By Andy McAllister, Watershed Coordinator,Western Coalition for Abandoned Mine Reclamation

At this particular time of year, we all tend to look back over the past twelve months and reflect on what has happened in our lives. We're going to do the same. Thanks to your help and that of all of our partners, WPCAMR continued to play a vital role in reclaiming our land and water from the unregulated coal mining practices of the past.

In this year-end edition of Abandoned Mine Posts, we've decided to share with you, a few noteworthy news items and success stories of the past year.

Since the passage of the 2006 amendments to the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act, Department of Environmental Protection's Bureau of Abandoned Mine Reclamation had the daunting task of making sense of the changes and how their program would comply with what seemed to be a maze of new requirements.

After working long and hard, in 2009 BAMR released their Draft Implementation Guidelines for the AMD Set-Aside Program in Pennsylvania, outlining how the state's program would meet the requirements stipulated in the amended SMCRA. In July, 2009, those draft guidelines were unveiled at the annual Pennsylvania Abandoned Mine Reclamation Conference in Johnstown.

Also in 2009, in an effort to glean up-to-date information about passive treatment systems throughout the state, WPCAMR, in partnership with the DEP, Stream Restoration, Inc., and watershed stewards throughout the coal regions, began coordinating a series of sampling events, "snapshots" of passive treatment systems throughout the state. The sampling results are to be available on Datashed.org, an online database of treatment systems managed by Stream Restoration, Inc.

2009 proved to be a successful year for making our voices heard, thanks to your response to our calls for action.

In February, WPCAMR launched its "Tales from the Creeks" series in Abandoned Mine Posts that chronicles the work of our county Watershed Specialists and the need for funding those positions.
The response by our reclamation community to our call to write their legislators about the need to continue the Watershed Specialist program beyond 2010 was gratifying. WPCAMR, with help from partners Pennsylvania Association of Conservation Districts and the Foundation for Pennsylvania Watersheds, drew attention to the importance of the Watershed Specialist program and in the fall, the DEP reaffirmed the importance of this program by approving Watershed Specialist funding until 2012.

Successes continued, this time on the federal level, thanks to your letters responding to our call for action to re-insert language into the Fiscal Year 2010 Federal Appropriations Bill that allows the Watershed Cooperative Agreement Program funds to be used as match for other federal funds.

Our friends at the Eastern Coal Regional Roundtable were instrumental in pushing this issue with their constituency throughout the rest of the eastern coal states and communicating the need to our federal legislators.

In spring 2009, President Obama nominated Pennsylvania Bureau of Mining and Reclamation Director, Joe Pizarchik to head up the U.S. Department of Interior's Office of Surface Mining. After what seemed a lengthy amount of waiting, Joe was finally confirmed by the U.S. Senate and took office in Washington, D.C. on November 6. It was your letters to our U.S. Senators that helped to give them a clearer picture of Joe's abilities.

The year was one of celebrations as well as successes. The PA Environment Digest (and many partners) began a "Growing Greener 10th Anniversary Celebration," awarding monthly grants to grassroots groups who shared their written narratives or videos about their Growing Greener success stories.

The annual Ohio River Watershed Celebration, a free event in downtown Pittsburgh, once again celebrated the good work done by the reclamation community upstream. Look for that free celebratory cruise to set sail again in 2010.

In the spring, one of our region's most well-known watershed groups, the Sewickley Creek Watershed Association became the recipient of the Governor's Award for Environmental Excellence, in particular for their AMD remediation work being done with Bob Hedin at the Lowber passive treatment site in Westmoreland County.

Numerous environmental events continued to inspire and educate the public throughout the region during 2009.

One of the events highlighted in Abandoned Mine Posts was the 11th annual Pennsylvania Statewide AMR Conference, held in Johnstown. The 2009 conference showcased fascinating projects such as using minepool water to provide geothermal heat in the Hill district of Pittsburgh, as well as presentations about our industrial past.

In 2010, PA Abandoned Mine Reclamation Conference will be held in conjunction with two conferences, the annual conference for the American society for Mining Reclamation and the annual conference of the Appalachian Regional Reforestation Initiative). This unique joint mining reclamation conference will be held June 5-11 at the Radisson Green Tree in Pittsburgh.

On a final note, 2009 was punctuated by sadness when, on December 22nd, Eastern Coal Regional Roundtable Board of Directors President, Keith Pitzer passed away. In his lifetime, Keith worked hard to reclaim his beloved Cheat River Watershed in West Virginia.

Under his leadership as Executive Director of Friends of the Cheat, that organization dramatically expanded its efforts to restore, preserve, and promote the outstanding natural qualities of the Cheat River Watershed. Because of that organization's hard work, the Cheat River Watershed is well on the road to recovering from the debilitating effects of AMD. Keith served as a fine example of how one person can create positive change. He will be sorely missed.