OLYPHANT, Lackawanna County — Pennsylvania is investing nearly $4.2 million to seal abandoned mine openings, grade and backfill highwalls and open pits, and control erosion on 178.2 acres of abandoned mine lands in Archibald, Jessup and Olyphant boroughs in Lackawanna County.
“Pennsylvania has more than 180,000 acres of abandoned mine lands that endanger residents, pollute waterways and stifle economic growth,” Governor Rendell said. “Reclaiming these sites protects the health and safety of residents, enhances economic opportunities for the entire region and makes our communities more attractive by improving their quality of life.”
Environmental Protection Secretary Kathleen A. McGinty announced the state investment while touring the sites with local officials. The Lackawanna County sites have two dozen unmarked mine openings and nearly two miles of sheer cliffs, all within close proximity to roads and populated areas.
“Governor Rendell’s historic Growing Greener II initiative gives us the money to supplement scarce federal funds so we can turn these dangerous wastelands into opportunities for economic development and community rebirth,” McGinty said. “Every time we clean up an abandoned mine, we help our communities heal the scars left by 250 years of unregulated mining.”
Reclamation work comprises two specific projects. Earthmovers Unlimited of Kylertown, Clearfield County, received $2.32 million for the largest project to reclaim the Gravity Slope Colliery, which ceased operations in the 1950s in the area known as Grassy Island Creek in Archbald and Jessup.
The project is being financed with $1.56 million from the Growing Greener II initiative and $762,642 from the federal Abandoned Mine Reclamation Trust Fund, which is subsidized by a fee on every ton of coal mined by the active coal industry.
Earthmovers Unlimited will grade and backfill stripping pits and 11,000 linear feel of highwall using approximately 800,000 cubic yards of on-site material. In order to prepare the land for future development, the backfill material will be compacted by the landowners in coordination with the contractor’s grading operations.
In addition, 22 mine openings will be filled and sealed, and bat gates will be installed on two openings. The barred gates restrict public access into the abandoned underground workings on the site while still providing critical habitat for established bat populations in the area. A number of bat species have come to rely on the mine openings for nesting and mating.
Earthmovers Unlimited also will construct drainage ditches to control runoff and erosion. This 116.5-acre portion of the overall site will be planted with a grass and legume mixture formulated to grow on abandoned mine lands. Work is expected to wrap up in March 2008.
Minichi Inc. of Dupont, Luzerne County, received $1.85 million for the second project to address the area known as Grassy Island in Olyphant. The company will reclaim part of what was once the Olyphant Colliery, which ceased surface mining operations in 1957 and underground mining operations in 1960.
This project is being financed with $1.24 million from the Growing Greener II initiative and $609,800 from the Abandoned Mine Reclamation Trust Fund.
Minichi will grade and backfill 300 linear feet of highwall and a dangerous embankment using approximately 805,900 cubic yards of on-site spoil material. Two hazardous abandoned mine structures will also be demolished.
The entire 61.7-acre strip mine will be graded to approximate original contours and planted with grasses, legume and tree seed mixtures formulated to grow on abandoned mine lands. Work is expected to last through October 2007.
Pennsylvania has the largest abandoned mine lands problem in the country, with more than 180,000 acres of unmarked shafts, unstable cliffs, water-filled pits and abandoned equipment and buildings left over from when mining was largely unregulated prior to 1977.
The $625 million Growing Greener II initiative provides significant funding to address a vast array of environmental and public health problems at abandoned mine sites in Pennsylvania. The voter-approved program allocates $60 million to clean up rivers and streams affected by abandoned acid mine drainage and reclaim abandoned mine lands scarred by dangerous highwalls, mine openings and water-filled pits.
The Governor has been a leader in the fight to ensure that the U.S. Congress reauthorizes the federal mine reclamation fund and that Pennsylvania secures funds sufficient to address this problem. Nearly one-of-every-10 people in Pennsylvania live within one mile of a dangerous abandoned mine.
this is all the numbered mine openings in the jessup- archbald area. good thing we got that car when we did.
shit.
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