Our Approach to Waste
As an efficient operator in a highly competitive business, Arch aims to implement best practices to reduce the use of raw materials and inputs, thereby reducing the generation of waste.
As a U.S. operator, Arch is subject to the governing regulations of — and to oversight by — the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, U.S. Department of Interior, U.S. Department of Transportation, U.S. Department of Commerce, U.S. Department of Agriculture, U.S. Department of Energy, and applicable regulators in the states in which we operate.
In addition, each of these regulatory programs maintains inspection programs, under which our subsidiary operations are subject to spot compliance inspections by agency staff, whether announced or unannounced. Across the board, Arch subsidiaries maintain an outstanding compliance record with these types of outside inspections and, according to the frequent feedback we receive, hold an excellent reputation for exemplary performance with state and federal agency staff.
Waste materials generated at Arch subsidiary operations are strictly regulated and Arch is sharply focused on complying with all applicable regulations. Arch’s subsidiary operations staff receive training that help them to characterize and manage the various waste streams from across the operations, and to recognize the importance of minimization as well as the proper segregation and management of recyclable, non-hazardous, universal, and hazardous wastes.
Arch subsidiary operations have systems in place to capture the value of recyclable materials. Vendor contracts are in place to recycle a range of materials — including various metals (scrap iron, steel, stainless steel, aluminum, copper and others), used oil and antifreeze, industrial batteries, plastics, and wooden pallets — to divert these materials from landfills.
Arch subsidiary operations work to maintain their status as Very Small Quantity Generators (VSQG) of hazardous waste. The USEPA has established this lowest of categories for facilities that produce less than 100 kilograms — which is to say less than around 220 pounds — of hazardous waste per month. Each Arch subsidiary facility that generates hazardous and universal wastes isolates these wastes in proper storage containers, segregating waste to prevent comingling waste types to avoid adverse and unsafe reactions between potentially reactive materials. As part of the routine management program, Arch’s environmental staff track accumulating quantities of wastes to prevent monthly quantity thresholds and storage time thresholds from being exceeded, and schedule waste shipment and dispositions accordingly.
As part of the regulatory requirement under the USEPA’s Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), facilities are required to track their generation, storage and disposal of hazardous wastes. Arch facilities track on a monthly basis the generation of hazardous wastes from routine operations, as well as the “episodic” generation of wastes. EPA has created a special set of regulations for VSQG to allow for “episodic events,” defined as “any circumstance, planned or unplanned, that does not occur as part of normal operations and causes a VSQG … to exceed their monthly hazardous waste generation limit.” To meet the episodic event exemption to the limits, facilities are expected to have one or fewer episodic events per year.
Hazardous Waste Generation
(for Arch and its subsidiary operations, in pounds)
| 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4,122 | 3,553 | 1,671 | 1,415 | 1,351 |
Minimizing Hazardous Waste Generation
All new chemical purchases must be reviewed and approved by an environmental professional before purchase
Arch facilities work to reduce hazardous waste generation by buying products that do not have hazardous characteristics, where practicable. This is accomplished by implementing Arch’s Best Management Practice (BMP) of chemical purchases — which requires all new chemical purchases to be reviewed and approved by an environmental professional before purchase — in order to reduce hazardous waste generation and ultimate disposal. In addition, operations are required to maintain detailed records of monthly waste generation, storage and disposal from “cradle to grave,” as EPA characterizes it.
When hazardous wastes are generated and managed for proper disposal, Arch and its operating subsidiaries use reputable national disposal contractors, with licensed disposal facilities and compliant management processes. Arch and its subsidiaries undertake routine reviews of high-risk waste management vendors to verify that wastes are reaching proper ultimate disposal and that vendors are following proper regulatory practices in the management of wastes generated at the mining operations.
As indicated, most non-recyclable waste materials that are generated at Arch facilities are classified as non-hazardous, allowing for typical landfill disposal. That said, Arch facilities recognize that disposal of these non-hazardous wastes can represent their own type of environmental impact, and that it is expensive and time-consuming. Each operation strives to reduce waste generation and employs a variety of means to achieve that goal, including: 1) minimizing the quantity of purchased products to reduce waste generation, 2) recycling qualified materials, 3) working with vendors to reduce packaging, and 4) buying, receiving and storing process materials and fluids in bulk to reduce or eliminate small-quantity containers.
Arch strives to reduce its wastes destined for landfills. Arch corporate offices and many of its subsidiary facilities have programs in place to recycle office wastes, including paper, aluminum and plastic containers, electronics, and obsolete furniture items. (The distance from metropolitan area resources has created challenges for securing recycling services at certain mines, but Arch’s subsidiary operations continue to explore ways to address this challenge.) Each year, the company sponsors a programmatic electronics recycling pickup program to provide the operations with an efficient pathway for disposal, in order to keep electronic wastes out of landfills.
Arch operations have systems in place to capture the value of recyclable materials to prevent them from entering the waste disposal stream.
Impoundments
Arch applies best mining industry practices for tailings management through implementation of the Mining Association of Canada’s Towards Sustainable (TSM) Mining Tailings Management Protocol. Arch follows rigorously regulatory-driven requirements for the geotechnical design of its tailings management structures, or refuse impoundments, and uses a TSM-conformant management system framework to provide a systematic approach to tailings management. Arch manages a total of six refuse facilities — which hold rock, clay and process water from the coal preparation process — across its operational portfolio. Of these, four are associated with operating mines and two are associated with now-closed mines formerly operated by Arch or a predecessor company. Both the facilities in this latter category are currently undergoing reclamation.
Each of Arch’s operations regularly inspects its impounding structures according to applicable regulations and inspection schedules. In addition to these required self-inspections, the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA), which is part of the U.S. Department of Labor, conducts its own frequent, independent inspections and reviews documentation associated with Arch’s self-inspections. In addition, Arch’s operations are required to summarize and report on the construction, management, and maintenance of impounding structures subject to MSHA regulations, and to submit a detailed annual report to the agency on critical factors.
Above and beyond the statutory requirements, Arch engages an independent engineering consultant to perform third-party audits on active impoundments — as well as inactive impoundments yet to enter final reclamation — to promote ongoing rigor and attention to critical engineering details. These audit reports are provided to the operations and are shared with Arch senior management to enable required corrective measures to be addressed.
Arch’s tailings facilities completed their inspections and assorted internal and external reviews as scheduled during 2023. Arch has had no significant incidents at its refuse storage facilities in the past two decades.
Arch performs annual internal audits of its tailings management systems and conducts an annual management review around tailings performance to the chief operating officer, president, and chief executive officer.
Tri Reporting
Under the provisions of the EPA’s Toxic Release Inventory (TRI) regulations, Arch is required to evaluate and report releases of chemicals identified in §313 of the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA). Under the Act, releases are classified by the so-called “receiving medium” — which is to say land, air and/or water. The June 2023 USEPA “List of TRI Chemicals” identifies the 794 individually listed chemicals and 33 chemical categories regulated under §3131.
Arch and its subsidiaries rely on an internal materials management system, where purchased products and inventories are managed and tracked, to identify any products containing one or more “§313 chemicals.” For those products identified as containing §313 chemicals, additional evaluation is undertaken to calculate the total quantity of reportable §313 chemicals manufactured, produced or otherwise used at each facility each year. EPA requires facilities that in any given year manufacture or produce greater than 25,000 pounds or otherwise use greater than 10,000 pounds of general §313 chemicals — and smaller quantities of some specific toxic chemicals — to report those usages and their related releases to EPA and states. Arch reviews its subsidiary operations for use of these chemicals and thresholds, and reports accordingly.
Over the past five years, Arch has not exceeded the reporting thresholds — and thus has not required TRI reporting — at any of its current subsidiary operations.
1 https://www.epa.gov/toxics-release-inventory-tri-program/tri-listed-chemicals
Spill Prevention and Protection
Fundamental to Arch’s commitment to environmental protection is preventing the spill or release of materials or wastes into the environment. This commitment begins by Arch subsidiary operations limiting the quantities of inventoried materials stored onsite to the minimum necessary to operate efficiently. With that necessary inventory, Arch subsidiary operations conform to regulatory requirements and industry best practices for proper storage methods and locations, secondary containment, spill prevention, spill response, and emergency contingency planning. Prior to acquisition of chemical products, Arch environmental, safety and warehouse staff undertake as a standard practice reviewing the products’ chemical constituencies to assess the potential environmental and safety hazards as well as the post-use waste characteristics, to determine whether non-hazardous alternatives are available for the same application.
Proper storage and containment of bulk products is key to preventing accidental release. Primary and secondary containments are properly designed, constructed, installed, and regularly inspected to enable products to remain contained and controlled. This includes considering the location of storage systems relative to available controls and potential down-gradient impacts, should an emergency condition develop. Arch applies specific practices that call for protective placement of tanks, piping infrastructure and facilities in locations that reduce the potential for offsite release.
Every Arch subsidiary operation has in place emergency response plans that address a variety of contingencies, including spills of materials that can potentially impact the environment. These emergency response plans identify the responsible personnel and their duties, internal and external notifications, response protocol, and actions required to protect workers, the public and the environment.
Supplemental to emergency response plans, every operation that meets the regulatory threshold maintains a Spill Prevention Control and Countermeasure (SPCC) Plan, required by the CWA. These plans specifically require that oil-based products and wastes be managed in a manner that reduces the possibility for release to the environment, and that addresses prevention measures, minimum facility standards, contingencies and response protocols.
Similar to the SPCC plans, the State of West Virginia requires the preparation and maintenance of a “Groundwater Protection Plan” (GPP). While the SPCC plans specifically address potential spills of “oil” products and wastes, the West Virginia GPP similarly addresses product/material that may “reasonably be expected to have an impact on groundwater.” Directly linked to the GPP program is the West Virginia Aboveground Storage Tank (AST) program, which requires inventory, registration and maintenance plans for specific classes of tanks.
In the past 20 years, Arch and its operating subsidiaries have had no significant spills.
In 2022, at the Leer South mine, a water line located beneath a coal stockpile ruptured, causing coal to be released outside the permit boundary and onto a nearby road. This resulted in the issuance of a notice of violation under SMCRA. Leer South acted quickly to remove the coal from a drainage ditch and the roadway, and to re-stabilize the pile in order to prevent any harm to waterways.
In 2023, the West Elk mine experienced a 25-year storm event that inundated the sediment conveyance systems, causing a small volume of coal fines to be released into the North Fork of the Gunnison River. The mine acted quickly and removed the spilled material, repaired conveyance systems, constructed additional berms to prevent recurrence, and timely reported the incident to the respective agencies. The incident was determined by the agencies to be an upset condition because of the severity of the storm and thus resulted in no violation.
PFAS Chemcial Management
Several new regulatory programs at the state and federal level have emerged that deal with PFAS and PFOA, otherwise known as “forever chemicals.” Arch and its subsidiary companies have completed chemical surveys of the operations to assess the presence and/or use of these chemicals.” PFAS is often used in firefighting foams in settings like a mine site. Arch did identify a firefighting system that used PFAS-containing firefighting foam at one of its subsidiary operations, which was promptly taken out of service. All known PFAS-containing chemicals were removed from site to the extent possible and disposed of in accordance with EPA requirements.
For our mines that serve as public water supplies, we are working to implement EPA’s latest requirements for assessing PFAS in water supply.
