Abandoned Mine Posts

by Andy McAllister, Watershed Coordinator

The County Conservation District Watershed Specialists have been a vital force in Pennsylvania’s watershed movement for nearly 10 years, providing much needed environmental services in their counties and saving the state millions of dollars in project costs, in part by locating matching funding and in-kind contributions for environmental projects. Whether it’s fighting Abandoned Mine Drainage (AMD), restoring streamside vegetation, or reducing water pollution caused by agricultural or urban runoff, our Watershed Specialists have been instrumental in many of Pennsylvania’s environmental successes. Perhaps one of the most important roles they fulfill is giving watershed groups the tools and support to become more effective environmental ambassadors in their community… local folks tackling local environmental problems with local solutions. How great is that?

But there’s a fly in the proverbial ointment. A large portion of the Watershed Specialist program funding comes directly from Growing Greener, the sweeping environmental legislation originally enacted in 1999. Funding for several perennial Growing Greener programs, including the Watershed Specialist positions, has been mandated only through 2010, when Growing Greener is slated to end. The future of the Watershed Specialist program is in jeopardy.

Speaking plainly, if action isn’t taken in Harrisburg, there will be NO further Watershed Specialist action. After all of the environmental successes over the past 10 years and after all of the hard work, we don’t think that program should end. You probably don’t either. The Pennsylvania General Assembly (our state senators and representatives) need to hear that the County Watershed Specialist program is important and effective and deserves dedicated funding.

You can help. There is no one better than you to let your local legislators know what you think. Call them, write them, email them, or yes, personally visit them. Tell them how important the environment is to you. Let them know we NEED our County Watershed Specialists to continue Pennsylvania’s environmental success! Let them know NOW!

There are several ways to communicate with your legislators directly or through their aides. Some of these methods carry more weight than others.

• Face-to-Face meeting: A face-to-face meeting is the best way to communicate your views. Many legislators are impressed when you take the time to visit them (or their aides) personally to share your views. Set up an appointment at their local office to discuss your views.
• Writing a letter: Taking the time to craft your own letter is a great way of getting your legislator’s attention to matters that are important to you. Printing and signing a form letter also communicates your opinions however, form letters are increasingly being seen as “Astroturf” instead of “Grassroots”. Often, legislators are impressed when they receive just a handful of handwritten letters or emails on one topic because most people don’t take the time to write their legislators.
• Phone call: While not always as effective as a letter, expressing your opinions to either your legislator or their aide via phone call is still a good way of getting your opinions heard.

To find your legislator, go to: http://www.legis.state.pa.us/ and enter your zipcode. Follow the link to your legislator’s webpage to find contact information.

Here are some talking points that may help you craft your own letter.

The County Watershed Specialists have been instrumental in the improvement of Pennsylvania’s environment by:

• Securing millions of dollars of matching funds and in-kind contributions for Growing Greener projects thereby increasing Growing Greener’s effectiveness by stretching our state dollars even further.
• Ensuring project success by serving as project managers.
• Acting as liaisons between watershed groups and various state agencies, improving communication and understanding between state government and its citizens.
• Educating citizens about the value of a healthy environment and ways to improve water quality.
• Working with citizens and municipalities to find local solutions for local environmental problems.

As most of our readership knows, our Watershed Specialists are an asset to Pennsylvania. In a 2006 Press Release, Governor Rendell commented about the value of the Watershed Specialists:

“Local efforts are absolutely essential to the Growing Greener partnership,” Governor Rendell said. “Watershed Specialists are an invaluable connection to restoring watersheds and promoting environmental protection at the local level - helping us achieve continued success in cleaning up the environment and revitalizing our local communities.”

We understand that the DEP is generally supportive of the Watershed Specialist program. However, it certainly couldn’t hurt to let DEP Secretary John Hanger know that you are behind them.

Secretary John Hanger
PA Dept. of Environmental Protection
Rachel Carson State Office Building
400 Market Street
Harrisburg, PA 17101

If we are to continue restoring Pennsylvania’s watersheds and promoting environmental protection at the local level, we need to keep our Watershed Specialists. Please consider writing your legislators and Secretary Hanger to tell them how important our Watershed Specialists are and that we need to find a way to keep that program funded.

By Cliff Denholm, Stream Restoration, Inc.

(Editor’s Note:  Stream Restoration Inc. (SRI) is a non-profit organization whose mission focuses on the restoration of streams impacted by abandoned coal mine drainage.  SRI is located in Mars, PA.)

As many of you may already be aware, a partnership effort has been organized to conduct two water quality snapshots of all the publicly-funded passive treatment systems located within Pennsylvania.  This snapshot will consist of collecting water samples for laboratory analysis as well as measuring selected field parameters.  The samples will be collected for the raw untreated AMD, the final effluent of the passive system, and the influent and effluent of every alkalinity-generating component such as ALDs, VFPs, SAPS, etc., as feasible.

The first snapshot is planned to take place over the next couple of months (August and September 2009).  The second snapshot is planned to take place in late winter/early spring (March, April, May 2010).  The monitoring will be conducted by a team consisting of individuals from PA DEP’s Bureau of Abandoned Mine Reclamation (BAMR), Stream Team, PA Senior Environmental Corps, Mill Creek Coalition, Babb Creek Watershed Association, Broadtop Township, and Stream Restoration Incorporated.  Funding for the snapshot is through a PA DEP Growing Greener Grant obtained by the Western Pennsylvania Coalition for Abandoned Mine Reclamation (WPCAMR).

Data from the snapshot will be made publicly available via Datashed http://www.datashed.org/ which is a free, web-based database designed to assist in the management of data related to passive treatment systems and stream monitoring for watershed groups, nonprofits, academia, government agencies and anyone else interested in passive treatment.  In addition to the water monitoring data from this snapshot event, information regarding these passive systems, which has been collected by PA DEP BAMR over the last year including existing water quality data, site schematics, as-builts, information forms, etc. will be uploaded to Datashed.  An account is not necessary to view any of this data; however, if you would like to be able to upload your own data, documents, and information you can get an account very easily by contacting Cliff Denholm or Shaun Busler at Stream Restoration Inc. 724-776-0161.
We have tried to include as many email addresses of watershed organizations as we could however there were many that we could not find.  So please feel free to forward this announcement to watershed groups that you know.

If you have any questions or concerns regarding this sampling event please contact Cliff Denholm at Stream Restoration Incorporated. Telephone: 724-776-0161, Email:
sri@streamrestorationinc.org

Watershed Cooperative Agreement Update

By Andy McAllister, Watershed Coordinator

There are very hopeful signs coming out of Washington, D.C.  The reinsertion of language into the Federal Appropriations Bill allowing the Watershed Cooperative Agreement Program (WCAP) funding to be used as match for other federal grants has been made in both the House of Representatives and Senate versions.  This is very positive news.  As you’ll recall, WCAP is a grant program administered by the Office of Surface Mining (OSM) providing secondary funding to AMD treatment system projects.  The bill is now in conference which means that the House and Senate are hammering out the final details.  We don’t anticpate any further modifications, but as Yogi Berra has said, “It ain’t over ’til it’s over.”  WPCAMR will continue to monitor this process and we’ll keep you informed of developments as we learn of them. WPCAMR is proud to be among several groups that advocated for this action to be taken.

By Bruce Golden, Regional Coordinator

While the reauthorized federal Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act (SMCRA) has been law for more than 2 years, so far we’ve not seen a significant increase in the rate of new on-the-ground reclamation projects. That’s mainly because of a five year ramp-up period to full funding that’s built into the legislation. (Current funding levels are only slightly higher than they were prior to the reauthorization.) DEP’s Bureau of Abandoned Mine Reclamation (BAMR) is comprehensively overhauling its Abandoned Mine Reclamation (AMR) program during the ramp-up period, especially as concerns the acid mine drainage (AMD) Set-Aside Program.

By law, most of the SMCRA AMR expenditures are for Priority 1 & 2 health and safety problems, almost all of which are land based issues, and generally don’t include acid mine drainage (AMD).The component of SMCRA most responsible for AMD work is the AMD Set-Aside which allows BAMR to use up to 30% of its annual grant for AMD abatement and remediation projects. (The limit prior to reauthorization was 10%)

BAMR’s current AMD project work focuses almost exclusively on projects they have already made a commitment to. That’s expected to continue for the next couple of years.
BAMR’s stated position is to use as much of the allowed 30% as is practical, while providing a balance with dealing with the traditional Priority 1 & 2 health and safety problems. By inference, we can generally expect BAMR to use something close to the full 30%, but we also expect there will be exceptions. Click here to view PA DEP’s Draft Position paper on the AMD Set-aside Program.

A new SMCRA requirement for AMD work is to “comprehensively restore” the waters in qualified “hydrologic units”. [Both quoted terms are left to BAMR to define.] This implies a statewide shotgun approach to treating AMD discharges is not acceptable. BAMR instead will concentrate on comprehensively cleaning up the hydrologic units in which they choose to work. This further implies only a select number of hydrologic units will be targeted because of funding limitations.

BAMR also intends to use the AMD Set-Aside to fund Operation & Maintenance (O&M) activities for AMD treatment systems. The extent of how much of the Set-Aside will be used for this purpose is still unknown. A tradeoff situation exists between funding O&M and building and operating new AMD treatment facilities.

In choosing a treatment technology for a given discharge, the ability of the treatment system to reliably treat a discharge over the long term has a much higher weight. This implies that passive treatment will continue to be used in situations where it has historically been successful, but de-emphasized otherwise. This suggests a greater reliance on active treatment methodologies in coming years. We may see a greater reliance on in-stream alkaline dosing.

BAMR apparently is interested in engaging local watershed groups and conservation districts in the areas they choose to work. How much depends on the extent which is both practical and allowable. General funding support for these kinds of organizations is a disallowed use of Set-Aside funds.

Actual SMCRA funding for future years is only speculative and based largely on national and state coal production levels. Estimates ramp annual funding from current levels of close $30 million to around $80 million in 2012, at which point the estimate fluctuates around an average in the mid $80 million range. Reiterating, up to 30% of those annual grants may be designated for use in AMD Set-Aside program.

WPCAMR has actively been involved with the activities leading up to reauthorization of SMCRA in late 2006 as well as being involved with shaping the Commonwealth’s revamped AMR program.

By Keith Pitzer, President Eastern Coal Regional Roundtable

(Editors’ Note: The Eastern Coal Regional Roundtable, based in Mullens, WV, is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization that provides informational resources to watershed groups throughout the Appalachian coal region so they can more effectively deal with environmental challenges. ECRR serves mine scarred watersheds through training, capacity building and providing a collective voice for underserved communities seeking to restore the well being of their citizens and environment.  Keith also serves as executive director for Friends of the Cheat, a very successful watershed group in northern West Virginia grappling with massive amounts of acid mine drainage in an otherwise magnificent watershed.)

For 10 years, the Watershed Cooperative Agreement Program (WCAP), a source of funding for Acid Mine Drainage (AMD) projects provided though the U.S. Office of Surface Mining (OSM), has provided valuable complimentary funds for non-profits doing water treatment projects to clean up AMD. By only being available to non-profits groups, typically local watershed groups, WCAP ensures locally driven stakeholder supported projects that leverage additional monies from other federal programs. WCAP funds are made possible through the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act (SMCRA).

The annual Federal Appropriations Bill is part of the mechanism by which WCAP gets funded. In the past, Federal Appropriations Bills contained language which expressly stated that WCAP funds could be used as matching funds for any other federal grant source however, in recent years, that hasn’t been the case. The Fiscal Year (FY) 08 Appropriations Bill did not include the explicit language necessary to allow this match and for the FY 09 Appropriations Bill currently being considered, we understand that it has again, not been inserted. We understand that this has been an oversight, but one that needs to be corrected. Immediate action at the congressional level will be needed to do so.

Specific language must be inserted into the FY 09 Federal Appropriations Bill to allow WCAP funds to be used as non-federal match where other federal grant programs are involved (Note: by default, federal money is not allowed to be used as a match for other federal money).

There are two potential outcomes if we don’t take action:

1. Fewer organizations will be able to use WCAP because it won’t be able to serve as match for other vital federal funding. This will result in fewer projects being put on the ground

2. If fewer organizations use WCAP funds, then this gives the appropriators the impression that WCAP is a program that’s not needed.

WCAP funds are needed and we must take action now to ensure that WCAP can be used as match for federal funding.

What Can You Do?

The fix itself is relatively simple but we need to act now. It is imperative to have the following language inserted in the FY09 and all future appropriations bills to allow the match exemption:

Provided further, That funds made available under title IV of Public Law 95-87 may be used for any required non-Federal share of the cost of projects funded by the Federal Government for the purpose of environmental restoration related to treatment or abatement of acid mine drainage from abandoned mines: Provided further, That such projects must be consistent with the purposes and priorities of the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act.

The language above is identical to what was used in prior appropriation bills.

Our Congressional Representatives and U.S. Senators Can Help

Contact your U.S. Representative and Senators about this important issue. A sample letter is given below along with the link that will take you to the contact information page of the US Congress.

Dear [Insert appropriate Senator or Congressman Name]:

An oversight in the FY 09 Appropriations Bill language has resulted in the emasculation of the Watershed Cooperative Agreement Program (WCAP).  That program provides much needed matching funds for Acid Mine Drainge (AMD) abatement projects throughout the coal regions.  An explicit exception in past annual Federal Appropriations Bills has traditionally allowed WCAP funds to be used as matches to other federal grants programs for the purpose of cleaning up AMD. If WCAP funds are not able to be used in this fashion, then local grassroots organizations will not be able to utilize other federal funds. To remedy this situation, the following text must be inserted in the FY 09 Appropriations Bill and all future Appropriations Bills:

Provided further, That funds made available under title IV of Public Law 95-87 may be used for any required non-Federal share of the cost of projects funded by the Federal Government for the purpose of environmental restoration related to   treatment or abatement of acid mine drainage from abandoned mines: Provided further, That such projects must be consistent with the purposes and priorities of the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act.

Having this language inserted into the FY 09 Appropriations Bill and all future Appropriations Bills will ensure that grassroots environmental groups can continue to make wise use of funding sources and clean up streams impacted by AMD.

Respectfully,

(Your Name Here)

How To Contact Your Representative And Senators

• To email any U.S. Representative, visit http://www.house.gov/ and click on the link “Write Your Representative” on the left hand side.
• For contact information for U.S. Senators, visit http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm and choose your State from the box at the top of the page.

Learn More About The Watershed Cooperative Agreement Program

• To find out more about OSM’s Watershed Cooperative Agreement Program, contact your regional OSM office or click here to view the WCAP application process in the Federal Assistance Manual.