by Scotty Wampler
News Editor    
     CONSOL Energy plans to construct a multi-million dollar water treatment facility as part of its recently-announced expansion agenda, a company spokesperson said Tuesday.
      The plant, according to CONSOL Public Relations Manager Cathy St. Clair, will treat water currently being discharged from the company's Buchanan No. 1 mine into the Levisa River by means of a reverse-osmosis process.
       "It is the Buchanan mine water," she said.
      When the plant is complete and in operation, St. Clair added, the treated water will be used to supply the company's needs, specifically at CONSOL's prep plant.
      "The same water being discharged now will be used to supply our own water needs," she said.
      St. Clair confirmed water could still be discharged into the stream while the facility is being constructed. Any water currently discharged from the mine first goes through an iron treatment process when it  reaches the VP-3 site, she said.
      Reverse osmosis is a filtration method which uses pressure to force the demineralization of water using a semipermeable membrane which allows purified water to be separated from its other mineral content.
      "The treatment plant is just one component of our larger expansion plan at the Buchanan mine and prep plant," St. Clair added. "The overall plan involves an investment of $100 million and with that, production capacity will be expanded at the mine by one million tons annually. We are undertaking the project because market conditions show the demand for coal to be up and we expect that increased demand to continue."

For more of the story, see the print edition of the Mountaineer, on sale at newsstands now.  To subscribe to the Mountaineer, call 276-935-2123 today.