By Timothy B. Wheeler
            Sun Staff
            Originally published Nov 29 2000

            A Garrett County mining company wants to tunnel
            under the North Branch of the Potomac River to get at
            coal deposits in West Virginia, raising concerns from
            environmentalists and regulators in that state about the
            impact on a nationally treasured waterway that is still
            suffering from past mining abuses.

            Mettiki Coal Corp., which operates one of only two deep
            mines in Maryland, has applied for permits from both
            states to expand its existing underground works beneath
            the river and extract about 2 million tons of the fossil
            fuel from the other side.

            "It would extend the life of our operation here in
            Maryland six to nine months," said Mettiki spokesman
            David Thomas. The company has mined more than half
            of the coal from its 10,000-acre holdings in Garrett
            County and expects to exhaust those reserves by 2006.

            With more than 200 workers at its mine and ore
            processing plant near Oakland, Mettiki is one of the
            larger and better-paying employers in economically
            struggling Western Maryland. The corporation is a
            subsidiary of Mapco Coal Inc., based in Tulsa, Okla.

            The Maryland Department of the Environment is
            reviewing Mettiki's application for a permit to tunnel
            under the river and has received no objections from the
            public.

            John E. Carey, chief of the department's Coal Mining
            Division, said that although Mettiki has mined under
            smaller streams without causing any problems, state
            officials intend to be especially protective of the
            Potomac, which flows past the nation's capital on its way
            to the Chesapeake Bay.

            Ecological concerns

            The West Virginia Rivers Coalition has objected to
            Mettiki's application to mine coal in that state. The
            environmental group is worried that a "high-quality"
            trout stream feeding into the North Branch could dry up
            as the landscape sinks after the coal is removed.

            The project also could worsen the river's historic
            problems with acidic water draining out of old mines,
            the group contends.

            "You're messing with a house of cards when you're
            talking about mining such a thick seam of coal with high
            acidity," said Nathan Fetty, a coalition staffer.

            Mettiki plans to take only enough coal from directly
            beneath the North Branch to reach the other side, so
            there should be little or no settlement of the river bed,
            according to a consultant hired by the mining company.

            Miners would tunnel about 360 feet below ground,
            boring three or four parallel shafts into the 200-acre
            West Virginia tract targeted for extraction.

            "The easiest way to get the coal is from our side of the
            river," Thomas said. The area to be mined is surrounded
            by abandoned mines, making it costly and difficult to
            sink a shaft from above.

            The West Virginia coal would be mined by the
            "longwall" method used in Garrett County. A massive
            carving device longer than two football fields shears off
            chunks of ore and sends them by conveyor belt to the
            surface for processing. As the machine chews its way
            through the coal seam, the subterranean room created by
            removing the coal is allowed to collapse.

            The ground at the surface can sink as much as five feet as
            a result. Mettiki officials say there should be little or no
            water lost from the trout stream, and they promise to act
            promptly to repair any cracks in the stream bed - and to
            restock the stream if any fish are lost.

            Acid drainage

            The company also assures that there would be no
            additional acid mine drainage caused by the West
            Virginia operation. All water seeping into the mine
            would be pumped out and treated to neutralize its acidity
            before it is discharged into the North Branch, as is done
            now with water flooding into the Garrett County mine.

            The process is so effective that the company raises trout
            for Maryland's Department of Natural Resources at its
            treatment plant, company officials point out.

            The upper reaches of the Potomac's North Branch are
            slowly recovering from the bright orange, highly acidic
            mine drainage that once killed virtually all aquatic life in
            the river. Improvements have resulted in part from
            costly, government-funded reclamation projects at
            abandoned mines.

            Mettiki's plans to tunnel under the North Branch do not
            appear to pose any direct threats to the river, said
            Raymond P. Morgan II, a biologist at the University of
            Maryland's Appalachian environmental laboratory in
            Frostburg who has worked to remediate acid mine
            drainage.

            Trout streams at risk

            But the biologist said he was worried about possible
            harm to trout streams feeding into the river.

            "We want to keep them as pristine as possible," Morgan
            said, so that the fish in them may naturally restock the
            Potomac once its water quality has been restored.

            The West Virginia Division of Environmental Protection
            has expressed similar concerns and is waiting for Mettiki
            to alter its mining plan or provide further assurances.

            "Trout streams are pretty special waters," said Ron
            Sturm, the agency's permit inspector. "We try to give
            them special protection."

            The West Virginia environmental group has questioned
            Mettiki's assurances that the Potomac would not be
            harmed, asserting that the company is "notorious" in
            Maryland for violating government mining regulations.

            The company has been cited three times for water
            pollution violations in the past five years, according to
            John Verrico, spokesman for the Maryland
            environmental agency. The most recent incident drew a
            $2,000 fine this year for an accidental discharge of
            mining sludge from an underground pipeline.

            The company also paid $5,000 to the federal government
            in June for safety violations cited in the wake of a
            miner's death last year in an underground roof collapse.
 

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