WASHINGTON—Researchers for the Monongahela Basin Mine Pool Project have found an underlying problem: about 1.36 trillion gallons of acid mine water ebbing and flowing in abandoned mines mostly beneath Fayette, Greene and Washington counties in Pennsylvania and in Monongalia County, W.Va.
And while researchers say it is simply a matter of time before the swelling water in the massive Pittsburgh coal seam basin causes an outburst that will result in heavy pollution to area streams and waterways, the situation is not without hope.
New treatment facilities, like the $7 million treatment plant being constructed at the old Shannopin mine's Steele shaft near Meadow Run in Greene County can curtail potential outbursts of polluted water into the local environment, researchers say. And innovations that put the mine water to use, like the proposal to use the Shannopin water for cooling facilities at the proposed Longview Power Plant in West Virginia, might allow the vast, polluted aquifer to become an asset rather than a liability.
"Sometimes the heritage of coal can be ugly, especially when greed steps in," Gary Bryant, research associate for the project, said Thursday. "We are here to take a cooperative effort to understand this."
Paul Ziemkiewicz, director of the National Mine Land Reclamation Center, said that the nearly $2 million study of the basin was conducted to discover where outbreaks might occur, how much water had flooded the abandoned mines and how fast outbreak discharges will be.
"Sometimes these can threaten lives, and we don't know where they are coming from," Ziemkiewicz said, speaking at a seminar in Washington to discuss the study's results. "We want to use this project to get ahead of the problem."
According to the study conducted by West Virginia University's Hydrology Research Center for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, about 1,200 abandoned mines exist in the Pittsburgh coal basin, the largest bituminous coal seam in North America. About 55 percent of the coal has been mined from the seam, resulting in 4,990 square miles of abandoned underground mines, 1,940 square miles of which are flooded. Many of the mines are classified as free draining and the outflow from such mines is substantial. Researchers suggest that 27.2 billion gallons are discharged annually, about 50,000 gallons per minute, and that the water is laden with iron and aluminum, both potentially harmful to the Monongahela River environment. Only about 37 percent of the water being discharged is treated.
That figure should rise however when the Shannopin treatment facility is completed early next year.
The $7 million project, funded mostly by the state Department of Environmental Protection and the Pennsylvania Infrastructure Investment Authority (PENNVEST), will treat and pump acid water from the mine, which was abandoned in 1993 after Shannopin Coal Co. went bankrupt. The water eventually will be used for the Longview plant's cooling system, which will require about 7,000 gallons per minute.
The treatment plant, operated by the Dana Mining Co. of West Virginia, initially will treat and pump 3,900 gallons of water a minute out of the Steele shaft and into Dunkard Creek.
"The treatment plants are treating the worst discharges," said Bruce Leavitt, the consulting hydrologist for the study. "They are removing the bulk levels of the acidity load."
Leavitt described the proposed Longview use of mine water as "win, win, win," situation.
"With all these mines closing, we don't want the discharges to cause the Monongahela to be unsuitable as an ecosystem. I think that the Shannopin arrangement is beneficial for the environment, and I think it is beneficial for jobs in the county. If you can get a result like that whenever you have one of these problems, take that one to the bank."
Leavitt said that while the Shannopin project is a step in the right direction other mines - Mathies, Pitt Gas, Crucible and Nemacolin - are potential large outburst sites.
Joseph Donovan, associate Professor at West Virginia University, said Hayden Three, an abandoned mine near Bobtown, is an example of a free draining mine that could affect the Monongahela River. He said the mine discharges into Dunkard Creek, which feeds to the river, and that a substantial sludge deposit has resulted from the flow.
Donovan said one factor that is affecting the discharge levels and rates is the substantial closings of mines over the last two decades.
Researchers said that in-depth maps of the mines have been created and that wells have been drilled in problematic areas to gauge the water levels. Leavitt said six were drilled in Greene County, including at Shannopin, Crucible and Nemacolin mines.
While many questions about how to treat the discharged water remain unanswered, Leavitt said he hopes that solutions for the mine water will become more evident as federal, state and local agencies begin to address the problem in cooperation with mining companies.
"We have defined that we have a problem, and now we need to address it," said Stan Geary, a representative from the Pennsylvania Coal Association. He said the coal industry recommended that feasibility studies and pilot projects be conducted to ascertain the scope of the problem.
While it appears that most treatment facilities will be constructed at taxpayer expense, as was the case with the Shannopin project, each individual coal company will fund the actual treatment of the water. The companies stand to gain any coal that has become submerged as a result of the flooding, researchers said.
"If there is a way to reduce pumping costs, then there is a better chance that these mine pools will be treated," Geary said. "Some of this mine water is a better source of drinking water than the Mon River."
Leavitt agreed: "What we see is increasing competition for the available water in the watershed. For example, in the Mon River, as competition for that water increases and the cost for acquiring that water increases, that puts incentive in finding alternate sources of water, which, in this case, would be the mine water."
The study also examined ways to purify the water before it reaches the surface, and researchers conducted some initial testing with hydrogen peroxide and reported successful results.
The researchers also briefly addressed mine subsidence in association with the mine pool flooding.
"There has been some circumstantial indications that initial flooding may have an impact," Leavitt said.
According to Wyona Coleman, member of the Tri-State Citizens Mining Network, the problems seem interrelated.
"There could be a class-action suit about all the people who have lost springs and wells, who could say, 'I own one-thousandth of that mine pool,' and, 'I want my water back,'" Coleman said.
"How can we be assured that mining companies that are still mining are going to be responsible and stabilize the mine pools when they close? I don't see any provision in state law that really handles this."
Researchers said that the law is "unclear" how the rights to underground water work and who actually owns the resource.
"To utilize the ground water, we need to get our legal act together," Ziemkiewicz said.
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