The Department of Environmental Protection this week announced the award of nine contracts to eliminate dangerous abandoned mine lands featuring steep cliffs, waste coal that pollutes streams, and exposed coal seams that can ignite will be cleaned up under nine contracts awarded during the third quarter of 2009.

DEP awarded the contracts under programs that address the most dangerous mine sites and, in some cases, allow modern coal mining companies to clean up historic messes at no cost to taxpayers.

The nine contracts were for projects in Allegheny, Cambria, Clarion, Jefferson, Mercer and Somerset counties.

Since January 1, DEP's Bureau of Abandoned Mine Reclamation has awarded 14 contracts from Abandoned Mine Lands Fund and Acid Mine Drainage Fund totaling $19.3 million that will reclaim 574 acres of mine lands, extend waterlines in 2 communities where abandoned mines have impacted the water supplies, and begin construction of an acid mine drainage treatment plant to improve the water quality in the West Branch Susquehanna River.

"We have begun several significant abandoned mine reclamation projects in the past three months that clean up mine drainage, restore aquatic life to severely degraded streams, and reclaim dangerous minelands where it's apparent people have been trespassing and dumping trash," said DEP Secretary John Hanger. "These projects address a wide assortment of problems ranging from filling in abandoned mine shafts to exposing old abandoned underground mines and correcting subsidence problems. At many locations, this work is being done at no cost to the taxpayers."

The federal Abandoned Mine Lands Fund is the largest source of funding for the mine reclamation work in Pennsylvania. The fund is overseen by the U. S. Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement and is supported by a fee on the modern mining industry.

The funding 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.

DEP's Bureau of District Mining Operations operates innovative programs to encourage modern coal companies to reopen abandoned mines that still contain mineable coal reserves and complete reclamation at no cost to the taxpayers. Since the beginning of the year, DEP has awarded seven contracts to coal and energy companies to reclaim 95.3 acres of mine-scarred lands at an estimated value to the Commonwealth of $679,700.

Other funding sources include Growing Greener grants, which often fund mine drainage projects through local watershed groups, and forfeitures of reclamation bonds that are posted by mining companies to cover the cost of reclaiming mine sites if the company is unable or unwilling to complete site restoration once mining is finished.

Pennsylvania has approximately 180,000 acres of abandoned mine lands dating back to when coal mining began in the commonwealth in the 1700s. More than two billion tons of waste coal sit in piles across the state and an estimated 5,500 miles of rivers and streams are degraded by mine drainage.

The contracts awarded include:

Allegheny County: Indiana Township – Lower Allegheny River Watershed. Remove two deteriorating concrete mine shaft caps, backfill the 190-foot-deep shafts with 5,700 tons of rock fill, install sub-surface drain and construct fence around both shafts. $282,145 (OSMRE*)

-- Jefferson Hills Borough – Monongahela River Watershed. Expose and reclaim approximately 5.2 acres of abandoned Pittsburgh coal seam deep mine. $39,900 (NC)

Cambria County: Barr Township – West Branch Susquehanna Watershed. Reclaim 11.3 acres of abandoned minelands and construct passive mine drainage treatment system to treat the 7.5 million gallon per day discharge from the abandoned Lancashire #15 mine. $11,124,555 (OSMRE)

Clarion County: Clarion Township – Lower Clarion River Watershed. Reclaim 19 acres of abandoned strip mine including grading and eliminating 2,000 linear feet of dangerous highwall using 185,000 cubic yards of on-site material, install erosion and sediment controls and establish vegetation. $237,348 (OSMRE)

-- Madison Township – Redbank Creek Watershed. Grade 1,290,000 cubic yards of on-site material to eliminate steep, unstable piles of mine spoil and fill water-filled pits, construct permanent ditches for erosion protection, create wetlands and establish vegetation on approximately 130 acres of abandoned mine lands. $1,368,780 (OSMRE)

Jefferson County: Winslow Township – Redbank Creek Subbasin, Middle Allegheny River Watershed. Expose and remine 9.2 acres of abandoned Lower Freeport coal seam deep mine and reclaim14.4 acres of mine subsidence area. Work will eliminate safety hazards, promote positive drainage to Fehley Run and contribute to improved use of the property for wildlife habitat. $126,600 (NC)

Mercer County: Findley and Springfield townships – Shenango River Watershed. Grade approximately 391,000 cubic yards of on-site material to eliminate 3,200 feet of dangerous highwall and water-filled pits, eliminate unstable piles of mine spoil, construct permanent ditches for erosion protection and establish vegetation on 55 acres of abandoned mine lands. $633,418.40 (OSMRE)

Somerset County: Elklick Township – Casselman River Watershed. Divert a post-mining discharge from the closed Delta Mining Maust Site to an existing passive mine drainage treatment system. This is part of a greater project to restore trout habitat to a headwater tributary on Mount Davis. $13,423 (BF)

-- Jenner Township – Stoneycreek River Watershed. Construct passive mine drainage treatment facility to replace failing and inadequate treatment facility at abandoned Lion Mine. Discharge from this mine affects the South Fork Bens Creek, a High Quality stream. The new system will be constructed on 10 acres of land donated by a neighboring landowner. $512,009.47 (BF)

Between 1995 and 2002, the Department of Environmental Protection, with the help of federal funds, the Growing Greener Program, bond forfeiture monies, remining by the coal industry and non cost government contracts reclaimed 33,300 acres ( about 4,100 acres a year) with a total value of $234.2 million. (click here for details)

* OSMRE = U.S. Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement; BF = Bond Forfeiture; NC = No Cost to Commonwealth