More on Dogwood Coal Mining Proposal.

Email the DNR at Glendale F&W area: Below is the email addy:

[email][email protected][/email]

Here is the link to the newspaper article that appeared in today's Sunday Courier. Steve Ford does a great job in describing the progress that's being made to put a stop to this mining project on a State Fish and Wildlife Property.

Please read the article and send an email to the DNR at Glendale Fish and Wildlife Area

[url]http://www.courierpress.com/news/2006/oct/08/dnr-not-walking-away-from-proposal-for-glendale/[/url]

You will have to cut and paste the above link into your browers address bar to get to this news paper article. And you may have to register with the paper to read the article. It's worth the effort.


Regards,

Moose1am

Moose.......

Glendale is one of my favorite places to fish and visit. I've grown up there, and really enjoy the area......

With that being said, I really wish you'd stop BASHING the admin at every waking chance. I don't like the situation we're in, but DON'T FORGET.........it was the previous governor that RAPED DNR's budget. It was the previous governor that stopped motor fuel taxes for 180 days, causing a 1 billion surplus to be turned into a 500 million deficit......It was the LAST governor that cut funding to State Parks, causing 12-15 ramps, including fishermans campground at PATOKA to be closed.

I BLAME everyone EQUALLY, while you seem to simply lake to BASH the current admin. They're all pinheads, when it comes to the environment.

Recognize this, and stop the bashing.

Thanks,

George White

I think he has the right to his own opinion. I really think people overstep their bounds when they ask people not to speak their mind.

topwater

I should just stick to the facts sometimes.
I really just hope that people will go to the hearing or at least email the DNR and give some public input.

This may have an adverse affect on anyone that uses Glendale in the future. I am going to try to find out more information.

If Gov A or Gov B proposed mining for coal on any fish and wildlife area in ANY STATE it would be reason for the public to protest. That's what I really wanted to get across.

This is all about protecting the habitat for the wildlife. Coal mining is a dirty business and yes we do need coal to have heat and light. But there should be enough coal reserves in this great state that we can explore places other than F&W area.

I fish in an X Coal Mine and see the devastation. When I pick up my weighted marker buoys I am reminded that AMAX didn't recover the coal dust from the pits that I fish. I collect black goop on my weight almost every time I retrieve it from the water.

Please don't let this happen to Glendale Fish and Wildlife Area. We really don't have that much land set aside and it would be a crying shame to see any public lands destroyed for the next 100 years. It takes a very long time for the soil to get back to where it was before the mining. And the plant succession can take a long time before you get back the hardwood Oaks and Hickory trees. Cotton woods and Weeping Willow trees and scrubs are not the same as a 60 ft tall mature Oak tree.

And the water quality suffers. Right now the X AMAX coal mine that the STATE Purchased and turned into Bluegrass Fish and Wildlife Area has so many anions and cations in the water that the DNR fishery Biologist have a hard time conducting electroshocking research. They have to modify the equipment because all the chemicals in the water creates too much conductivity. The conductivity of the water measures how many elements are dissolved in the water. Pour a little sale NACL into the water and you will increases it's conductivity. Boil water, capture the steam and condense the steam back into Pure Water in a glass still and then you will have pure water. Pure water will not conduct a current very well. Salty water will conduct a current extremely well. The more sodium and chlorine atoms in the water the more electrical current the water will carry. Limnoligist use a conductivity meter to test the water's conductivity. Dan Carhnanan has been testing the waters around Bluegrass F&W area and the conductivity is extremely high. Not only that but I have tested the pH of these waters and it's alkaline at 8.4. You get the pH above 9.0 and it makes it harder for fish and other critters to live in the water. I have tested waters around landfills where they buried the cake from a double alkali scrubber and found that the ground water had a pH of 10 in some places. That will burn your skin if it gets on you. pH 7.0 is neutral and fish live best in that type of water.

When you dig up the land and disturb all the minerals in the soil those minerals are then dissolved into the water when the pit fills in with pure rainwater. But the excess minerals will create bad water quality that is marginal. Fish can still live in these waters and prosper but their growth rates are lower than most other natural waters that don't have a high pH or high conductivity. These pits are not ideal water conditions but they are better than nothing at all. Maybe in another 100 years the coal dust at the bottom on these pits will have been reduced by coal eating bacteria and the lakes pH will be closer to 7.0 in the far off future.

Right now Glendales Dogwood lake is producing good fishing and I hope it stays that way. The lake has good water chemistry now and if they start mining in the area it may not be like that.

I just think that we need to protect some areas and save them for posterity.


Regards,

Moose1am

Moose........

I completely AGREE with you that Glendale should NOT be mined. I really think the value of the park is the recreational value, and not a few million bucks you "might" make by making the whole area a dirty strip mine.

I've always told my wife that if I won the lottery........a BIG, really BIG lottery, the first thing I'd do is buy Glendale, and rename Dogwood to GeorgeWood.......I'd then manage the lake for MONSTER largemouth bass, because we ALL know it can create some big fish. :) :)

My points above were not directed at your post, but the political avenue you chose to take. Talk the issues......CONTINUE to post your points and the DETAILS.......I love the DETAILS, and most of all, CONTINUE fighting the fight.

One final point........with the mining issue, what are your ideas about the mining that ALREADY surrounds glendale. I know there are a couple LARGE coal mines within a couple miles of the property. Do these mines already effect the ground water?

Again,

Thanks for the discussions.......

Later,

It's possible that they could effect the nearby ground water. Most of the time the water table around mines gets lowered. That is what I have seen in the past.

I went around a mine up near Terra Haute and testing about 30 wells in the surrounds. We took water samples and tested them for parameters that the coal company needed to get their permit. We also tested the ground water levels with a probe on a long electrical line.

It's hard to say what effect the mines might have. I do think that the blasting is much stronger than the geologist let on. The blasting can create cracks in the rocks and that can let the ground water seek deeper area and lower the ground water levels maybe.

This might effect some people that live nearby by lowering the ground water and drying up some shallow wells. Those people may be forced to drill a deeper well to keep the water flowing

Most mines have to have wells sunk around their mining operation and those wells are tested monthly for water levels and quarterly for other parameters such as pH, Temp, Conductivity, and certain metals may be required to be tested too. It's been a while since I worked at the Environmental lab and can't remember all the parameters that coal mines are required to test for. It should be a matter of public record. IDEM Or IDNR may have that data on file somewhere.

I was just reading the Evansville Courier and Press online tonight and read that at one time OUR Local Waste Disposal company had thought about opening up another landfill near Elberfeld, IN. That's right near Bluegrass Fish and Wildlife Area. I went there today and caught a limit of nice 11" crappie. I about dropped dead when I read that they were thinking about putting a landfill near that F&W area. The paper said they reconsidered due to so much opposition.

Hopefully we can protest Glendale as well.
Regards,

Moose1am