$3 DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION CALIFORNIA DISTRICT MINING OFFICE January 9, 2013 Mrs. Kimberly A. Jones 415 West Roy Furman Highway Wind Ridge, PA 15380 RE: Stream Investigation Report Unnamed tributary to the North Fork (32596) Dear Mrs. Jones, Please find enclosed a copy of the cover letter and stream investigation report recently sent to CONSOL for an unnamed tributary to the North Fork that flows across portions of your property in Richhill Township, Greene County. Please contact me with any additional questions you have in this matter at 724.7691 100. SincerelyGregory Pi" ntice Compliance Manager District Mining Operations Enclosure California Technology Park, 25 Technology Drive, Coal Center, PA 15423 724.769.1100 FAX 724.769.1102 Printed on Recvded Paver??8 DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION CALIFORNIA DISTRICT MINING OFFICE December 27, 2012 Mr. Josh Silvis CONSOL Energy Inc. CNX Center 1000 CONSOL Energy Drive Canonsburg, PA 15317-6506 RE: Stream Restoration Unnamed Tributary 32596 and Amendment Docket 066008 and 076010 Dear Mr. Silvis; Technical Staff, has completed the review of the stream flow information submitted ant data assembled by the CDMO staff for Unnamed Tributary 32596. The hat UT--32596 has not returned to normal stream flow conditions. The California Office by Consol and other relev attached report indicates at the underground mining operations of Consol's Bailey Mine adversely and although Consol has completed all the remediation efforts required by the September 19, 2007 COA and the Amendment ofApril 24, 2008, UT-- 32596 has not been restored to conditions that existed prior to undennining. We feel any additional remediation activities on would be futile; therefore, we are requiring Consol to provide appropriate mitigation and/or compensation for the loss of Commonwealth resources. Please contact me at 724.769.1030 to set up a meeting to discuss your plans. The Department hereby finds th affected the hydrologic balance Please be advised that the Department may require the operator to file revised mining plans, or provide other data, to demonstrate that future underground mining operations will not result in a similar outcome to streams that are proposed to be undermined with full extraction mining. Sincerely, EV Gregory Prentice Compliance Manager District Mining Operations Enclosure California Technology Park, 25 Technology Drive, Coat Center, PA 15423 724.769.1100 FAX 724.769.1102 Printed on Recycled Paper V4 DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION MEMO TO Greg Prentice Compliance Manager FROM Brian Lohr Geologic Speci TI-IRU Jay A. Winter Environmental Group Manager DATE October 22, 2012 RE Stream Investigation -- Unnamed Tributary to North Fork (32596) Consol Coal Company, LLC Bailey Mine Prep Plant CMAP No.: 30841316 Richhill Township, Greene County IVIESSAGE: I was assigned this stream investigation on February 28, 20l2. This stream is an unnamed tributary to the North Fork of Dunkard Fork and was undermined by the Consol Coal Company's Bailey Mine. As part of my investigation I and several Department of Environmental Protection personnel, walked this stream on March 6, 2012. Visual observation by Department personnel this day noted that the entire stream was flowing. Unnamed Tributary 32596 Description: The unnamed tributary (UT--32596) flows through Richhill Township, Greene County, east of the West Virginia border and discharges into the North Fork of Dunkard Fork. UT-32596 flows for approximately 5,500 feet in a northeast to southwestem direction across the 11 through 41 panels of the Bailey Mine. ST-32596 is classified as an intermittent stream, with a drainage area of 346 acres. The North Fork of Dunkard Fork watershed basin is classified as trout stocked waters under Chapter 93 water quality standards. Land cover surrounding this tributary is mostly deciduous forest with some evergreen forest. There are a few areas of mixed forest--shrub land and pastnrefhay. The stream banks consist of unconsolidated colluvium and alluvial type soils. The stream geomorphology can be divided into glides, pools, rifiles and runs with riffles and pools being dominant. California District Mining Office California Technology Park I Coal Center, PA 15423 I 724-769-1100 I 724-769-1102 I Strearnbed lithology consists of portions of exposed bedrock, cobbles, gravel, and silt. There is approximately 26 percent exposed bedrock within the stream channel. The exposed bedrock consists of layers of the Upper Waynesburg formation of the Dunkard group which is Pen in age. The depth of cover between the Pittsburgh Coal Seam and the surface ranges between 330 feet and 570 feet. Effects of Longwall Mining on Overburden Subsidence induced fracturing from underground mining can intercept and convey surface water and groundwater. Many factors of subsidence from longwall mining have a role in the movement of ground and surface water. When the extraction of coal is below the water table, the mine voids act as a "low pressure sink that will cause the water to flow from the surrounding rocks into the mine voids. The complex rock fracture patterns above longwall mining panels are affected by many criteria, including the following; thickness of the coal seam, shape and size of the mine panel, depth of cover between the coal seam and the ground surface, the lithology of the overburden, and topography. These all can affect subsidence profiies. Many studies have been conducted on the effects of longwall mining on ground and surface water. Francis S. Kendorski conducted a study in which be separated the effects into five zones. Zone 1 is the zone in which the caving of the immediate roof rock collapses into the mine void. This zone extends from the mine void from 6 to 10 times the thickness of the coal seam being mined. Zone 2 is the fractured zone, which is a highly fractured zone where the overburden is characterized by continuous open fractures extending 30 to 58 times the height of the coal seam. Zone 3, the dilated zone or aquiclude zone, is unaffected by the mining and subsidence deformations and has no change in permeability but with an increase in storage and is measured from 50 feet below the ground surface to the fractured zone (3 0t to 60t) measured from the mine void. Zone 4 is the constrained or unaffected zone where there is no significant effect on groundwater transmissivity or storativity. This zone is present when the overburden thickness is greater than 60 times the thickness of the coal seam. Zone 5 is the zone where vertically transmissive surface cracks and discontinuities have the potential to occur. Surface discontinuities and fractures may open as the longwall face passes beneath the ground surface and can close once the longwall face passes. This zone extends approximately 50 feet below the ground surface. Groundwater within the caved zone (Zone 1) and some if not all in the fractured zone (Zone 2) will flow into the mine void. The dilated zone or aquiclude zone (Zone 3) groundwater levels have been observed to drop during the longwall mining process due to increased storativity. The deformed zone strata or constrained and unaffected zone (Zone 4) do not display widespread or significant vertical fractures. The ground water in this zone does not drain into the mine and hydrologic impacts in this zone are often temporary. The surface disturbance zone (Zone 5) is where surface water drains via discontinuities and fractures that were either caused by longwall mining or were pre-existing fractures that have been reopened causing an increase in aperture. The dewatering of surface streams is due to the affects in Zone 5. Mitigation efforts are concentrated in this area in an attempt to return flow to the stream channel. Monitoring Data and Analysis Unnamed Tributary 32596 was undermined beginning in February 2004 and ended in September 2005. There was limited data collected on stream prior to it "being undennined, however, there has been extensive data collected post-mining- There are five monitoring points located along UT-32596 starting at the confluence of 32596 with the North Fork of Dunkard Fork (Figure 1). Monitoring point Hydrologic Surface Water-01 (HSW-01) is the furthest point and the points are numbered sequentially upstream. There are Post Mitigation Monitoring (PMM) points located between the designated HSW monitoring points. These PMM points were established at locations where natural flow enters the stream. The PMM points monitor any flow from small tributaries, seeps, springs and other surface water runoff. There are several augmentation points along the stream from HSW-05 to the mouth of 32596. The augmentation points are fed from two wells drilled along the stream in the 31 and 41 panels and from a public waterline source in panels ll and 21. The augmentation wells pumped groundwater to a storage tank where the water was distributed via piping to the various augmentation locations. The data provided by the coal company for the PMM points shows that for most of the monitoring time there was no flow at any of the PMM points along the stream. The augmentation data had several no flow events recorded for stream 32596. Several piezometers are located in the stream valley and two are located along the hill sides (Figure 2). The data for the piezometers along the stream showed no significant change to the groundwater levels. However, most of these piezometers were installed post-tninin g. There was probably a drop in groundwater levels during mining. Piezometer 4.I-PZ1 was installed over the 4] Panel as the 31 Panel mining was approaching the stream. However, the 11 and 21 Panels had already mined beneath the watershed and probably affected the groundwater levels. Data reviewed for this investigation included what was provided to the Department by Consol Coal Company for stream UT--32S96 as well as data collected by the California Office Monitoring and Compliance staff. Precipitation data was tabulated from the Waynesburg monitoring location. Graphs were made comparing precipitation departure from normal and flow data at each HSW station (Graph 1 through 5). The flow in these graphs includes flow from augmentation sources. The graphs show that precipitation data was both above and below normal during the monitoring period. The graphs show that stream flow dropped to zero at all monitoring locations at some time during undermining. Graphs 6 through 9 shows that during augmentation, stream flow was less than augmentation flow and several no flow measurements were recorded at the HSW-02 point during augmentation (Graph 7). Conclusion The pre-mining data was limited to a seven month period prior to the longwall mining passing under the stream. The first panel mined was the 11 panel which undermined the upper portion of the stream at HSW-05 beginning in January of 2004. The watershed was then mined heavily through August of 2005. Data was graphed and analyzed to compare the post--mining flow data, with the precipitation data, and augmentation data. Graphs made from this data show that flow measurements taken at HSW locations of the augmentation discharges were still lower than the instantaneous flows recorded coming from augmentation outlet pipes. The use of augmentation maintained flow within portions of the stream channel. However, HSW--02 shows no flow periods even during augmentation. Despite mitigation efforts, including grout injection and lining of the stream channel, UT 32596 has not returned to normal stream flow conditions when compared to the precipitation data. The data shows that the stream, post--mining, does not flow to the same degree after similar precipitation amounts as it did pre- mining. Graphs of the data show that post-mining flows have not retumed to pre--mining flow rates. .: Emu: mmonwmra .. 33:. 8.72:. .u.:.om88.a Uofiaami - Gas . wm~2.m.mm._ mofimi W. 4 2 a3..C? ma ucquwtu .. ..:;.mm8.o Eommomns. . . .5651. :m manna>>: gum m> n3w.mN 3 Au oi SE coco, N- 0 am we m. F-tn. i 9.3 Eu mmvuwommi - C05 . 2. 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Log 0.001 ?4755 Waynes-burg Rmnfan 1: Linear 1000 'jfii0.1 ooj (jun 3 L-Jdv 2: H30 I.-Inf' L-Jdv 0 H00 0 0 L-JUV 0 war 60400 60-anr so-Jdv so-uer 90-200 90-mr 90-Jdv 90-uer A0-130 1.0-Int' 1.0-UEF 90-100 9o--Inr 90-Jdv 90-Uer so-zoo 90-tnr so-Jdv 90-uer two-mo voanr 170-1dv 170-Uer so-no so-mr zoudv so-uer Graph 9 .. -1 fiifl I IIOM M30 5| \2t5t2oas Emacs Figure 1 augmentation well Figure 2