DUNKARD CREEK
Fish Kill

Released December 2, 2009
EPA Update on Dunkard Creek Fish Kill
(PDF 2.79MB)

Sometime around September 1, 2009, there was a massive fish kill along most of Dunkard Creek. The creek criss-crosses the Pennsylvania-West Virginia border 18-times before reaching the Monongahela River, which flows north to Pittsburgh, where it joins the Allegheny River to form the Ohio River.

Dunkard Creek is a 38-mile creek that contained a unique ecosystem with 161 species of fish, 14 species of mussels, salamanders, crayfish and aquatic insects. It was one of only two or three creeks like it on the Monongahela River watershed. Some experts say it will be decades before the fishery returns to normal, if ever. Many of the fish were over 15 years old. It's believed the prized mussel population may be lost forever.

While the exact source(s) of the pollutants are still being determined, it is obvious that water high in TDS (total dissolved solids) was to blame. High TDS levels, combined with other favorable environmental conditions, created the perfect environment for a toxic golden algae bloom that helped kill an estimated 20,000 fish and other aquatic life.

One local water expert comments:
Even if the algae bloom is what ultimately killed the fish, it seems that the cause of the bloom is high chloride levels. The high chloride levels are a clear indicator of frac water, not mine pollution (which is high in sulfates). The agencies just refuse to say the words “Marcellus drilling” in any press article.

High TDS conditions were also enhanced by low water levels in creeks and streams. These were caused by dry weather and widespread water withdrawals from streams and creeks for fracing operations. Tanker trucks can back-up to any stream 24-7 and pump out 4,200 gallons or more at any time. Many watersheds in West Virginia and Pennsylvania have been dried-up by this continuing raid for free water, since each Marcellus well can require up to 6-million gallons of water for fracing. Some of these same "Residual Waste" tankers were 'moonlight dumping' wastewater into remote tributaries and opening their drain valves as they drove back roads under the cover of rain or darkness.

Consol, the former Consolidation Coal Company, and its new division CNX Gas are very active along Dunkard Creek. A local reporter included this in a recent newspaper story about Dunkard Creek:

"The only deep injection wastewater well in the area permitted by the U.S. EPA is the Morris Run injection well operated by CNX Gas Co. LLP, a subsidiary of Consol Energy, at Consol's closed Blacksville No. 1 mine in Greene County since 2005. Because of violations at that injection facility from September 2007 to March 2009, CNX was fined $157,500 for violating provisions of the federal Safe Drinking Water Act, including accepting at least 100 truckloads of wastewater with total dissolved solids levels 'significantly higher' than its federal permit allowed."
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Sep. 20, 2009

These wastewater fluids could have moved laterally and vertically through former wells, mines and bore holes. Some reports indicated the source of the contamination was ongoing, three weeks after the initial fish kill. Drilling wastewater contains Mother Nature's own mix of toxins from beneath the earth, in addition to the frac fluids added above ground for the fracking process.

What also remains to be explained is why it took two weeks for a full scale investigation of the Dunkard Creek fish kill to begin.