The Pennsylvania Abandoned Mine Lands Campaign this week released a county by county breakdown of the extent and cost of reclaiming abandoned mines in the 42 counties affected by mine drainage and abandoned mine safety issues across the state.

The new report personalizes the debate over reauthorization of the fee used to finance the federal Abandoned Mine Reclamation Fund by turning the often cited statewide figures of 184,000 acres of abandoned mines and 4,000 miles of abandoned mine polluted streams into something local people can recognize.

The report catalogs the number of abandoned sites and features in each of the counties that need to be reclaimed, totals the acreage involved and estimates the cost of reclaiming those sites using a range of $8,000 and $10,000 per acre.

Check your county, you might be surprised to see you have a problem!

A copy of the report is available online.

Link: Groups Rally to Support Santorum Bill to Restore Abandoned Mine Funding

7/14/2006