Williamson County mine seeks permission to discharge water into Big Muddy River

An application by the Pond Creek Mine, located in Williamson County about 14 miles south of the Rend Lake dam, to discharge waste water into the Big Muddy River is drawing criticism from local citizens and some environmental groups.
The application, filed by Williamson Energy LLC and its parent company, Foresight Energy, seeks permission from the Illinois Department of Natural Resources to discharge between 2.5 to 3.5 million gallons of water per day into the river.
The Illinois EPA stated in an email received this week that chloride and sulfate are toxic to aquatic organisms in amounts above accepted water quality standards.
A call to the Pond Creek Mine was met with a response of “no comment” from the engineering department.
According to the permit application, the Pond Creek Mine, located east of Johnston City, is quite productive, capable of producing 7.5 million tons of coal per year.
Blumenshine also noted the mining company has not filed an environmental impact statement.
The water will be discharged through a diffuser in effort to thoroughly dilute the chemical discharge.
An email from Kim Biggs, a public information officer with the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency stated, “When the IEPA issues the NPDES (National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System) permit, the NPDES permit will ensure that the concentration of chlorides and sulfates will meet the water quality standards outside a mixing zone.
It is anticipated that the facility will only be allowed to discharge when the flow of the Big Muddy River is above 30 cubic feet per second.
“It is anticipated that the NPDES permit will have an equation to demonstrate that the water quality standards are met outside of a mixing zone.

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