DEP expects reduction in money used for mine reclamation
Kelly Tunney | Herald-Standard
Part of a coal ash dump is visible from LaBelle Road across from SCI Fayette.
Kelly Tunney | Herald-Standard
An earth mover sits in an as-yet-unrestored part of the coal ash dump between the towns of Jefferson and Mather in Greene County, nearly 50 acres of which is being restored by the Bureau of Abandoned Mine Reclamation.
Kelly Tunney | Herald-Standard
Nearly 50 acres of a coal ash dump between the towns of Mather and Jefferson in Greene County are being restored by the Bureau of Abandoned Mine Reclamation.
Part of the Matt Canestrale Contracting coal ash dump is visible from Labelle Road in 2016 across from the State Correctional Institution at Fayette.
The state Department of Environmental Protection is anticipating a 10 percent reduction in federal money used for mine reclamation projects, which means the agency likely won’t be tackling as many new projects as in years past.
The federal Office of Surface Mining annually gives grants to Pennsylvania for mine reclamations and cleanups for projects that are usually extremely expensive. The federal government funds those grants by levying a fee on the production of coal.
The only problem, according to DEP spokesman John Poister, is a significant drop in coal mining in the last several years. That means the state agency likely won’t be picking up as many new projects as it had previously.
That’s a problem, Poister said, because of the sheer number of reclamation projects that need attention.
“With the mountain we have to climb on this…no sooner than we find and reclaim one mine or one stream, we find another we didn’t know about,” Poister said. “It’s just a continuing challenge.”
With the expected 10 percent cut in funding, Poister said the DEP is going to “push ahead” with current projects, although “it’s going to take longer to complete them because we’ll stretch out the funds.”
The major implication is in the number of new projects.
“We probably won’t be taking on as many new projects but those we have we’ll keep working on, it will just take longer,” he said.
Poister said, as of December, Pennsylvania had 34 active contracts for mine reclamations totaling just under $46 million.
The DEP averages between 40 to 50 projects a year, he said.
None of the current projects is located in Beaver County, although Ann Harris, a professor of geological and environmental sciences at Youngstown State University, compiled a website that said there are about 70 mines in the county.
One of the projects sent out to bid Thursday morning was to put out a mine fire near Phillips in Fayette County, while another contract was awarded for a reclamation project in Little Beaver Township in Lawrence County.
Poister said the Lawrence County contract was awarded for $452,000.
Despite the current decline of the coal industry, DEP officials are already working with federal legislators on reauthorizing the bill that provides federal grants for reclamation projects.
Poister said that bill won’t expire until 2021, but it’s extremely important those monies continue to come in.
“Our reclamation projects are many and expensive,” Poister said. “It’s difficult because there are so many. We try to prioritize them as best as we can.”
Poister said if the state were able to reclaim and rehabilitate every mine and stream in Pennsylvania, it would cost more than $15 billion.
“We have a lot of work to do,” he said.
Poister said Pennsylvania received its first federal grant in 1980 and the first project was undertaken in 1982.