Read Our Letter
Last month, Prairie Rivers Network, Sierra Club, and Southern Illinoisans Against Fracturing Our Environment (SAFE) submitted comments on the proposed expansion to the Pond Creek mine. In addition to the public sign-on letter that many of you signed, we prepared a technical letter with over 20 pages and dozens of attachments to demonstrate that this permit does not follow the Environmental Protection Act and should be denied. Public comments were due on January 17th. You can read the final comments submitted by Prairie Rivers Network, Sierra Club, and Southern Illinoisans Against Fracturing Our Environment (SAFE) here.
History
The Pond Creek Coal Mine is seeking a “Water Discharge Permit” (called NPDES permit) from the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (IEPA) to pump high chloride and high sulfate water over 12 miles from the mine into the Big Muddy River in southern Illinois. The same permit proposes discharging other high-chloride waters into the already chloride impaired Pond Creek. The mine, owned by Williamson Energy, a subsidiary of Murray Energy, is located approximately four miles east of Johnston City in Williamson and Franklin Counties.
At a December 18th public hearing, the public overwhelmingly asked the IEPA to reconsider the draft permit and protect the Big Muddy River, an aquatic resource with high societal, cultural, and ecological value to southern Illinois. The public cited concerns over the company’s repeated water quality violations on past permits, Murray Energy’s recent bankruptcy filing, unknown impacts to fish and mussel populations, state chloride standards that are high compared to other states, climate change, and more. Southern Illinoisans have continued to speak up for their river and express opposition to this project, read more about local concerns here, here, here, and here.
Illinois EPA is now reviewing all of the submitted comments and is deciding whether or not to issue the permit. Often, this process can take many months, but we’ll share an update once we hear from the Agency.
