DEP investigating blowout at former mine in Preston County

Staff reports Mar 5, 2021

The West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection said Friday afternoon it was investigating a blowout at the former T&T Mine Complex that is discharging into the confluence of Muddy Creek and the Cheat River in Preston County.

In a statement, the department reported that large amounts of highly acidic water — 10 times that of normal concentrations — and sediment is discharging from the former mine and has caused acid levels in Muddy Creek and the Cheat River to spike, with a flow peaking at 6,200 gallons per minute Thursday afternoon before waning to 3,500 gallons a minute.

Thursday’s blowout overwhelmed the department’s acid mine drainage treatment system, known as the T&T Treatment Facility, causing a pipeline entering a manhole to rupture, the department noted, adding that an estimated 300 to 500 gallons per minute was not going into the treatment facility.

The department said Friday afternoon that staff from its Office of Special Reclamation were on site to investigate and implement a repair plan.

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