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Pipeline developer criminally charged for contamination of Blacklick Creek
The corporate developer of a multi-billion-dollar pipeline system that takes natural gas liquids from the Marcellus shale gas field to an export terminal near Philadelphia was charged criminally on Tuesday after a grand jury concluded that it flouted Pennsylvania environmental laws and fouled waterways and residential water supplies across hundreds of miles.
Energy Transfer, Sunoco’s owner, faces 48 criminal charges, most of them for illegally releasing industrial waste at 22 sites in 11 counties across the state, including Indiana, Cambria and Westmoreland. A felony count accuses the operator of willfully failing to report spills to state environmental regulators.
Click here to learn more.
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US Corps of Engineers violated Clean Water Act in issuing of permit to allow development of Mahoning River Watershed
The Corps issued a 404 permit to North Eastwood, LLC. The Permit authorizes North Eastwood to permanently destroy and fill 15.95 acres of wetlands and 1,608.5 linear feet of streams in Trumbull County, Ohio.
The Friends of the Mahoning River filed a judicial action challenging the issuance of the Permit It argued that the alternative site’s analysis, public interest review, and mitigation requirements were improper. The public interest review was alleged to have failed to include the required findings related to the project’s purpose (as defined by the Corps) and the public need for the project. The alternatives analysis was argued to have been predetermined and that alternatives were not given a fair examination.
Click here to learn more.
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An interview with Joe Pizarchik, the former director of OSMRE, to discuss AMD legislation
In this second blog about the acid mine drainage (AMD) challenge, advocates for abandoned mine land restoration are looking into potential solutions being considered right now and how they may — or may not — help solve this problem. Congress is currently considering a bipartisan infrastructure bill with $11.3B in potential investments in abandoned mine land (AML) clean-up, raising new questions about what this money could do and cannot do to tackle AMD issues, how states can respond, and why it is so important to get this right. To help explain the proposal, its benefits, and its drawbacks, we were pleased to have an in-depth conversation with Joe Pizarchik.
Click here to learn more.
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PA filmmaker creates documentary about Little Conemaugh River
Pennsylvania has 5,600 miles of dead waterways, polluted by the state’s coal mining industry. Cleaning up these rivers and streams would cost millions of dollars. WHYY’s Susan Phillips spoke to Philadelphia filmmaker Ben Kalina, who just produced a documentary that looks at how one river in the western part of the state was brought back to life.
Click here to learn more.
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Friends of the Cheat hold 'State of the Watershed'
Friends of the Cheat (FOC) welcomed the public to Coopers Rock where it held its 2021 State of the Watershed Event on Friday, Oct. 22 from 2 to 6 p.m.
FOC Associate Director, Owen Mulkeen, said attendees had the chance to learn about the nonprofit and all the projects it is currently undertaking.
“This is something we do every year where we kind of have a public-facing forum to discuss, like, our projects and the current status of the Cheat River and what FOC is doing and just kind of update the public on, you know, again like, projects that we have in progress, future projects and just, you know, kind of give that the opportunity for the public to ask us questions,” Mulkeen said.
Click here to learn more.
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Appalachian region awaits abandons mine funding infrastructure bill
Appalachian regions are nervously awaiting passage of a federal infrastructure bill so they can avoid job loss and conservation set-backs related to abandoned mines.
A new study by a West Virginia-based research firm shows the importance of the abandoned mine land reclamation funding that helps clean up areas where surface and underground mining has occurred over the last four decades.
Members of the research firm, Downstream Strategies, joined with Appalachian groups like Rural Action in Ohio in a recent webinar to talk about the need for the infrastructure bill to be passed, and the funds included for the Surface Mining Control & Reclamation Act to be sent where they are needed.
Click here to learn more.
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Lawsuit filed against fracking liquid storage along Ohio River
A coalition of environmental groups and clean water advocates filed a lawsuit late yesterday challenging permits for the Mountaineer Storage Hub, a proposed fracked gas liquids storage facility that would support a broader petrochemical buildout in the Ohio River Valley.
In granting approval for the Powhatan Salt Company to construct three injection wells for the storage facility in Monroe County, the Ohio Department of Natural Resources violated Ohio law and the federal Safe Drinking Water Act by failing to disclose that the caverns would be used for storing fracked gas liquids or to study the impacts on underground sources of drinking water.
Click here to learn more.
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Register for PA-WV Drinking Water Issues: Virtual Meeting Series
The objective of this series is to bring water operators, researchers, and regulatory agencies together to discuss drinking water issues affecting West Virginia and Pennsylvania, with special focus on disinfection byproducts and emerging concerns such as PFAS.
There are two remaining sessions, taking place every other Tuesday from 9:00 - 10:00 am on Zoom. These are two separate events so attendance of both is not necessary.
- Disinfection Byproducts Open Forum - 11/02/2021
- Emerging Concerns Open Forum - 11/16/2021
Presentations will be given by researchers at West Virginia University as well as the U.S. Geological Survey. The sessions will also include open forum discussions to allow participants to voice concerns, share knowledge, and ask technical and regulation-based questions.
To register, click here.
If you have any questions, please reach out to Rachel Pell at rachel.pell@mail.wvu.edu.
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FY22 EPA Brownfields Funding Opportunities
These grants may be used to address sites contaminated by petroleum and hazardous substances, pollutants, or contaminants (including hazardous substances co-mingled with petroleum). Opportunities for funding are as follows: Brownfields Assessment Grants, Brownfields Revolving Loan Fund Grants, and Brownfields Cleanup Grants. The proposal submission deadline is December 1, 2021
Grant Specific Guideline Documents:
To see all of the changes in this year's assessments, check the Brownfields Policy Changes at US EPA.
The Brownfields Assistance Centers at WVU and Marshall University are available to provide grant review and proposal writing assistance on FY2021 EPA Brownfield grants. To request assistance, please contact Carrie Staton or George Carico
To access more information, click here.
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For more information on available grants, visit our 3RQ website here, or click the button below!
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