Investigation continues in fish kill
MOUNT MORRIS – As Dunkard Creek’s remaining aquatic life struggle to survive, government agencies in Pennsylvania and West Virginia search to pinpoint the pollution source that destroyed what the Pennsylvania Fish Commission calls a diverse community of fish and mussels. Kathy Kosco, spokesperson for the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) said Wednesday the current hypothesis is that the pollution is originating out of a CONSOL Energy Inc. mine outlet, at Blacksville Number Two mine, but results are still inconclusive.
“As a government agency, we have to ensure that we have all of the data to confirm that it’s the source,” Kosco said. “We’re talking to CONSOL, and they’re fully cooperating.”
She added that the mine in suspect is active, and CONSOL is working with the W.Va. DEP to determine whether or not what the agency suspects may be happening is the definite cause.
“Until we can get some more information from (CONSOL), it’s premature that they are definitely the source,” Kosco said. “There are other factors too, and we’re having a tough time explaining what might have happened.”
Tom Hoffman, senior vice president of CONSOL, said Thursday that CONSOL is fully cooperating with state officials to determine the cause of the fish kill, but at this time, results are still inconclusive. He said that the site in question is a permitted discharge site. It is not unplanned, nor is it illegal. Hoffman added that there are perplexing issues, such as the scope of the fish kill, that make both the state and the company question whether the mine discharge site is the culprit or if the fish kills were caused by a combination of factors.
Hoffman said CONSOL was informed of the problem in early September, which indicates the complexity of the problem as weeks later no one has developed a conclusive answer.
“People are sampling to unravel the cause of the fish kill,” he said.
The W.Va. DEP began its investigation Sept. 3 when dead fish were reported in Dunkard Creek, near Blacksville, W.Va. Dunkard Creek flows through northern West Virginia into Pennsylvania where it meanders through Greene County on its way to Monongahela River.
In an article published Sept. 4 in the Dominion Post, the W.Va. DEP reported that approximately 60 fish had died. But local residents disagreed, saying that number was greatly underestimated.
Allen Tennant, of Pentress, W.Va., lives next to the creek and said there were hundreds of dead fish, from small mouth bass to suckers and carp, floating in the Dunkard Creek during the week of Sept. 3. He described the water as red, rust-colored and added that after living beside the creek for 40 years, he’s never seen the water that color.
Across the Mason Dixon Line in Pennsylvania, the Pa. DEP and Fish Commission, along with other government agencies, are looking for their own answers as to what caused one of the state’s largest fish kills in recent history.
According to Helen Humphrey’s, spokesperson for the Pa. DEP, the W.Va. DEP reported the problem Sept. 8. Humphreys said Wednesday that the Pa. DEP is waiting for Dunkard Creek water quality results.
“At this point, we can’t draw any conclusions,” Humphrey’s said. “I don’t think people should go near the water. We don’t really know what’s killing the fish.”
She added that the Pa. DEP believes the high total dissolved solids (TDS) may have killed the aquatic life, but the Pa. DEP does not know that for certain. She said the W.Va. DEP has provided a substantial amount of information, and there are a lot of efforts to coordinate the investigation.
“I feel like someone has torn my heart out,” said Bryan Mcie said, of Mount Morris. “I grew up fishing, and it’s something that I love.”
Mcie lives approximately a mile away from Dunkard creek, where he used to take two of his three boys fishing. Now, Mcie said the creek is a murky color, like milky coffee or tea, and the fish and mussels are either dead or dying. Mcie’s oldest son, 10-year-old Cameron Mcie, said the dead fish make him sick.
“I used go down there and fish, and now I can can’t,” Cameron Mcie said. “That’s where I caught my first muski. They fight really hard, and it almost broke the line.”
He added that he’ll have to take his youngest brother, who is only 10 months old, somewhere else to learn how to fish.
On Sept. 8, the Pa. Fish Commission sent biologists to Dunkard Creek to begin assessing the damage.
Chris Urban, a biologist who studies aquatic life and chief of the natural diversity section of the Fish and Boat Commission, said biologists have tracked damage from Brave to the Monongahela River.
“We are watching, looking for dead fish and mussels,” Urban said. “Mussels are indicators of something happening.”
Fresh water mussels are sensitive to pollution, and they’re the first aquatic species to detect the toxin. In Pennsylvania, the Fish Commission has jurisdiction over all aquatic life. Dunkard Creek was home to seven or eight species of fresh-water mussels, one of which is endangered and another, the Fish Commission is proposing adding it to the endangered species list.
“We’ve been monitoring whatever life we see, not just fish and mussles,” he said. “Mud puppies are a salamander that lives under the water, and we’ve found a lot of those dead.”
Urban said he and other biologists have been looking for frogs, snakes and turtles and have not seen many of those species. In highly-toxic areas, Urban said they have not found frogs, dead or alive, and although they might be affected, biologists have not seen any floating in the water. With the vegetation along the creek bank, he said it would be difficult to find the dead reptiles. He added that frogs, turtles and snakes may leave the creek to escape the toxins and die on shore.
The biologists chose eight 100-meter sampling regions from down below Mount Morris, all the way up toward Brave where they survey the aquatic-life graveyard. The biologists try to determine how many, of each species, have been killed. A monetary value is assessed to each of the fish and other aquatic life affected by the pollution. At this time, the Pa. Fish Commission is still assessing the damages and loss of life.
As for Dunkard Creek’s recovery, Urban said the severity of the pollution will determine how long it will take for Dunkard Creek’s aquatic life to return.
“Given this level of death, it could take years, possibly decades to recover,” Urban said. “I love aquatic life, too, and this needs to be stopped.”