Abandoned Mine Posts

by Andy McAllister, WPCAMR Watershed Coordinator

Some of the most amazing things come in small packages, and so it is with bacteria. Often maligned and misunderstood, bacteria (plural of bacterium) are powerhouses in the living world, surviving on the most unlikely foods and adding to the complexity of the food chain.

Some bacteria produce toxins that are dangerous to humans, while others are absolutely vital for our survival and the survival of “higher” life forms in the stream. In streams, an enormous variety of bacterial life coats rocks, leaves, and woody debris. Several aquatic macroinvertebrates survive on these bacterial films, often “grazing” on the bacteria as if cows in a miniature field.

From near-boiling hot springs on the surface to geologic strata buried deep in the earth over thousands of years, bacteria can make a home just about anywhere. Some of the most inhospitable places for life are the flooded mine pools that underlie Coal Country and the mine tailings on the surface. Often draining a witch’s brew of dissolved metals and extreme acidity, this water is toxic to most aquatic life. Yet, bacteria survive and can even flourish in these harsh conditions.

Desulfovibrio vulgaris

Virtual Institute of Microbial Stress and Survival, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

Thiobacillus ferrooxidans, for example, is a bacterium that can actually contribute to acid mine drainage (AMD) formation. In the presence of oxygen, T. ferrooxidans creates food for itself by catalyzing, or speeding up, the oxidation of the iron and sulfur, creating AMD. This bacterium, as part of its metabolic process, creates acidity.

Unlike T. ferrooxidans, which love oxygen, Desulfovibrio sp. is one of several Genera of sulfate-reducing bacteria that grow best in the anoxic conditions of some mine pools. They reduce sulfate (an ion present in AMD) to sulfide in a process that causes dissolved metals in the water to drop out and also increases the water’s pH. But these benefits are merely byproducts of Desulfovibrio using sulfates and hydrogen creating the organic compounds (food) it needs to live and grow. Over time, it became apparent to researchers that sulfate-reducing bacteria could become a miniature army in the fight against AMD, and today some passive treatment systems contain Sulfate-Reducing Bioreactors (SRBs). Sulfate-Reducing Bioreactor technology, while still being perfected, holds promise as another tool in the quest to treat AMD.

These microbial reminders not only help improve AMD treatment techniques, but they also help us appreciate the amazing world of the smallest, and seemingly most insignificant, creatures.

by Bruce Golden, Regional Coordinator

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For the record, this announcement is an unsolicited, uncompensated testimonial and not an advertisement. WPCAMR has used TechSoup for years, and we consider it to be an outstanding resource of which all non-profit organizations should be aware.

by Jeffrey Gerard, AmeriCorps OSM/VISTA

In most cases, anyone who exacerbates a mining discharge is legally on the hook to treat the mine water perpetually. Pennsylvania’s “Environmental Good Samaritan Act,” passed in 1999, aims to encourage citizens to improve the environment by offering protections against much of this civil and environmental liability. The Act, which applies to mineral extraction lands, including abandoned coal mines and oil and gas wells, provides a defense to volunteers who install a remediation project, even if something goes wrong. Good Samaritans are also free from the project’s maintenance or repair responsibilities.

Any landowner, volunteer, or organization can apply to be an Environmental Good Samaritan through the PA Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), as long as he or she provides equipment or services without profit and was not responsible for the pollution in the first place. Applications for protection are not competitive: any project that is feasible, environmentally-sound, and likely to reclaim land or improve water quality will be approved. The applicant is required to obtain rights of entry, but DEP will handle the necessary public notices. DEP’s Greensburg District Mining Office says about half of their construction-type projects apply for Good Samaritan coverage.

The Act doesn’t protect the landowner against willful misconduct or if he or she fails to disclose dangers about the area. Moreover, Pennsylvania’s Environmental Good Samaritan Act applies only to state laws, not federal laws, such as the Clean Water Act. However, a bill in congress, the “Good Samaritan Clean Watershed Act” (H.R.5404 and S.2780), would offer similar protections on a national level, with oversight by the Environmental Protection Agency.

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by Andy McAllister, Watershed Outreach Coordinator

In many abandoned mine drainage (AMD) discharges, metal contamination is evident from copious amounts of metals precipitating on the streambed. But other discharges are crystal clear, appearing uncontaminated to the unknowing public. This clear water is often much more deadly to aquatic organisms. Acidity and aluminum are two likely components of clear AMD that can have far-reaching effects on stream biology.

Even without dissolved metals, AMD’s low pH has significant sublethal effects on aquatic macroinvertebrates and, to a lesser degree, fish. Sublethal effects include behavioral changes in activity and mobility. While not always directly deadly to invertebrates, it appears that acidic AMD affects the ability of the macroinvertebrates to feed and move around in the stream, which ultimately has a longterm effect on the invertebrate populations and the animals that prey on them.

As one of the most common elements on Earth, aluminum generally does not interfere with the daily lives of aquatic organisms. However, in high concentrations dissolved in AMD, aluminum has a devastating impact. Besides harming fish and aquatic macroinvertebrates, aluminum has further implications for the terrestrial environment: reduced hatching success and other toxic effects have been reported in birds that feed on freshwater invertebrates that have bioaccumulated aluminum. Aluminum and manganese are also known to impair growth in plants around acidic mine spoils.

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