually quite simple. CONSOL Energy, the longwall mining outfit destroying southern Pennsylvania, doesn't give a damn about Dunkard Creek. Or, the people and organisms that use it.

The problem however, isn't just CONSOL Energy. They are only party of the issue. The other part of the problem is the Department of Environmental Protection. They not only do not enforce the rules and regulations that are in place to protect the environment at large, they openly and willingly assist companies like CONSOL Energy to circumvent those rules.

Can anyone possibly believe that CONSOL drilled seven bore holes along the North Branch of Calvin Run without a permit and no one in DEP even noticed? A company which has violated all rules from their very beginnings? Nonsense.

CONSOL Energy will do all in their power to avoid doing the right thing. Why? Because it isn't the most profitable thing to do. They care nothing for life of any sort. They prove it over and over and over again year in and year out. Profit comes before anything...including any life form.

It is my hope that with light being shown on the DEP and its lack of oversight, they will do the right thing and disallow the dumping of minimally treated mining wastewater into Dunkard Creek.