DEP attempted to suspend water standards in Dunkard Creek

The West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection approved two orders to suspend water quality standards for Dunkard Creek and other waterways being polluted by Consol Energy. Environmental lawyer Derek Teaney says it's one thing to give Consol additional time to meet chloride standards, as it did in 2004, 2007 and 2008 with its compliance orders. But he says the DEP also was trying to do something unprecedented in those compliance orders: suspending federal water standards entirely.