New facility prevents acid mine drainage from polluting Deckers Creek in Morgantown

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (WBOY) — After 30 years of Morgantown residents voicing their concerns of acid mine drainage feeding into Deckers Creek, they are finally seeing solutions.

On Monday, state and federal officials, as well as area advocacy groups, met at the new Richard Mine Acid Mine Drainage Treatment Facility located on Pass Creek Lane in Morgantown to celebrate its opening and similar upcoming projects.

The treatment facility opened for operation just last week and works to filtrate acid mine drainage from the Richard Mine and treat it before the water goes into Deckers Creek.

12 News spoke with president deputy assistant for land and minerals management at the Department of the Interior Steve Flegeus who said that the facility will make the creek safer for both people and wildlife in the area.

“When the water comes out of the mine and into the creek, the water is very acidic and that means that fish can’t live in there, it’s unsafe for people, you have a lot of developed metals that would be a health problem. This facility, by cleaning that up, helps the stream return to life,” said Flegeus.

Aside from filtrating the water, critical minerals or rare earth elements will also be collected from the drainage to be repurposed for items like wind turbines for clean energy, national defense items and smart phones.

After receiving a tour of the new facility, officials from state, federal and advocacy groups spoke on what’s to come with similar projects throughout the state, as the Biden Administration has recently announced another $140 million will be put towards addressing the dangers and pollutions of abandoned mine lands in West Virginia.

Flegeus told 12 News that the money will be distributed to highest priority areas first with a focus on large project that haven’t been possible before.

“WVDEP will look at all the abandoned mine land sites in the state and working with the Office of Surface Mine Reclamation and Enforcement, identify the highest priorities for that money to go to. With such a huge increase with the amount of money over what they got a few years ago, they’re going to be able to do much larger projects and look at stopping problems before they begin and not waiting for emergencies to happen,” said Flegeus.

Thanks to the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, this funding will continue in the state for an additional 13 years, creating clean water and environments throughout the entirety of West Virginia.

Organizations in attendance at Monday’s tour included staff from the West Virgina Department of Environmental Protection (WVDEP), Friends of Deckers Creek, WV Rivers, the U.S. Department of the Interior and its bureau, the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement.

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