Written by Mike Nolting, WV Metro News 

June 8, 2026 

RICHARD, W.Va.  — A public-private partnership showcased the Richard Mine Treatment Facility near Morgantown in a Monday afternoon event.

The state Department of Environmental Protection and Northeast Natural Energy have worked together with other groups to improve the condition of Deckers Creek.

The plant has been in operation for about two years, and the effects on water quality and aquatic life have been dramatic. Work to get the plant to this point, however, took about 66 years and the efforts of multiple partners, deputy director of the DEP Abandoned Mine Land Program Travis Parsons said.

“We’ve seen great things with fish coming back in, and all the aquatic life is also coming back to the main stem of Deckers Creek,” Parsons said.

Efforts to clean the 25-mile tributary that starts in Preston and ends at the Monongahela River in Morgantown started in 1960 with efforts by the state office of Natural Resources Conservation Service, and DEP’s Office of Special Reclamation helped design the site. Different approaches were attempted but the current technology was developed when the West Virginia University Water Research Institute came on board.

Still, the major obstacle was money.

Northeast Natural Energy has no gas well operations in the Morgantown area, but they do have operations headquarters. Employees there heard about the problems with the stream and approached company president and CEO Mike John who saw value in cleaning the stream and has dedicated $600,000 to the project.

Mike John

“They were aware of the damage that had been done to the stream and saw the opportunity where the state had a project moving forward that needed a little funding support to make it happen,” John said.

The stream is not only supporting different forms of life that have been seen there for decades, but now you can see through water to the bottom. With all of the heavy metals in the stream in the past, the stream certainly didn’t look much like an inviting body of water.

“The unsightly metals, the orange iron, and white aluminum– all of those plumes have since gone away, and the stream is flushing out and coming back to normal,” Parsons said.

The state DEP will continue to operate the facility with continued support from Northeast Natural Energy. John expects there to be more people using the stream in the future due to their efforts.

“There’s been a survey this year that identified large mouth bass and rainbow trout actually in the stream,” John said. “This stream was without life for generations, and we could be more excited to hear updates like that.”

In the future there could be a commercial use for the waste material. Parsons said in Ohio the material taken rom mine drainage is used to create pigments for paint that are sold to local artists.