Sediment comes pouring down Big Creek.

Alert Residents Contact DEP About Spill in Area Creek

On Saturday, January 16, my wife and I were returning home after the Sludge Safety Projects Legislative Kickoff event. Near Gauley Bridge, we noticed that the Gauley River had a grayish-brown streak of sediment flowing 20-30 feet out into the river.

We found the sediment flowing into the river from the Right Fork of Big Creek it was the only creek that was flowing this muddy, like mud soup. We pulled off at the road that followed the creek and took some photos. We knew Appalachian Fuels had a surface mine up the hollow.

I called the DEPs spill hotline: 1-800-642-3074. The DEP Abandoned Mine Lands office returned the call, saying someone would be out the following morning.

Long story short, they found out that there was a relatively new valley fill and sediment pond farther up the hollow and that the sediment pond had overflowed and had washed out the road. By dark Sunday, nothing had been done to try to fix the pond and stop the flow. So much for the biodiversity of Big Creek.

Monday, news media reported that DEP inspectors blamed the sediment on a logging operation, and the state Division of Forestry cited Russell Trucking of Charleston for muddy water and for being out of compliance with West Virginias Logging Sediment Control Act.

We again contacted the DEP to understand why there were two different reports on what was happening to Big Creek. On February 2, after water tests came back, DEP did issue two Notice of Violations to Appalachian Fuels, one for exceeding the permits effluent limits and one for conducting operations not specifically designated in the permits conditions.