Two West Virginia environmental groups say they will sue Consol Energy because of its continuing "harmful pollution" in Dunkard Creek, where a massive fish kill occurred last September.

The West Virginia Chapter of the Sierra Club and the West Virginia Highlands Conservancy have filed formal notice of "intent to sue" with Pennsylvania's largest coal producer and said Consol's own stream monitoring data show its mine drainage into Dunkard Creek and its tributaries has exceeded federal water quality standards for years.

Consol's on-going pollution discharges into the creek along the West Virginia-Pennsylvania border are authorized in a West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection compliance order issued after the fish kill. But the environmental groups say the order illegally waived existing federal stream protections and called on Consol to stop the mine discharges.

"In allowing Consol to violate water quality standards the past five years, West Virginia DEP was short sighted to say the least," said Cindy Rank, mining committee chair for the Highlands Conservancy. "Extending that permission after the Dunkard Creek event is unacceptable."

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