Abandoned Mine Posts

By Rick Thompson, AmeriCorps Volunteer

EDITOR’S NOTE: In an effort to increase our outreach and share environmental success stories to the public as a whole and the Abandoned Mine Reclamation (AMR) Community in particular, WPCAMR has enlisted the assistance of Americorps Volunteer, Rick Thompson. Among other duties, Rick will be helping WPCAMR continue to grow its “WPCAMR Video Diaries” initiative and will be a regular contributor to “Abandoned Mine Posts”. In this issue of “Abandoned Mine Posts”, Rick shares a little about himself—his life’s journey and his enthusiasm for the work we all do. Today, we welcome Rick as he becomes a part of our AMR community.

Rick Thompson

Hi, my name is Rick Thompson. I am WPCAMR’s AmeriCorps Volunteer until August 2009. I will be assisting WPCAMR communicate with the public and deliver outreach resources to the Abandoned Mine Reclamation community.

I make a strong connection with the work done by WPCAMR and all abandoned mine reclamation efforts. Having grown up near the entrance of “Millers Shaft” in Portage, PA, much of my childhood was spent exploring the remains of old mining equipment, swimming in “sulfur creeks” and challenging the slopes of boney dumps. The culture of this once thriving industry has not only helped shape my outlook on life but also helped define who I am as a person.

As a Graduate and now Board Member of the Portage Area School District, I have a commitment to the area and its culture. Recently, I graduated from Saint Francis University (SFU) in May of 2008 with a B.S. in Environmental Biology and a background in secondary education. Over the last few years, I had the pleasure of working for the Portage Water Authority, SFU Science Education Outreach, Home Healthcare Practice and the Pennsylvania West Nile Vector Control Program in Cambria County. While working and earning my degree, I developed a deep interest in African and Latin American intercultural exchange. I’ve spent an extended period of time living and volunteering for Orphanages throughout Mexico and Honduras. I’m also part of the World Drumming Ensemble which is based out of Saint Francis University, Loretto, PA. In general, I have a strong interest in the natural world and enjoy many outdoor activities typical to west central Pennsylvania.

I look forward to the relationship I will build with WPCAMR and the Abandoned Mine Reclamation Community. With that, I offer an invitation to be contacted at any time and for any reason. Having been a resident of an area so rich in history, culture and biodiversity, I hope to help bring awareness to the coal region and its communities; it’s our chance to reclaim the future!

For more information on AmeriCorps click here.

To view a video of the Saint Francis University World Drumming Ensemble click here.

By Andy McAllister, Watershed Coordinator

With Halloween just around the corner, abandoned mine workings once again become a dangerous magnet to those seeking thrills. Abandoned shafts and tunnels and dilapidated mining structures, all-too-common occurrences in our mining communities, continue to haunt our landscape and draw the curious. However, there are alternatives for the curious–Tourist Mines.  As operations declined and the coal mines began to close in the mid to late 20th century, preservationists and mine owners alike began to see the mines in a different light and Pennsylvania’s tourist mines were born.

Western Pennsylvania is home to two tourist mines. The Tour-Ed Mine in Tarentum, just north of Pittsburgh and the Seldom Seen Mine in Patton, PA in Cambria County offer the public safer ways to experience an old coal mine while preserving an important part of our industrial heritage.

The earliest record of mining activity at the site of Tour-Ed Mine was in 1850. Known in the 20th century as the Avenue Mine, it was operated by Allegheny Steel and mined by the Leechburg Mining Company. The coal extracted during this period was used at the Allegheny Steel plant in nearby Brackenridge. The Tour-Ed mine has been run as a tourist mine since 1968.

In Patton, PA the Chest Creek Mine No. 1, once known as Miller Run No.8 when it opened in 1939, is now known as “The Seldom Seen Mine” . The Seldom Seen Mine has been a tourist mine since the close of its production in 1963.

For visitors in the Anthracite region, a trio of tourist mines in Eastern Pennsylvania also helps to educate crowds of the curious while preserving the past:

Pioneer Tunnel and Coal Mine , Ashland, PA

The Lackawanna Coal Mine Tour, Scranton, PA

The No. 9 Mine, Lansford, PA

Click here to check out the 2007 video clip of WQED’s “Dave and Dave” program featuring Tour-Ed Mine’s “Haunted Mine” attraction that runs throughout the month of October.

In this two part series at Abandoned Mine Posts, we’ll examine the potential for minepool water to be used as a geothermal heat source. This week , we’ll look at efforts already underway in Canada to tap into the heat below. In the second installment of the series, we’ll stay closer to home and see how others think the Pittsburgh seam minepools can serve as an alternative energy source.

Part I: Canadian Efforts

By Andy McAllister, Watershed Coordinator

With the first days of autumn finally upon us, those crisp fall mornings begin to shake us out of our warm summer stupor and bring us to the one stark reality of winter–heating our homes. This harvest season, we suggest something different, harvesting energy from abandoned mine workings.

The amount of underground mine water located throughout Appalachia’s coal regions is immense and while it may seem cool to the touch as it discharges to the surface, it remains at a fairly constant temperature deep within the earth (somewhere near the low to mid-50s Farenheit). This groundwater stored in abandoned underground mine workings, is an incredible thermal resource just waiting to be tapped. With the help of geothermal heat pump technology, minewater at that temperature could be used to help heat homes and businesses.

In fact, our neighbors to the north have been exploring geothermal energy possibilities for some time. In Nova Scotia, Canada, the town of Springhill (a town with a long history of coal mining and mine disasters) is using its minepool water not just to heat the community center, but to cool the ice for its hockey rink. The town of Springhill isn’t alone in its exploration of innovative ways to heat and cool, the town of Yellowknife in Canada’s Northwest Territory, 250 miles south of the Arctic Circle, is also looking into using old mine workings as a geothermal heat source. Yellowknife’s geothermal feasibility study, released earlier this spring, revealed that the the network of old mine tunnels below the south end of town can be used to help heat up to 2,000 homes.

Click here to read a Canadian Broadcasting Company (CBC) article about how Springhill became the first in the world to use water from an abandoned mine to make ice for its hockey rink.

Click here to read a short article on the CBC website about the results of a geothermal feasibility study conducted on the mines below Yellowknife.

CBC video links about Geothermal energy

Click here to watch a video on CBCs “Green Rush” series website entitled, ” The Godfather of Geothermal”. The video features Ralph Ross of Springhill, Nova Scotia who has been working in geothermal energy since the 80’s and is finally seeing his idea take off.

Click here to watch a CBC video entitled, “The Heat Below” explaining geothermal heating, also at the “Green Rush” series website.

Since the passage of significant new amendments to the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act in December 2006, the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection’s (PADEP) office of Mineral Resources Management has been grappling with the provisions within the new law that could have an effect on the future of Abandoned Mine Reclamation (AMR) and the work of the AMR community.  Principle among those changes is the provision that now allows states to choose to set aside up to 30% of their annual grant to put toward Abandoned Mine Drainage (AMD) projects. Previously, states were only allowed to set aside up to 10% of their annual grant for AMD projects.

In response to the increased flexibility afforded by the new law, and in an effort to gain feedback on how to proceed with the new options, particularly the 30% set aside, the PADEP held 10 public roundtables throughout the state in 2007. One of the most commonly mentioned points from the attendees was that the State should take the full 30% set aside to put toward AMD projects.

In July 2008, the PA DEP’s Office of Mineral Resources Management issued a draft Position Paper clarifying the Department’s decision regarding the 30% set aside. While the Department clearly states a desire to take the full 30% set aside, it also recognizes its responsibility to reclaim abandoned priority mine-related land hazards specified in SMCRA. Accordingly, the state’s position is that it “...shall take the maximum 30% abandoned mine drainage set aside at the earliest possible time that provides a balance with the state’s land reclamation responsibilities.”

In addition to that position, a number of other positions of perhaps lesser significance, yet important nevertheless, are developed in the same document.  For instance, DEP’s positron on providing funding for operations and maintenance for AMD treatment systems is espoused there.  DEP has done a nice job of not only articulating its positions, but also providing the background and framework on which it develops those positions. Anyone who has a stake in these matters should indeed become familiar with this document, as it will likely be a cornerstone in DEP’s use of AMD Set-aside Program program as it passes from draft to finalized form.

To read DEP’s complete draft AMD Set-aside Program Position Paper, click here.

Well before the SMCRA public outreach roundtables in 2007, the PA DEP began an initiative to evaluate the performance or success of passive treatment systems built with public funds to examine the effectiveness of various treatment technologies and develop treatability criteria and project selection guidelines. Proposed in draft form is the Mine Drainage Treatability and Site Selection Guidelines, a framework for AMD project selection which takes into account a whole host of considerations in making the ultimate decision of whether or not a specific source of AMD should be funded for remediation. A key component among the considerations is the selection of methodology for treating and/or abating AMD. Whereas in the past decade or so the virtual de facto choice in Pennsylvania has been for passive AMD  treatment, an evaluation mechanism has now been devised and spelled out favoring “proven, reliable, and predictable” treatment approaches.  Almost certainly the choice of some passive treatment methodologies will become more limited to less risky situations in which those methodologies have had generally good track records.

The original draft document was made available to a focus group earlier this year followed by a meeting in State College where the document was discussed and comments were accepted.  A comment period following that meeting provided additional opportunity to provide input to DEP.  Available now is the Draft Guidelines with Integrated Written Public Comments.

We understand DEP will continue to develop these guidelines over the period of many months.  In that we are still in the first of a 5 year ramp-up period before the full thrust of SMCRA funding will fully be felt, we are comfortable that DEP is doing its due diligence in properly developing these guidelines. As with the AMD Set-aside Program Position Paper, when finalized the Mine Drainage Treatability and Site Selection Guidelines  will likely be a cornerstone in DEP’s use of AMD Set-aside Program.

To read DEP’s Draft Mine Drainage Treatability and Project Selection Guidelines, click here.