Congressman Jenkins: Living in Beckley, Mr. Maynor should have known that the main Danny Webb Construction, Inc, (DWC) frack waste injection well in Fayette County still functions, still with rule violations and no permit, along with at least one Consolidated Energy well. Sixteen such wells are now operating without a permit in West Virginia. Like U.S.G.S. studies, the DWC permit application shows their waste radioactivity is 52 times higher than allowed for industrial effluent. Yet, for eight years, the WVDEP has let this company accept such waste from West Virginia and from states where regulators forbid it. Further, according to their records, these wells are flawed, and top Duke University scientist, Avner Vengosh, has reported frack chemicals flowing from the DWC site down to New River rafting pads and a public water intake. Meanwhile, though Fayette and Berkeley Counties banned the disposal of frack drill cuttings due to their radioactivity, our DEP actually encouraged DWC to dump sludge containing radioactive material concentrated from their waste into neighboring Raleigh County’s landfill - registered as “non-radioactive.” Prone to blowouts, coal mines are even worse than leaking injection wells. Though 62 percent of all WV frack waste water is said to be officially unaccounted for, a 2011 American Water report states it is being dumped into abandoned coal mines. Evidence increasingly affirms this. Congressman Jenkins, your representative said that you and the EPA will wait for “months” to see what the DEP will do before you act on just these injection wells. Since the Fayette County Commission has stated publicly that the wells do not benefit the county, why wait? Postscript: 8/26/15, WVDEP issued permits for the DWC wells. Sincerely, Barbara Daniels Richwood
