Testimony of J. Bruce Wallace, Professor, University of Georgia

 

Senators, ladies and gentlemen, thank you for the opportunity to offer testimony on changing definitions of fill material as it relates to central and southern Appalachian streams. These changes, as pointed out by Judge Charles Haden, can only be allowed to stand if the United States Congress alters the intent of the Clean Water Act and allows fills so that waste, from mining operations can be deposited in headwater streams. Based on more than thirty years of studying Appalachian streams, I strongly urge you not to allow this Act to be altered.

 

The impacts of coal mining operations are significant and detrimental. We are burying streams and creating potential long-term environmental consequences that will haunt us into the future from both environmental and economic standpoints. Documentation shows at least 900 miles of headwater streams have already been eliminated in the Central and Southern Appalachians between 1986 and 1998 because of mountain-top removal valley-fill (MTR/VF) coal mining practices. Because these data were derived from maps that do not show all headwater streams and spring brooks, I must tell you that this figure is a very low estimate.

 

The significance of headwater streams is widely accepted by the scientific community as demonstrated by an attached letter signed by 44 senior aquatic scientists and excerpts from a peer-reviewed publication. The message from the scientific community is clear: 1) headwater streams provide vital ecological goods and services, and 2) they are being destroyed at an extremely high rate by human activities.

 

Much of the diversity of aquatic biota in the Appalachians is found in the small headwater streams. The degradation and elimination of headwater streams increase extinction vulnerability for aquatic invertebrates, amphibians and fish. Streams draining these forests receive most of their energy inputs from leaves, wood, etc. supplied by the surrounding forest. The organic matter (called detritus) deposited in headwater streams is stored and processed by biota and physical processes into smaller particles and dissolved organic matter. This detritus is transported downstream to serve as food for other microbes and invertebrates (and ultimately fish). Destroying the linkage between headwaters and downstream areas alters the availability of organic matter as fuel for downstream animals. These downstream reaches are often far removed from the headwater source of the detritus input.

 

One of the fundamental concepts in stream ecology is the longitudinal linkage of upstream to downstream segments. Former streams covered by valley fills no longer serve as a source of input, storage, and conversion of organic matter for export to downstream areas. Recent studies have shown that small streams in the drainage network are the sites of the most active uptake and retention of dissolved nutrients. Elimination of small streams from the drainage network results in increased downstream loading of nutrients and degradation of water resources. We should be most concerned with the valuable ecosystem services that are lost when streams are buried. Uptake of nutrients by vegetation and the transformation of nutrients and chemicals by microbes in soils, riparian zones, and streams is an important mechanism controlling export of nitrogen from watersheds.

 

Our potable water supplies will be harmed many years into the future because of large increases in concentrations of several chemicals as recently found by the US EPA below valley fills. The large increases in concentrations of chemical elements below valley fills (Table 1), combined with increased discharge will increase downstream pollution. Altered chemistry, and altered temperature regimes, contribute to the elimination of sensitive species of invertebrates (which also serve as food for higher animals such as fish) from downstream areas below valley fills. As shown by US EPA studies in West Virginia and Kentucky, many sensitive species are absent from streams below valley fills. Who pays for this long-term pollution of our waterways? Unfortunately, those of us who live downstream pay the bill.

 

This deliberation really boils down to short-term economic gain for long-term environmental degradation. However, the question should not be “How can we extract coal resources with the minimum expense and maximum short-term profit for the mining companies?” but rather “How can we extract coal resources in a wise manner, which ensures long-term environmental integrity, productive forests, unburied and unpolluted streams, and long-term productive economies for our children and grandchildren?”

Table 1. Median values (mg/L) for un-mined sites and valley fill sites for various water quality parameters in West Virginia during the period of October 1999 to February 2001   (Source USEPA).

 

Parameter		Un-mined sites	Valley Fill		Filled/Un-mined
Sulfate		12.6	524		41.7
Calcium		4.9	104		21.3
Magnesium		4.1	86.7		21.2
Hardness		29.1	617		21.2
Solids, dissolved		50.5	847		16.8
Manganese, total		0.005	0.044		8.8
Conductivity (mhos/cm)		66.4	585		8.8
Selenium		0.0015	0.0117		7.8
Alkalinity		20	149.5		7.5
Potassium		1.58	8.07		5.1
Sodium	1.43			4.46		3.1
Manganese, dissolved	0.005			0.0104		2.1
Chloride	2.5			4.5		1.8