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Burgettstown Lack of Funding to Clean Up Abandoned Mines Threatens Community Drinking Water When Shelly Roman was a child, she played in her grandmother's backyard stream. Today, the stream is just a damp spot and her grandmother's well has gone dry—victims of surface mining and the extensive blasting it entails. The loss of her once abundant water supply now has Shelly's 76-year-old grandmother driving to a laundromat to wash her clothes and purchasing bottled drinking water. Mining also resulted in numerous cracks in the house. Behind the home is an old deep mine that has been abandoned and now is being surface-mined in an attempt to correct old ravages. The local community, however, fears new impacts from this mining - especially under Bush administration oversight. Programs that once compensated and involved residents in coalfields have been weakened or terminated by the Bush administration, which has shifted the responsibility and costs for clean up and restoring mined land from the coal companies to the taxpayers. Shelly Roman (left) talks to Sierra Club activist Wyona Coleman about the destruction her family has suffered because of surface mining. Shelly is angry that the Bush administration has reduced environmental protections for the communities of Pennsylvania and allowed mining companies off the hook for damaging local natural resources. Photo: Phil Coleman Mining of coal affects large areas across the United States. It is estimated that close to 12.5 million acres of land have been mined nationwide, and each year nearly 375,000 more acres are mined. Most surface mining methods have adverse affects on groundwater drinking supplies as well as streams. In order to gain access to the coal deep within the earth, vegetation and soil are removed, eliminating water absorption. Blasting then fractures bedrock below the surface. Aquifers are disturbed, wells run dry, and streams turn into stagnant ponds, creating problems for communities near the mine site. Runoff from the exposed coal seams carries acidic mine discharges (AMD) into streams and lakes. Deep mining carries its own extreme impacts. The technology of choice in southwestern Pennsylvania is "longwalling," which carves out large stretches of mine wall at one time and creates instant subsidence to the surface and impacts groundwater and any structures on the surface, including homes. While residents are promised water replacement and structure repair, this cannot restore vital groundwater or restore the watersheds to their previous state. The cost of solving the problems caused by abandoned surface and deep mines in Pennsylvania is estimated at more than $15 billion and growing. Since 1977 when Congress passed the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act (SMCRA), there have been strict federal rules for restoring the land and for minimizing the degradation of surface and groundwater. One of the basic purposes of SMCRA was to ensure that depleted mines would be reclaimed and post-mine discharges would be treated. Mine operators would have to post a bond sufficient to cover all the costs of reclamation by the state in the event the operator failed to complete the reclamation. In the early 1980's, Pennsylvania created an "alternative bonding" program that required operators to post a site-specific, refundable bond, and in addition pay a one-time non-refundable fee into a statewide pool that could be tapped to reclaim any mine or treat any acid mine discharge. Before the Bush administration came into office, the federal government issued formal findings through the Office of Surface Mining (OSM) that Pennsylvania was failing to ensure that coal companies were adequately funding the bonding program. The program has an ever-increasing deficit that already runs in the millions of dollars. As a result of these severe financial shortfalls, mine sites are not being reclaimed, and the state is allowing acid mine discharges to continue polluting streams and lakes. Indeed, AMD is the most serious water pollutant in Pennsylvania. The Bush administration has decided to let the coal companies off the hook. Not only are they being forgiven for the debt they owe, but in June 2003 the administration agreed that the state could terminate its alternative bonding program, switching to a program of "full cost bonding," which forces taxpayers, not polluters, to cover the costs of mine reclamation. This fundamental change fails to ensure that there will be a statewide pool or that there will be funds to cover the cost of reclamation of abandoned workings. The Bush administration's OSM will allow the state to prioritize abandoned mines and treat some acid discharges but not others. The new approach represents a complete reversal from the position taken by the federal oversight agency for more than a decade. Furthermore, the administration's approach leaves Pennsylvanians out of the public participation processes guaranteed by the law. OSM treated changes in Pennsylvania's bonding program as an "enhancement" rather than an "amendment," which they truly were, and therefore no public notice or comment period was necessary. Pennsylvania residents deserve clean water and protection of all their environmental resources. Neighbors of abandoned mining sites, like Shelly Roman, are entitled to have a chance to comment on regulatory agencies' policies and regulations. Without strong oversight by the Bush administration's OSM and strict adherence to the mining law, Pennsylvania's waters and residents will continue to be at risk. For more information contact: Wyona Coleman Sierra Club, PA Chapter (724) 785-7861 wyonac@stargate.net Tri State Citizens Mining Network (724) 229-3550 www.tristatecitizens.org PA Department of Environmental Protection (717) 787-2814 www.dep.state.pa.us Pennsylvania Chapter of the Sierra Club: P.O. Box 663, Harrisburg, PA 17108, (717) 232-0101 www.pennsylvania.sierraclub.org Washington, D.C. Office: 408 C St. NE, Washington, DC 20002, (202) 547-1141 Up to Top HOME | Email Signup | About Us | Contact Us | Terms of Use | © 2008 Sierra Club