Video by Michael Hewitt

Article By Paul Golias, Correspondent

The massive water pools under the Wyoming Valley are both a potential blessing and a curse.

The topmost level of the stratified 274.3 billion gallons of water is useable for industrial and commercial applications. The water could be purified for drinking if a drought emergency required such actions. That is the blessing.

The curse is the potential for subsidence is the pool is so dramatically disturbed that the ebb and flow of water causes surface problems ranging from flooding to serious subsidence that damages homes and businesses. Additionally, tapping the topmost strata of water would leave polluted water for potential future uses.

“Is there a danger? Yes.” said Robert Hughes, Executive Director of EPCAMR. “We need to focus on quality and stratification,” he said.

We know more about the water pool today than any period in the history of heavily-mined Wyoming Valley due to the extensive pool mapping work of EPCAMR. Hughes said EPCAMR used surface mine maps, underground mine maps, and cross section maps withing municipal boundaries obtained from the now-closed Federal Office of Surface Mining Folio Maps. The maps had been housed in the Stegmaier Building, Wilkes-Barre.

In addition, EPCAMR staff has monitored mine pool levels through boreholes around the Wyoming Valley. Unfortunately, some of those boreholes are being paved over.

Michael Hewitt, EPCAMR Program Manager, said a borehole in the Hanover Industrial Park was recently paved over during construction of new roads in connection with a major warehouse project there.

The borehole, Hewitt said, was near a sewer cover on the shoulder of the road. He could easily take readings of the Huber Colliery pool in that borehole, he said.

“We are down to 22 boreholes in the Wyoming Valley,” Hewitt said. The 15 that have been lost include three paved over in Exeter Borough and three more in Plymouth Borough, Hewitt said.

Hughes said it is vital to focus on the importance of the water pools due to the interest by natural gas producers in using mine water for fracking, the process that uses water under pressure to fracture the underground shale deposits that hold natural gas.

At the same time, plans for the PennEast Pipeline are unclear and EPCAMR has warned that a pipeline placed in the alluvial material atop the mine water pools could impact the pools, depending on the depth of the pipeline. Also, barrier pillars that separate the pools are in play, Hughes said.

The alluvial material, mainly sand and gavel, has been dubbed The Buried Valley of the Susquehanna. The alluvium is at various thicknesses under the Susquehanna, such as 142 feet at the levee in Wyoming. There are many veins of coal mapped under the Susquehanna and the entire valley, Hughes said. The withdrawal of water and the disturbance of the pools poses “a risk for mine subsidence,” he said.

Hughes recommended that people who do not have mine subsidence insurance consider obtaining a policy. He estimated only 10 percent of Wyoming Valley homeowners have such insurance.

Meanwhile, EPCAMR is providing municipalities in the former anthracite mining area with free mining maps to assist in community planning, coping with possible natural gas pipeline placement, and with mine subsidence issues.

Ironically, a $5,000 grant to the agency from PennEast Pipeline’s Community Connector Grant Program made the project possible. PennEast said it links with not-for-profit organizations to support safety, environment and education, and energy sector workforce development.

Hughes said the top 20 feet of water in the pools is “relatively clean.” The next 30-40 feet gets murkier and sediment increases at lower depths until the bottom of the pool where the water is “blackest of black,” he said.

Some mine water flows into streams and acid mine drainage projects have been underway for years. EPCAMR has been involved in those as has Earth Conservancy, where EPCAMR has its offices.

The water can flow back and forth between pools, across barriers left in place by mining companies as boundary lines. Some barriers were removed when one company bought another, Hughes said.

Using historical data and current water measurements, EPCAMR arrived at the staggering 274.3 billion gallons estimate for the mine pools under the valley. That does not include the Butler Mine Pool for which data is lacking.

Mine water is being used for geothermal energy development and industrial processes. The ARIPPA co-generaltion plant in Schuylkill County uses mine water to cool a tower. Frackville Wheelabrator uses mine water to runa  stream generator that heats and cools the state correctional facility at Frackville.

Earlier this month, Kenneth M. Klemow, professor of biology and environmental sciences at Wilkes Unviersity, and colleagues released a report on the potential impact of natural gas drilling on surface water, such as streams, creeks, and rivers. The predictive model did not prove drilling impacts on streams but it did project vulnerability.

Hughes said much more work needs to be done to study the mine pools, including how they impact surface water. He said a regional approach is necessary, an approach taken in a landmark 1949 report on underground water in area mines by Steven Ash and others of the Bureau of Mine, U.S. Department of the Interior. EPCAMR used Ash’s data in its calculations.

Hughes is on Pennsylvania’s Department of Environmental Protection’s Pipeline Infratructure Task Force’s Environmental Protection Workgroup to address pipeline infrastructure and development concerns related to abandoned mines.

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EPCAMR staff and colleagues review underground mine maps from the Wyoming Valley

EPCAMR intends to utilize these funds for staff time and printing costs of the mine maps for each of the municipalities within the Anthracite coal measures, such as Wyoming Borough, Jenkins Township, Plains Township, and Shickshinny Borough. If there are any municipalities, central to Wyoming Valley, that would like to host a few workshops to aid in conducting the underground mine map outreach component of the grant, please contact Robert at (570) 371-3523.

“EPCAMR is skilled in interpreting surface and underground mine maps and would like to continue to provide technical assistance to the public and our local governments. We also have the printing capabilities to produce large maps, which are easy to view,” says Robert.

Large maps are available for review at the Pittsburgh Office of Surface Mining (OSM), where many maps were transferred, following the closure of the Wilkes-Barre Regional Office several years ago. Maps are also available at Wilkes-Barre Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection Bureau of Abandoned Mine Reclamation (PA DEP BAMR) and the PA DEP Regional District Mining Office Bureau of Deep Mine Safety in Pottsville, PA. Due to the condition, size, and continual use of the maps by these state agencies, a large majority of the maps generally stay within these offices.

Underground Mine Map

EPCAMR has been able to acquire a large majority of the OSM Folio maps in digital format over the last few years and are still actively acquiring maps under a 3-year grant agreement with the PA DEP Mine Subsidence Insurance Program. EPCAMR staff scans, catalogues, geo-references, and digitizes the maps for public use. Nearly 10,000 maps have already been approved by the PA DEP and posted to the PA Mine Map Atlas. However, our scope of work requires us to take certain map collections, based on specific storage locations of the maps. The PennEast Community Connector Grant will allow us to focus on some of the maps that we have already processed. Many municipalities do not have the staffing, expertise, funding, or printing capabilities to acquire the maps needed for their own planning efforts or efforts of the public seeking information about the underground mine or surface maps.

EPCAMR staff catalogues the data collected from these maps in the Pennsylvania Historic Underground Mine Map Inventory System (PHUMMIS). This database contains information relevant to past and present underground mining throughout Pennsylvania, including, but not limited to, maps, indices, mine locations, and the like. The information contained in this database has been compiled from various sources and, as a result, neither the DEP or EPCAMR can guarantee its accuracy. The DEP and EPCAMR assume no responsibility for the accuracy of information contained in the database. The DEP and EPCAMR disclaim any responsibility for any actions, or lack thereof, taken in reliance on the information contained in the database. Users agree that the DEP and EPCAMR employees, officers, agents, and contractors are not and will not be liable for any damages or losses of any kind, resulting directly or indirectly from the reliance on the information contained in the database.

Figure 1.

EPCAMR is an advocate for the environment and protection of land and water resources that have been adversely affected by past mining practices throughout Northeastern and North Central Pennsylvania. During the grant review process, the Selection Committee identified a number of strengths in our proposal. EPCAMR is an advocate for safe practices when it comes to the construction of the pipeline in the chosen area. Given the Wyoming Valley’s past mining and flooding history, we recommended redirecting the pipeline around the Valley, however, PennEast still chose to fund EPCAMR, based on our merit to provide valuable technical assistance to the downstream communities in the Wyoming Valley.

The sets of maps that will be provided to local municipalities will ultimately provide PennEast with geologic and hydrogeologic conditions of the proposed pipeline crossing area. EPCAMR was very upfront with PennEast at the initial public hearing and in our comments to the Federal Energy Regulation Commission (FERC). PennEast may have difficulty finding a safe river crossing for placement of the 36-42 inch transmission line. “EPCAMR has a means of researching the conditions of the underground mine workings in the Wyoming Valley to make a determination as to what lies beneath not only our homes, but our river as well. This funding could not have come at a better time for EPCAMR, when funding sources are getting harder and harder to come by. We feel privileged for the opportunity to provide these valuable technical services to our local governments in need of this information. EPCAMR staff seeks funds from all types of sources that will allow us to work in the best interest of the public,” explained Robert.

Alisa E. Harris, Head of Government and Community Affairs, mentioned in her award letter to EPCAMR that “the PennEast Pipeline Company, LLC, is pleased to support your efforts and we look forward to building a strong partnership to advancing our mutual commitment to environment and energy education. Community engagement is important to PennEast. The Community Connector Grant Program is another excellent opportunity for us to support the communities where we operate and where our employees make their home.” The PennEast press release can be found here.

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As you are all aware, even with the Title IV funding from the Surface   Mining Control and Reclamation Act, there isn’t enough money to totally   clean up Pennsylvania’s immense AMD/AML problems.  Our challenges far outweigh available resources.  No one organization or government agency can do it alone.  We as a community have been very well aware of this  for quite some time.  Many in our community think it’s about time that  we start seeing AMD as a resource.

EPCAMR and others have thought outside of the box and are selling the iron oxide as a raw pigment on a small scale for now, but it could blossom into a viable full-blown recycling process and business to support itself in the future, given some working capital and investment by the private sector. EPCAMR is also in the process of evaluating the integrity and estimated volumes of mine water that is contained within underground multi-colliery hydrogeologic units, called mine pool complexes throughout the entire Anthracite Region and in parts of the Northern Tier (Sullivan County, Bernice Mine) and has even developed several 3D models of the underground workings and the coal veins and barrier pillars between them. if they remain. The Wyoming Valley and the Lackawanna Valley are on EPCAMR horizon to be completed as funding allows the Staff to continue working on its development. This mine pol water is an untapped reservoir. Billions of gallons of water, unused. Does it come with its own set of risks? Yes. What is the level at which the water can be drawn down in certain mine pools safely without impacting the surface potentially? This needs to be looked at further. More detailed interpretation and analyses of our historic mine maps and geologic cross sections need to be reviewed. Does the water quality vary at different depths in the mine pools? EPCAMR believes that it does and further studies are necessary to determine just how bad from a treatment standpoint or industrial use application, such as the Shale Gas Industry. What interactions can occur within the Marcellus play when AMD is introduced into the hydraulic fracturing picture? We’re not certain. Would we like to explore the possibilities? Sure, in a controlled environment.

Pennsylvania’s Abandoned Mine  Reclamation (AMR) community has a long history of working cooperatively with industry, government, and others for our common good.  Our  community, perhaps more than any other environmental movement, has understood the value of working together and partnering with industry. We’re celebrating 15 years in August of this community, as we continue to coordinate the longest running State-wide Conference on Abandoned Mine Reclamation, in State College, PA on August 8-10th, at the Ramada Inn. See www.treatminewater.com for details.

Several years ago, some forward thinking individuals thought to encourage the use of AMD by the shale gas industry. EPCAMR supported this idea and encouraged groups like the SRBC to do the same.  That idea progressed and more and more people thought it was a good idea.

Not long after the DEP began crafting the whitepaper, “Utilization of  Mine Influenced Water for Natural Gas Extraction Activities “,    conversations ensued about liability in using AMD.  Representatives from  the shale gas industry were concerned that liability, from their   standpoint, would be one of the issues that would stand in the way of   widespread use of AMD for fracking.

The use of AMD by the shale  gas industry holds a lot of potential for our community.  Making lemonade out of lemons, it could be a way for watershed groups and  Conservation Districts to secure operation and maintenance funds for  their AMD treatment systems and, quite possibly, to work with industry to secure funding to construct additional treatment systems.  Another plus for this idea is that our existing potable water supplies and our  healthy streams and rivers can be conserved. Why continue to pull water from clean streams when AMD water might just as well be as suitable with a little treatment?

Are there hurdles  to the use of AMD by the shale gas industry?  Absolutely.  According to  experts in the shale gas industry, sulfate concentrations in AMD and the issue of liability are the two biggest hurdles that need to be  overcome.  Is this some sort of cure-all for our AMD problems?  No way.  However, it is an opportunity that needs to be explored.  As we hear  many times, “It’s another tool in the tool box”.

During the last  legislative session, the PA  General Assembly considered SB 1346, sponsored by Senator Kasunic, which limited liability for those   involved in using AMD for shale gas operations or for any other industry for that matter.  The bill never got the traction it needed to   progress.

The concept of liability protection for using AMD   by industry has been resurrected in this session as Senate Bill #411,   “An Act Amending Title 27 (Environmental Resources) of the Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes, further providing for definitions, for eligibility and project inventory, for landowner liability limitation   and exceptions, for project liability limitation and exceptions and for exceptions.”, again sponsored by Senator Kasunic and endorsed by 15  other legislators.

SB411 is currently on the table in the Senate.  It may be up for a vote this week. People should look closely at this bill and read the language very carefully.

At this time, there is a lot of push back from environmental groups  outside of our AMR community regarding the use of AMD by the shale gas   industry.  To our knowledge, they have not proposed any alternate plans  for providing operation and maintenance funding to ensure the perpetual treatment of AMD or alternate ways to find construction funding to build  AMD treatment systems.  Most have not been instrumental in providing  solutions to help the AMR community achieve its goal, they simply wish  to stop fracking and that is their right.

Now is a very good time for you, who are out in the trenches working on AMD treatment and support the AMR community, to weigh in on the issue and have your voice heard by the General Assembly, both on the use of AMD by industry and the importance of   protecting watershed groups, Conservation Districts, and their partners from liability as they seek to find innovative ways to secure operation and maintenance funding for their treatment systems.

A quick email to your legislator or perhaps a phone call to his or her office will ensure that they hear your voice.  Send an email to your legislators and let them know how you feel.  To find the contact information for your legislator, go to:
http://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/legis/home/findyourlegislator/index.cfm?CFID=38652480&CFTOKEN=67940687

To see the text of Senate Bill 411, go to:
http://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/billinfo/billinfo.cfm?syear=2013&sind=0&body=S&type=B&BN=0411

To see DEP’s whitepaper on the use of AMD by the shale gas industry, go here:
http://files.dep.state.pa.us/Mining/Abandoned%20Mine%20Reclamation/AbandonedMinePortalFiles/MIW/Final_MIW_White_Paper.pdf

For additional articles on the issue, go to these links:

http://stateimpact.npr.org/pennsylvania/2013/03/12/using-abandoned-mine-drainage-to-frack/

http://stateimpact.npr.org/pennsylvania/2013/01/10/mine-reclamation-group-seek-allies-in-natural-gas-industry/

http://stateimpact.npr.org/pennsylvania/2013/01/09/pennsylvanias-dep-offers-acid-mine-drainage-water-to-drillers/

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