Pennsylvania Mines Corp. contends that a state Department of Environmental Protection order related to iron seeping into streams near the company's former Greenwich Mine is not the proper corrective action.
Hearings began Wednesday (4/17) before the Environmental Hearing Board on the dispute between the agency and the company regarding the order. The hearings are expected to continue through May 10.
In a related matter, the DEP filed a petition in Commonwealth Court to enforce its order for PMC to comply. An initial hearing was held in Commonwealth Court April 4 and hearings will continue in May. The DEP recently notified PMC of a potential penalty of $22,500 for failing to comply with the agency's order.
The order requires the company to pump down the water level in the former mine because the agency believes it will stop red seeps that have appeared in the South Branch Two Lick Creek and Repine Run.
PMC maintains that the seeps are not related to the Greenwich Mine and that pumping down the water level will not stop the seeps.
"While we are willing to work with the DEP to address the situation, we don't believe that the agency's proposed corrective actions are appropriate," said Mike Snovitch, PMC's assistant vice president of operations.
PMC's own technical studies of the situation disagree with many findings in the DEP report, Snovitch said.
"The cause of the iron deposits is not the mine water but the surface water moving through the rock strata above the mine pool," Snovitch said. "The water picks up iron that is oxidized in the strata."
PMC believes that additional oxidized iron was created when the water table in the area was lowered due to PMC's mining operations. PMC says that construction of a bog or wetland to help filter iron from the surface water is a better solution.
The Environmental Hearing Board is expected to make a ruling in August on the cause of the seeps and any corrective action that is needed.
PMC, based in Ebensburg, Pa., is a subsidiary of PP&L Resources Inc., based in Allentown, Pa.