PA minefilling.

[OnyxCougar]

From Yahoo
Environmentalists Back Plan for Pa. Mine

By MICHAEL RUBINKAM, Associated Press Writer

TAMAQUA, Pa. - A pit at the edge of town is at the center of a scientific and political debate over what to do with the thousands of abandoned strip mines that pock the Appalachian landscape, turning streams and rivers into orange-tinted dead zones and scenic areas into eyesores.

The gaping hole in the earth, called the Springdale Pit, is a barren place where men and machines once extracted thousands of tons of anthracite coal.

A Pottsville company, with encouragement from state environmental officials, wants to fill the Springdale Pit with a potent mixture of coal ash, dust from cement and lime kilns, and river sediments dredged from the harbors and shipping lanes of New York and New Jersey, Philadelphia and Baltimore.

The goal is to prevent acid mine drainage — the contaminated water that flows out of abandoned mines and pollutes waterways — and restore the hillside to something of its original contour.

But neighbors of the Springdale Pit bitterly oppose the plan, fearing the mixture will leach into the groundwater, contaminate their wells and make them sick. They're backed by some environmental groups and at least one geologist who says the state Department of Environmental Protection is about to make a big mistake.

The state agency favors the placement of coal ash and river sludge into abandoned mines as a "beneficial use" for these materials. DEP is considering an application by the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company for a permit that would allow the Springdale Pit to be filled with 500,000 tons of dredged material and 480,000 tons of coal ash each year.

If approval is granted — and it's not clear when that decision will be made — the implications for abandoned mine reclamation in Pennsylvania are enormous. At DEP's request, LC&N's application asks for a general permit, as opposed to a site-specific permit, meaning that thousands of abandoned mines could eventually be targeted for the ash-sludge mixture.

"We're the pioneers, but others will be able to use our permit," says James J. Curran Jr., president of LC&N, which owns the 700-foot-deep, 3,000-foot-long, 1,500-foot-wide Springdale Pit.

Standing in Curran's way is Dante Picciano, a patent attorney who lives in a wooded area about four miles away from the hole. Picciano, who leads a grassroots group called the Army for a Clean Environment, said he doesn't know whether coal ash and harbor muck are safe or unsafe — but he doesn't want to take any chances until scientists can answer the question definitively.

He cites LC&N's own application as evidence that it should be rejected. The document identifies a variety of toxic substances in the river sediments that would come from harbors in New York, Philadelphia and Baltimore, including PCBs, pesticides and heavy metals. And he points out that coal ash, also called fly ash because the particles are so small that they easily become airborne, contains cancer-causing dioxins.

"They have a propaganda machine that this stuff is good for you," said Picciano, who has a doctorate in genetics. But the DEP, he said, "has a burden of proof to show it's safe. The burden of proof is not on us to show that it's harmful."

State officials insist they've met that burden.

DEP has allowed fly ash to be dumped into abandoned coal mines for decades and says it has detected no environmental degradation whatsoever. Officials say dioxin concentrations in coal ash are so small as to be negligible — often lower than the concentrations one might find in a common soil sample.

They also cite the success of a demonstration project at the former Bark Camp coal mine in Clearfield County, Pa., where for the last several years scientists have been mixing coal ash and river dredge and using it for mine reclamation.

"We feel pretty comfortable that once these materials are placed, and placed properly, that you are not going to see anything leaching out of there," said William Pounds, chief of DEP's division of municipal and residual waste.

Why? Because when river sediments and coal ash are mixed, they harden into a concrete-like material that is nearly impermeable to water. The mixture, when placed into abandoned surface mines, is supposed to reduce acid mine runoff by preventing rainwater from contacting the formerly exposed coal pits.

Yet Charles H. Norris, a geologist familiar with LC&N's permit application, urges caution. Coal ash by itself has been shown to pollute groundwater, he said. And LC&N's proposal to test the harbor muck for contaminants "sounds good on the surface, but if you look at criteria they are using to accept the waste, there is very little of the dredge material" that will be rejected, he said.

"They say they will keep the nasty stuff out. Well, I'm sorry, but your definition and my definition of nasty are a whole lot different," Norris said.

Picciano is pushing for a moratorium on fly ash dumping until more is known about its effects. He's had some success, getting at least one lawmaker, Republican state Rep. David Argall, to at least consider the idea.

Argall said he's torn between industry arguments that fly ash is safe and the complaints of residents he has known for decades. "They are people I see in church, people I see when I go to the store, and they are scared. Nervous about what this is going to mean to their children and grandchildren," he said.

Fly ash is a byproduct of electricity generated by coal-fired power plants. Power companies that must dispose of the ash see abandoned strip mines as a cheaper alternative to putting the material into landfills. Likewise, port officials are eager to find an inexpensive home for dredged materials.

The federal Environmental Protection Agency (news - web sites) ruled three years ago that fly ash need not be regulated as a hazardous waste, although the agency is developing guidelines for how the material should be handled and disposed of, said Paul Gotthold, chief of the EPA's Pennsylvania operations branch.

LC&N already uses coal ash to fill abandoned strip mines on its 8,400-acre property in Schuylkill County. One former mine, called "Little Italy," that was filled with ash was recently seeded and is starting to resemble a grassy meadow.

Michael Coia, an LC&N consultant, accused opponents of the Springdale proposal of deliberately twisting the facts to scare residents. "I'm happy to listen to Dante's army if they can prove to me that it's dangerous. I haven't seen it," he said.

But Sharon and Joe Zonca, who live more than a mile from the Springdale Pit, said the proof can be found in the thin layer of fly ash that they routinely find on their porch and yard. They worry the brownish-gray ash particles will make them sick.

Mrs. Zonca, in particular, is concerned for her health because she suffered a stroke several years ago and has a weakened immune system. When the Zoncas built their house four years ago, near the woods at the end of a quiet street, they assumed it would be a place where she could convalesce.

The couple, both 60, bitterly accuse environmental regulators of shirking their responsibilities.

"The DEP and EPA are not for us," said Mrs. Zonca. "They don't give a damn if we die here."

Any of you easties near here? What's your view?