Abandoned mine work slated in Plum, Rostraver, Derry Township
A long-burning underground mine fire near Renton in Plum, a coal refuse pile in Rostraver and the potential for mine subsidence in the Derry Township village of Bradenville are among 150 threats from long-abandoned mines slated for work this year, the Wolf administration announced Tuesday.
Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection Secretary Patrick McDonnell said the state will tap $55.6 million from the U.S. Department of the Interior's Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement 2018 Abandoned Mine Land Grant Fund to underwrite projects that span the state. The money to reclaim abandoned mines that scar the landscape, pollute streams and pose threats to nearby homes comes from fees assessed on coal production.
“One-third of the abandoned mine lands in the nation are located in Pennsylvania, largely as a result of hundreds of years of coal mining prior to modern laws, regulations and safeguards,” said Eric Cavazza, director of the DEP Bureau of Abandoned Mine Reclamation.
Cavazza said DEP processes hundreds of requests for assistance with abandoned mine problems, ranging from threat due to mine subsidence and underground fires to acid mine drainage. The agency gives highest priority to those that pose risks to public health or safety.
The three local projects are among the largest in this end of the state.
Efforts to extinguish the Renton fire began two years ago. DEP spokeswoman Lauren Fraley said phase one of the work consisted of drilling around the perimeter of the fire and flushing it with a grout-like material to isolate and extinguish areas too deep to excavate. She could not say when phase two of the work there will begin.
Work in Rostraver will focus on reclaiming the Banning mine refuse pile. State officials said the site is slated to become home to a solar farm once the reclamation project is completed.
The Bradenville project aims to stabilize an area that poses a threat of subsidence to 100 homes near an abandoned mine. Derry Township Secretary Donna Wano said the Department of Environmental Protection scheduled question-and-answer sessions for the public June 6 at the Cooperstown Event Center and June 7 at the Derry Township Municipal Building.
State officials estimate as many as 1 million homes in Pennsylvania are built above or near abandoned deep mines. Last year, a Latrobe woman lost her home when it collapsed into an abandoned mine there.
Debra Erdley is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach her at 412-320-7996 or derdley@tribweb.com or via Twitter @deberdley_trib
