WVDEP notice covers discharge near Jenkinjones in McDowell County

A West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection notice has identified a permitted discharge site in the Adkin District of McDowell County, about 4.4 miles southwest of Jenkinjones, where water is listed as flowing into an unnamed tributary of the South Fork of the Tug Fork River.

The notice pins the location at 81 degrees 29 minutes 55 seconds west longitude and 37 degrees 15 minutes 46 seconds north latitude, the kind of site-specific detail used when a discharge must be tied to a precise point on the map. The operator was not named in the notice snippet, but the filing places the discharge in a watershed that matters well beyond the permit boundary.

WVDEP says it issues permits to keep releases into air, water and soil within acceptable standards, and its public notice process gives residents a chance to submit written comments or ask for a public hearing during the comment period. That makes the Jenkinjones-area filing more than a paperwork entry: it is the point where state regulators, local residents and any downstream water users can examine what is being allowed and whether it should be challenged.

For McDowell County, the concern is not abstract. The county has spent decades dealing with coal-era environmental impacts, and WVDEP’s Office of Abandoned Mine Lands and Reclamation says its mission is to protect public health, safety and property from past coal mining while restoring land and water resources. The U.S. Geological Survey has also studied abandoned underground coal mines in the Elkhorn area of McDowell County as a source of public water supply, underscoring how closely mine-affected water and everyday use can overlap in this part of the coalfields.

The discharge also sits in a historically loaded corridor. Jenkinjones was developed as a coal town in 1911-12 to support mines operated by Pocahontas Consolidated Collieries Company, and one historical account says the mines there produced 55,720,358 tons of coal over 77 years. The Tug Fork itself originates near Jenkinjones and then joins the Levisa Fork to form the Big Sandy River, so anything entering a tributary here has a path through a larger watershed.

That is why a notice like this can draw attention from nearby households, property owners and people who depend on local streams. The filing marks a location in the county where state oversight is active, and the next step for the public is to watch the permit record closely, including any comment window or hearing opportunity WVDEP makes available.