Section 319
NONPOINT SOURCE PROGRAM SOCGESS STORY
Mined-Land Restoration Improves Middle Creek s Benthic Population
Watprhnrlv Imnrnvpd P°"u1:ion from decades of coal mining resulted in reduced
benthic populations in Virginia's Middle Creek. As a result, the
Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) added an 11-mile segment of Middle
Creek to the Clean Water Act (CWA) section 303(d) list of impaired waters in 1998 because
of violations of the General Standard (benthic). Between 2000 and 2005, the Virginia
Department of Mines, Minerals and Energy's Department of Mined Lands and Reclamation
(DMLR) implemented mined-land best management practices (BMPs). Post-BMP water
quality monitoring indicated significant water quality improvements, prompting DEQ to
remove Middle Creek from the list of impaired waters in 2006.
Problem
Middle Creek is an 11-mile-long tributary to the
Clinch River with a drainage area of approximately
7,000 acres in southwest Virginia (Figure 1). The
creek flows through the coalfields of Tazewell
County, where layers of gently dipping sedimentary
rocks are interspersed with coal seams. Over the
past several decades, coal companies mined several
hundred acres of Middle Creek watershed lands.
Portions of the Middle Creek watershed were mined
prior to Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act
(SMCRA) of 1977. During this time, mining com-
panies disposed refuse (coal mining waste) along
Middle Creek and its tributaries without adequate
environmental and engineering safeguards. Runoff
from storm events washed suspended and dis-
solved solids from the mine sites into the creek.
Monitoring data showed that mining negatively
affected the water quality. DMLR collected data
in 1981 that showed that the average conductivity
in Middle Creek was "relatively high" at 660 mil-
limhos per centimeter (mmhos/cm). In May 1996
DEQ conducted biological monitoring in Middle
Creek and collected only 28 organisms, significantly
lower than the 100 organisms typically found at a
healthy site. As a result, DEQ added Middle Creek
to Virginia's CWA section 303(d) list of impaired
waters in 1998 for violating the General Standard
(benthic), which requires that all state waters be
free of substances that harm aquatic life.
To identify the probable stressors on the benthic
population in Middle Creek, DEQ selected an unim-
paired watershed with similar size and characteris-
tics to serve as a reference for comparative analysis.
Middle Creek
Watershed
ED Watershed Boundary
/V Roads
/\/Streams
I H Cities/Towns
2Mlki
Figure 1. The Middle Creek watershed is in southwest Virginia.
The selected reference watershed, McClure River,
is a fourth-order stream with a healthy benthic
population in the same ecoregion as Middle Creek.
Both watersheds contained mining-related land
uses. DEQ considered a water quality parameter to
be a possible stressor if values from Middle Creek
samples exceeded the 90th percentile of data col-
lected from McClure River more than 10 percent of
the time. Between 1996 and 1999, conductivity data
from Middle Creek showed several exceedances of
the 90th percentile screening level (800 mmhos/cm).
Therefore, DEQ listed conductivity (a measure of
positively or negatively charged organic dissolved
solids) as a possible stressor to biological health
in Middle Creek. Other potential stressors noted
included total dissolved solids (often correlated with
conductivity), sulfate, pH, metals and sediment.
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Project Highlights
Table 1. Bioassessment Scoring Matrix
In the early 1980s (after passage of the SMCRA) the
DMLR began regulating coal mining operations in
the Middle Creek watershed. Most of the previously
mined areas were incorporated into state-issued
mining and reclamation permits. These permits
contained requirements for drainage plans, materi-
als handling, regrading, revegetation and pollution
control. To receive a permit, operators had to
provide a performance bond to ensure that the mine
sites would be reclaimed to an acceptable post-
mining land use.
Through the 1990s, the Covenant Coal Corporation
(Covenant) operated mines on more than 200
permitted acres in the watershed. After Covenant
closed its last operation in the Middle Creek
watershed in 1999, the company did not complete
reclamation of the mine sites and, as a result, DMLR
initiated enforcement actions that led to the compa-
ny's forfeiture of performance bonds in 2000. After
Covenant's bond forfeiture, DMLR administered the
reclamation of the sites through a settlement agree-
ment with Claredon National Insurance Company.
From 2000 to 2005, DMLR implemented the fol-
lowing mined-land BMPs within the Middle Creek
watershed: revegetation, regrading of the land to
original contours, removing abandoned mining
equipment and structures, and implementing post-
mining land use requirements. All former mining
sites in Middle Creek were ultimately reclaimed as
unmanaged forestlands (Figure 2). Although the
state began to develop a total maximum daily load
(TMDL) for Middle Creek, water quality improvement
was achieved before the TMDL was completed.
Results
In 2003, DEQ used the Rapid Bioassessment
Protocol II (RBP II) to assess the health of the ben-
thic macroinvertebrate community in Middle Creek.
RBP II measures different aspects of the biological
community's health using eight biometrics, such as
taxa richness, the percent contribution of dominant
family, and other metrics that provide information on
the abundance of pollution-tolerant and pollution-
intolerant organisms.
RBP II biological condition scores collected in
Middle Creek were compared to reference scores
from McClure River and assessed according to
the bioassessment scoring matrix (Table 1). The
biological condition score at Middle Creek sampling
Percentage as
Compared to
Reference Score*
>83%
54 - 79%
21 -50%
<17%
Biological
Condition Category
Non-Impaired
Slightly
Impaired
Moderately
Impaired
Severely
Impaired
Attributes
Displays optimum community
structure (composition and
dominance).
Supports lower species richness
due to loss of some intolerant
forms.
Supports fewer numbers of
species due to loss of most of
the intolerant forms.
Few species present. Dominated
by one or two taxa of tolerant
organisms.
Percentage values falling in between the above ranges require
subjective judgment to correctly place them.
site #1 was 44 (95 percent of the
McClure River reference score of
46), while the score at Middle Creek
sampling site #2 was 40 (95 percent
of the McClure River reference score
of 42). Both scores indicate that
Middle Creek is no longer impaired.
Additionally, post-BMP monitoring
data revealed substantial decreases
in conductivity compared to levels
recorded during the period of active
mining prior to reclamation. Samples
collected from Middle Creek in
2003 averaged 263 mmhos/cm, well
below the 90th percentile conductiv-
ity screening level of 800 mmhos/
cm. On the basis of these data, DEQ
removed the 11-mile segment of
Middle Creek from Virginia's list of
impaired waters in 2006.
Partners and Funding
DMLR administered the reclamation
of the sites through a settlement
agreement with Claredon National
Insurance Company. The total bond
forfeiture amount for Middle Creek
was $1,190,100. DEQ assisted with
water quality monitoring in Middle
Creek, including post-project
monitoring to assess water quality
improvement.
• Reclaimed Sites
1 0 1 Miles
Figure 2. DMLR
reclaimed former mining
sites in the Middle Creek
watershed using funds
from a performance
bond forfeiture.
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Office of Water
Washington, DC
EPA841-F-12-001F
March 2012
For additional information contact:
George Joey O'Quinn
Reclamation Specialist
Virginia Department of Mines, Minerals and Energy
Division of Mined Land Reclamation
276-523-8201 • joey.oquinn@dmme.virginia.gov
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