Dangerous abandoned mine lands with more than three miles of highwalls and large piles of mine spoil in Clearfield County will be reclaimed under a $1.8 million project announced this week by the Department of Environmental Protection.

 

The project will control erosion at the 146-acre site in the village of Grassflat in Cooper Township to improve water quality entering the Mosquito Creek and Moshannon Creek watersheds that drain into the West ranch Susquehanna River.

 

"This large abandoned mine site contains very dangerous features including several miles of steep cliffs and large, unstable waste coal piles that contribute to the severe water quality problems in the Moshannon Creek watershed," said DEP Secretary John Hanger. "In addition, this site is easily accessible from nearby roads and there is evidence of trespassing, trash dumping and other activity at the site. Reclaiming this site will remove a significant public safety hazard and bring us one step closer to restoring the health of the West Branch Susquehanna River."

 

The Grassflat site was extensively surface mined before being abandoned in the 1960s. Funding for the project comes from the federal Abandoned Mine Lands Fund, which is overseen by the U. S. Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement. The fund is supported by a fee on the modern mining industry and is distributed to states as annual grants to reclaim mine sites that were abandoned prior to passage of the federal Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977.

 

The project contractor, Berner Construction Inc. of Gap, Lancaster County, will grade approximately 1.5 million cubic yards of on-site material to backfill 16,700 linear feet of highwalls and return the site to approximate pre-mining contours. Site reclamation will include eliminating several piles of mine spoil and applying 3,875 tons of high-calcium carbonate lime to offset soil acidity.

 

Erosion control measures at the site will include installation of 365 feet of subsurface drains and construction of permanent ditches. The entire 146-acre site will be planted with a grass and legume mixture specially formulated to grow on abandoned mine lands.

 

Construction is expected to begin in July and will take approximately 16 months to complete. Mechanized surface mining began in Clearfield County in the 1930s and the West Branch Susquehanna River and many of its tributaries including the Moshannon Creek are severely impacted by acid mine drainage and sediment-laden runoff from abandoned coal mines in the region.

 

Pennsylvania has approximately 180,000 acres of dangerous abandoned mine lands dating back to when coal mining began in the region in the 1700s.