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What is Underground Coal Slurry Injection?
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Coal contains toxic organic and inorganic compounds which, if liberated from the coal and moved into water or air, have the potential to negatively impact human health and environmental quality. Mining, processing or washing, and burning coal are all processes which liberate the toxins from the coal.
Coal slurry is a fluid produced when coal is washed with water and chemicals in order to prep in for market. Coal washing reduces the amount of non-combustible materials (including sulfur) from the coal. Coal slurry consists of water, fine particles derived from the coal, and chemicals used in coal washing. Coal slurry is stored behind earthen dams in coal sludge impoundments or injected underground for storage in abandoned underground mines--by the billions of gallons. Slurry contains chemicals used in the prep plant, plus heavy metals naturally present in coal, such as arsenic, mercury, chromium, cadmium, boron, selenium, and nickel. Note that coal companies do have alternative ways to prep coal for market without creating slurry, but they are somewhat more expensive.
The precise chemical composition of coal slurry is largely unknown and may be variable. In Nov. 2006, the WV Department of Environmental Protection told a state legislative subcommittee that about 100 chemicals can be used to prep coal, but they are all approved chemicals, so not to worry. Plus, the slurry simply couldn't travel out al the mines where it is injected.
Residents of the Rawl area in Mingo County, WV beg to differ. They believe the billions of gallons of coal slurry the prep plant in their area injected underground into abandoned mines over the years has flowed from the mines, through cracks and channels between rock layers and into the aquifer supplying their well water. Their water used to be sweet and pure, but now can run rusty orange or black at times, with lots of particulate. The water stinks, has an oily feel, corrodes plumbing fixtures quickly and stains clothes. Many area residents have illnesses they blame on the contaminated water. Folks have turned to the Sludge Safety Project for assistance, and together we have been telling our stories to the State Legislature.
As of October 2006, members of the Sludge Safety are asking the West Virginia State Legislature to ok a study that will tell us:
- How much ground water has been contaminated by underground injection of coal slurry;
- How underground injections have impacted human health and safety;
- What specific chemicals are in coal slurry.
We are also asking for a moratorium on new underground coal slurry injection permits until such time as these studies are complete.
So far, the Department of Environmental Protection is not with us, even though it has data documenting underground injections of coal slurry into old mines since the 1980s. DEP's Division of Water and Waste Management, through its groundwater unit, funds and oversees the Underground Injection Control (UIC) office, which began issuing permits and therefore "controlling" underground injection in 1999. Just one employee oversees all coal-waste-injection permitting for the state.
Since 2000, DEP has documented more than 400 injections into underground mines. We have no idea how many injection points there were prior to that date. In the coalfields, coalfield residents believe illegal, non-permitted injection sites have existed as far back as the 1960s. Injection wells can be constructed within a matter of hours and are easy to cover up in less time. They can exist anywhere on a mine site.
DEP’s UIC office is understaffed and under-funded. Enforcement of UIC regulations relies on coal companies to monitor their own impact and to report to the UIC program what they are pumping underground. There is no independent verification of the data or conditions around injection sites.
A less politicized agency, the US Geological Survey, notes that contaminants in coal slurry can include:
--Metals: Studies (Williamson, WV -2004/2005; Pond Fork, KY -1985; EPA underground injection study-1999) found Iron, Manganese, and Sodium at levels above EPA standards.
--Sulfate (VA, WV, and TN coal slurry) as high as 50 mg/l . Sulfate are linked to the production of neurotoxic methylmercury (poison mercury) in surface water. This mercury bioaccumulates in fish--and if you eat the fish, that dangerous mercury gets into you. Sulfate also is link to the production of deadly hydrogen sulfide production in anoxic (lacking oxygen) groundwater. (SSP note: You can enter some Mingo County homes and self the hydrogen sulfide. People are breathing in this toxic chemical because of their contaminated groundwater!)
--High ammonium levels.
--Toxic organic compounds in slurry and slurry water.
-Organic compounds from fine coal particles.
-Organic compounds used in coal washing.
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With so little known about what exactly is in coal slurry, members of the Sludge Safety Project and our supporters feel it is way past time for a study to begin.
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