February 10th, 2017 by WCBC Radio

The Maryland Department of the Environment is giving a western Maryland coal mine permission to increase the amount of water it discharges into the Casselman River as production increases. The agency announced on Thursday its final determination to renew a discharge permit for the Casselman Mine, owned by Corsa Coal Corp. of Canonsburg, Pennsylvania. The maximum permitted discharge of mine drainage and storm water would rise from 290,000 gallons to 2.2 million gallons per day, the anticipated flow rate for the life of the mine.

The underground mine near Grantsville opened in 2010. The U.S. Energy Information Administration reports that production reached 471,000 tons in 2015. Corsa estimates on its website that production will reach 575,000 tons in 2017.

Corsa says the mine has an expected life of 11 years.