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 Post subject: Free mining maps offered to municipalities
PostPosted: Mon Aug 10, 2015 7:44 am 
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Joined: Thu Apr 02, 2009 7:16 pm
Posts: 478
Location: Anthracite Region of PA
Free mining maps offered to municipalities in theformer anthracite area


Paul Golias, Correspondent

Published: August 10, 2015


Municipalities in the former anthracite mining area are being offered free mining maps to assist in community planning, coping with possible natural gas pipeline placement and with mine subsidence issues.

Robert Hughes, executive director of Eastern PA Coalition for Abandoned Mine Reclamation (EPCAMR), said the project is possible through a $5,000 grant to the agency from PennEast Pipeline, LLC.

Hughes said he proposed the grant several months ago and submitted an application to PennEast’s Community Connector Grant Program. “EPCAMR was the only organization in their latest round of funding in Luzerne County to be awarded a grant,” he said.

PennEast links with not-for-profit organizations to support safety, environment and education and energy sector workforce development.

Hughes said the surface mine maps, underground mine maps, and cross section maps within municipal boundaries are from the now-closed Federal Office of Surface Mining Folio Maps. The maps had been housed in the Stegmaier Building, Wilkes-Barre.

Hughes said his staff in EPCAMR’s Ashley office will provide “most downstream municipalities and communities within the Wyoming Valley that are located within the limit of the anthracite coal measures and below the proposed PennEast Pipeline transmission line...” with 18-inch by 24-inch maps. The mapped area crosses to the southern tip of the northern anthracite coalfields, terminating in Mocanaqua on the east side and in Shickshinny Borough on the west side.

“For some of the larger municipalities, we may forgo the printing of the maps and provide a converted electronic PDF file format, due to the large number of anticipated maps for that given municipality,” Hughes said.

EPCAMR believes the sets of maps will become “very valuable for municipal planners, local government officials, planning commission officials, and the general public” from within communities that might have an interest in historic mining throughout the Wyoming Valley and the South Valley.

EPCAMR has worked with many of the municipalities in the Wyoming Valley over the last two decades on various environmental projects, programs, reclamation projects, stream remediation projects, environmental education programs, municipal outreach, illegal dump site cleanups, historic preservation projects, and now mine mapping.

Hughes was recently appointed by the Secretary of the PA Department of Environmental Protection to the Pipeline Infrastructure Task Force’s Environmental Protection Workgroup to address pipeline infrastructure and development concerns related to abandoned mines.

The production of the free map sets will take some time to develop, Hughes said. EPCAMR staffers are evaluating how many maps might need to be printed for each municipality based on what exists in the OSM Folio Map Inventory.

Hughes said he and his staff can come to municipal meetings to explain the project, provide examples of the maps, educate the public on interpreting the mine map symbology and geology and to inform community leaders on recent efforts to develop a 3D regional underground mine pool model that depicts where groundwater, surface water, and underground abandoned mine drainage (AMD) flows.

Municipalities will questions on the maps or wishing to arrange a visit can contact EPCAMR at 101 S. Main St., Ashley, PA 18706, call 570-371-3523 or visit their website www.epcamr.org.

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Scott K
"Watch Your Top"


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 Post subject: Re: Free mining maps offered to municipalities
PostPosted: Mon Aug 10, 2015 11:08 am 
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Joined: Tue Dec 02, 2014 1:17 pm
Posts: 70
Location: Central Wisconsin
Dang! I wish I could get my hands on one of those!


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