Trap Hill Public Comment Period Open Until February 8

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Friends, within 48 hours of the toxic injection well waste ban passing in Fayette County, a public comment period opened for a permit renewal on a Trap Hill/ Raleigh County toxic waste dump.

Fayette County passed the ban based on both high levels of radioactive radium 226 and radium 228 in the creek near the injection well, and elevated cancer rates in the community.

The public comment period for the toxic waste dump in Trap Hill has been extended by the DEP to February 8. We are asking everyone to join us in making a public comment. We also have a petition circulating, and we need signatures.

Thanks to Headwaters Defense and the Mountain Party for providing the templates from Fayette County, and to OVEC for hosting an action alert on their website.

As the Beckley Register Herald notes:

The public comment period for a Department of Environmental Protection permit application renewal for an underground injection control well used to dispose of oil and natural gas waste in the Trap Hill area of Raleigh County has been extended through Feb. 8. The injection well has been in operation since the late 1990s and is located in Claypool Branch near Daniels Creek. The well is operated by Base Petroleum Inc. of South Charleston.

The permitted injection depth is expected to be 3,082 feet into the Weir Sand geological formation with a maximum injection volume of 360 barrels per day.

The permit application is for a well head named Daniels No. 2. A well head called Daniels No. 1 was closed in October 2014.

A part of the application process, a groundwater protection plan indicates brine and fracking waste are held in storage tanks before being pumped into the well. The storage tanks have secondary confinement and the permit application says they are checked daily.

Interested citizens may submit written comments on the draft permit and may request a public hearing on the re-permitting.

Mail comments in writing to West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection, Office of Oil and Gas, UIC Comments, 601 57th St. SE, Charleston, WV 25304.

Comments may also be faxed to 304-926-0452, with “UIC Comments” in the subject line.

Comments should reference Permit No. UIC2D0810281.

The permit applications, draft permits and fact sheets for each may be downloaded at www.dep.wv.gov/oil-and-gas/databaseinfo/Pages/UIC-Pending-Applications-.aspx.

For a template that will help you make your own comments, e-mail Chris at friendsofwater14@gmail.com.