Antero Landfill NPDES Permit Fact Sheet

Comment to WVDEP on Antero Landfill Permit

The West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection (WVDEP) Division of Water and Waste Management (DWWM) is accepting comments on Antero Landfill National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) Permit. The NPDES permit covers stormwater discharges from the Antero Landfill facility which will be used to dispose of the salt generated at the adjacent Clearwater water treatment facility. You can submit comments on the permit to WVDEP through May 11, 2017. If you have questions, please contact Autumn Crowe, acrowe@wvrivers.org.

SUBMIT COMMENTS TO WVDEP BY 5PM ON MAY 11th

1. You can easily submit comments through WV Rivers’ advocacy tool here.
2. By email with “Permit WV0117579: Antero Landfill NPDES” in the subject line: comments@wv.gov
3. By mail referencing “Permit WV0117579: Antero Landfill NPDES” in your letter.

SUGGESTED COMMENTS

Enforceable Discharge Limits: The permit requires monitoring for over 40 different pollutants but it does not impose limitations on any pollutants. Without pollutant limits in the discharge water, there is no legal enforceable limit to require that pollutants remain under safe levels. Request that WVDEP impose limitations of pollutants in the discharge water.

Discharges in Source Water Protection Area: There are 13 outlets that will discharge into Cabin Run a tributary of the Hughes River, and an unnamed tributary of Dotson Run another tributary of the Hughes River. The Hughes River provides source water to the Hughes River Water Board.  There are no requirements limiting discharges within a source water protection area. Request that WVDEP impose strict pollutant limits to protect Hughes River, a drinking water source for thousands of people.

Permit Modifications: The permit allows for future modifications that would reduce the discharge locations the pollutants to be monitored if there are consecutive monitoring events that don’t show levels of certain pollutants or if pollutant levels appear similar at different locations. Request that WVDEP adhere to the pollutant parameters and locations in the original permit and not allow future modifications.

Radioactivity: The radiation detection system proposed for the landfill detects gamma radiation; however, Radium 226 and 228 have very little gamma radiation meaning it will take a lot of it to trigger an alarm in the radiation detection system. Therefor the radiation detection system will not be very effective. Request that WVDEP require monitoring of activity levels (pCi/g) for specific radioactive isotopes of Radium 226 and Radium 228.