By Robert Hughes, Eastern PA Coalition For Abandoned Mine Reclamation

Coal WAS a way of life in Pennsylvania. However, our abandoned mines need alternative economic development plans going forward.

For many of us, coal has been a way of life for generations. It has fueled the industrial revolution, helped us win two World Wars. It is a component in some shape or form of many of our everyday products. Our entire country has benefited from the mining of our Anthracite and Bituminous coal.

It also has left us with an environmental legacy of 5,500 miles of polluted waterways and more than 100,000+ acres of lands left unreclaimed.

Our communities that relied on coal during its heyday and peak of the industry also had to suffer from the bust that came with the boom and now need new alternative economic development plans and options going forward.

This is why the Eastern PA Coalition for Abandoned Mine Reclamation (EPCAMR) is calling on these Pennsylvania members of Congress-- Evans (D-3), Scanlon (D-5), Houlahan (D-6), Perry (R-10), Smucker (R-11), Keller (R-12), Joyce (R-13), and Reschenthaler (R-14)-- to support the federal RECLAIM Act.

To-date 10 of the 18 Pennsylvania members of the U.S. House are cosponsors, with our local Congressman, Matt Cartwright, championing the legislation and continuing to seek bipartisanship support.

Congress members Fitzpatrick (R-1), Boyle (R-2), Dean (D-4), Wild (D-7), Meuser (R-9), Thompson (R-15), Kelly (R-16), Lamb (D-17), and Doyle (D-18) are to be commended for their early leadership and support of the bill.

Abandoned mines and polluted waterways don’t recognize political parties or Congressional District boundaries. They affect all of the communities where the problem area acreage and impaired stream miles exist.

The RECLAIM Act - HR 2156 - commits $1 billion to projects that clean up abandoned mines and waters polluted by them. It prioritizes public input and community participation on which projects are chosen and how they are managed.

Under the status quo, $1 billion is scheduled to be disbursed in 2023 and thereafter. If passed, the RECLAIM Act will distribute more than $1 billion to states and tribes over five years, starting in fiscal year 2020.

This bill presents an urgently-needed opportunity to create jobs, empower local communities, leverage private investment, better utilize abandoned mine lands for its highest land use potential, and build long-term opportunities for working families in communities where coal has historically been the backbone of the local economy, who are in desperate need of jobs and new economies that will pay a sustainable living wage.

The RECLAIM Act could essentially double the money available to PA for the cleanup of dangerous, pollution-filled, abandoned coal mines.

We hope the remaining members of Congress will see the jobs, and improved quality of life benefits that this expedited use of the funds from the Abandoned Mine Land Trust Fund will have on many of our historic coalfield communities that are looking for alternatives now that the coal industry is much smaller state-wide. 

This bill would provide an immediate economic boost to communities and could put laid off miners -- who possess the skills necessary for this type of reclamation work -- and other skilled laborers to work.

Government estimates show the funds would create at least 4,600 reclamation jobs across the country, including good-paying jobs, well above minimum wage, right here in PA.

The RECLAIM Act is a powerful step toward revitalizing communities hit hardest by the coal industry’s downturn.

This bill is a major opportunity for areas that have historically depended on the coal industry for good jobs and economic stability, to rebuild themselves by creating new, diverse economies on their own terms.

In Pennsylvania, reclaimed coal mines have become athletic fields, industrial sites, hiking trails, commercial industrial parks, warehouse distribution centers, and retail sites.

We need to be looking at the polluted mine water as a resource for alternative energy production, metals recovery, consumptive use, potential storage of stormwater, aquaculture, rare earth metals recovery, and as a revenue generator for our communities.

We’ve looked at black culm banks, orange streams, and burning mine fires for far too long. It’s now time to start turning them into something green, clean, and sustainable. 

In fact, in Northeastern Pennsylvania, the Swoyersville Refuse Reclamation & Community Athletic Area Abandoned Mine Land Pilot Project is a great example of the type of project that the RECLAIM Act is well suited to fund.

For three generations, the town of Swoyersville has been split in two by a 55 acre dangerous eyesore. This abandoned culm banks and silt basins will someday become a healthy hub of community activity.

The Eastern Pennsylvania Coalition for Abandoned Mine Reclamation was awarded a $4 million Pennsylvania AML Pilot Program project for the reclamation of the former Harry E. Colliery Swoyersville Refuse Reclamation, which is leveraging an additional $8 million from Keystone Reclamation Fuels Management LLC and Olympus Power.

The project will include the reclamation of 15 acres of an abandoned mine land problem area. Approximately 500,000 tons of waste culm will be removed and used in electricity generation.

Seven acres will be converted into a recreational community athletic area and greenspace. The area will be donated by the Coal Company to Swoyersville Borough, to be utilized by the community and surrounding youth sports leagues.

A monarch butterfly garden and potential Monarch Way Station has even been constructed at the entrance to the site.

Reclamation leads to revitalization of our coalfield communities who have moved beyond coal and are searching for positive infusions of economic development into their neighborhoods, cleaner waterways, and greener landscapes.

And, so will RECLAIM.

It’s time to act on RECLAIM. Coal communities need less talk, no more delays, a greater priority on economic development of the lands and waters that have been forgotten for decades, and more political will and action.

This is why EPCAMR is calling on those 8 Pennsylvania Congressional Representatives mentioned above to support the bipartisan RECLAIM Act today.

Robert Hughes serves as Executive Director of the Eastern PA Coalition for Abandoned Mine Reclamation, a nonprofit group made up of 16 county conservation districts, watershed organizations, the anthracite mining industry, co-generation power plants and others in Eastern Pennsylvania working on abandoned mine reclamation issues.  He can be contacted by calling 570-371-3523 or send email to: rhughes@epcamr.org.

EPCAMR is matched in Western Pennsylvania by a similar organization, the Western PA Coalition for Abandoned Mine Reclamation.

Related Articles:

EPCAMR, WPCAMR Urging Local Governments, Watershed, Environmental Groups To Tell Congress To Reauthorize Federal Mine Reclamation Fee

U.S. House Natural Resources Committee Reports Out RECLAIM, Good Samaritan Mine Reclamation Initiatives; Senate Version Introduced

PA Congressmen Introduce Bipartisan RECLAIM Initiative To Invest In Environmental, Economic Recovery In Coal Country

DEP, EPCAMR, Trout Unlimited Tell U.S. House Subcommittee Hearing Reauthorizing Federal Abandoned Mine Reclamation Fee Critical, There’s A Lot More To Do

DEP Citizens Advisory Council To Hear Presentations On DEP Climate Plan, Cap-And-Trade Petition, Abandoned Mine Reclamation Fee June 18

Related Articles This Week:

Western PA Conservancy To Undertake Good Samaritan Mine Reclamation Project In Elk County

Opportunity To Bid On DEP Mine Reclamation Project In Allegheny County

Op-Ed: Strong, Local Economy Depends On Investing In Our Natural Resources - Rachel Kester, Trout Unlimited

Analysis: Will The General Assembly Provide The REAL Resources Everyone Agrees Are Needed To Clean Up Our Rivers & Streams?

[Posted: June 10, 2019]

6/17/2019