Thursday, November 19, 2009

New Surface Mining Chief Cracks Down on Mountaintop Removal, Valley Fills

WASHINGTON, DC, November 18, 2009 (ENS) - The U.S. Department of the Interior is taking immediate actions to strengthen its oversight of state surface coal mining programs. The agency will issue federal regulations to better protect streams affected by surface coal mining operations, such as mountaintop removal mining, Interior officials announced today.

Mountaintop removal mining involves clearcutting native forests, using dynamite to blast away up to 600 feet of mountaintop to get at seams of coal, and then dumping the waste rock, called fill, into nearby valleys, often burying streams.

"We are moving as quickly as possible under the law to gather public input for a new rule, based on sound science, that will govern how companies handle fill removed from mountaintop coal seams," said Assistant Secretary for Land and Minerals Management Wilma Lewis. "America's vast coal resources are a vital component of our energy future and our economy, but we have a responsibility to ensure that development is done in a way that protects public health and safety and the environment."

"Until we put a new rule in place, we will work to provide certainty to coal operations and the communities that depend on coal for their livelihood, strengthen our oversight and inspections, and coordinate with other federal agencies to better protect streams and water quality," she said.

Interior's Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement, OSM, is publishing an advance notice of proposed rulemaking regarding the protection of streams from the impacts of surface coal mining operations.

Full article here.

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

What To Do With Paper Waste That’s Not Recyclable?

Most paper waste is recyclable. The margin may not be terrific on recycled paper products, except for clean white office paper, but it is usually sufficient to create secondary markets for most paper waste.

The problem arises, however, when that paper is contaminated with food or for some other reason is not recyclable (pizza boxes anyone?). Not only does this potentially contaminate other paper that may be recyclable, but it creates a waste management challenge to municipalities.

So besides using it for campfire kindle, what can we do with it?
A process called thermochemical conversion will take that waste and convert it into usable products, but usually requires superheating, to the tune of 500 degrees C. With that kind of carbon footprint, it’s hard to imagine that this reuse is a worthwhile sustainable effort.

A startup company called Solar Alchemy, which is competing int he 2009 Clean Tech Open in San Francisco, CA, has a proprietary process that will bring that heat requirement down to about 300 degrees. But really, is that much of an improvement. You bet. And not just for the reason you might expect.

Full article here.

Thursday, November 12, 2009

New Mine Drainage Treatment Plant Will Improve 35-Plus Miles of the West Branch Susquehanna River

Barr Township, Cambria County – Construction has begun on a mine drainage treatment facility that will restore aquatic life to the upper reaches of one of America’s most polluted rivers and improve the economic outlook for the entire region, according to the Department of Environmental Protection.

During a groundbreaking ceremony today, DEP Deputy Secretary for Mineral Resource Management J. Scott Roberts said the Lancashire #15 treatment plant will improve water quality in at least 35 miles of the West Branch Susquehanna River.

“No place in America has paid a heavier price for the unregulated mining practices of the past than Pennsylvania’s northern bituminous coal fields and the West Branch Susquehanna River,” Roberts said. “Here in the midst of some of the most remote and beautiful country in the eastern United States, approximately 1,000 miles of the West Branch and its tributaries are impaired because of mine drainage.”

The new mine drainage treatment plant will treat up to 10 million gallons per day of acidic water from the abandoned 7,100 acre Lancashire #15 mine complex. Currently, the Susquehanna River is losing this water because the Lancashire #15 mine pool is pumped, treated and discharged to the Ohio River Basin on the other side of the mountain. This prevents the mine pool from rising to an elevation where it will drain into the West Branch. In 1969, the mine blew out and caused a fish kill for more than 40 miles of the West Branch of the Susquehanna.

The influx of fresh water into the basin will counteract the effects of numerous acidic discharges in the headwaters, restoring aquatic habitat to an estimated 35 miles of the river and improving water quality as far downstream as the Curwensville Lake in Clearfield County.

In addition, the added water will help make up for the estimated 15.7 million gallons that agricultural operations use in the middle and lower Susquehanna Basin, extending the benefits of this treatment plant as far downstream as the Chesapeake Bay.

Full article here.

EPA Study Reveals Widespread Contamination of Fish in U.S. Lakes and Reservoirs

WASHINGTON – A new EPA study shows concentrations of toxic chemicals in fish tissue from lakes and reservoirs in nearly all 50 U.S. states. For the first time, EPA is able to estimate the percentage of lakes and reservoirs nationwide that have fish containing potentially harmful levels of chemicals such as mercury and PCBs.

“These results reinforce Administrator Jackson’s strong call for revitalized protection of our nation’s waterways and long-overdue action to protect the American people,” said Peter S. Silva, assistant administrator for EPA’s Office of Water. “EPA is aggressively tackling the issues the report highlights. Before the results were even finalized, the agency initiated efforts to further reduce toxic mercury pollution and strengthen enforcement of the Clean Water Act – all part of a renewed effort to protect the nation’s health and environment.”

The data showed mercury concentrations in game fish exceeding EPA’s recommended levels at 49 percent of lakes and reservoirs nationwide, and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in game fish at levels of potential concern at 17 percent of lakes and reservoirs. These findings are based on a comprehensive national study using more data on levels of contamination in fish tissue than any previous study.

Burning fossil fuels, primarily coal, accounts for nearly half of mercury air emissions caused by human activity in the U.S., and those emissions are a significant contributor to mercury in water bodies. From 1990 through 2005, emissions of mercury into the air decreased by 58 percent. EPA is committed to developing a new rule to substantially reduce mercury emissions from power plants, and the Obama Administration is actively supporting a new international agreement that will reduce mercury emissions worldwide.

Full article here.

Friday, November 6, 2009

DEP may partner with drillers to clean up acid mine drainage

The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection and several Marcellus Shale drillers are hoping to band together to tackle a major environmental issue by turning the drillers’ need for millions of gallons of water into an opportunity to clean up acid mine drainage.

The department has been in discussions with Range Resources Corp., Seneca Resources Corp. and others about a new way to ensure that Pennsylvania’s 5,000 miles of streams and rivers impaired by the orange, metal-heavy discharge from abandoned mines are kept clean.

Currently, local watershed organizations and the DEP treat mine drainage using, among other things, state Growing Greener grants that sunset next year.

“I think there’s a crisis looming across the state,” said Mark Fedosick, president of the Montour Run Watershed Association, whose latest mine drainage treatment system opened on Nov. 6 in Findlay Township.

Fedosick said he wonders where watershed groups like his will find funding when the grants expire. Adding to that anxiety is the seemingly infinite lifespan of an abandoned mine.

“Discharges don’t dry up. They’re ground water. They’re being fed by streams,” said J. Scott Horrell, environmental program manager with the state’s Bureau of Abandoned Mine Reclamation.

At the same time, the natural gas industry is facing a problem of its own — it needs millions of gallons of water to fracture each well, a process that involves pumping the water mixed with chemicals into the dense rock at such high pressure as to crack it and release the natural gas trapped inside.

Full article, click here.

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

Great Lakes Restoration Initiative

November 3, 2009. President Obama signed legislation that authorizes $475 million for Fiscal Year 2010 on October 30. Governor Strickland today thanked President Obama for this significant step toward the restoration and protection of Lake Erie.

These funds respond to a plan of action prepared by the Great Lakes States and its citizens in cooperation with 16 federal agencies known as the Great Lakes Regional Collaboration Strategy. This Strategy achieved Great Lakes wide agreement on what needs to be done to restore the Great Lakes and President Obama’s Great Lakes Restoration Initiative provides funding to implement these plans.

Funding is available for the most significant problems in the Great Lakes, including invasive aquatic species, habitat restoration, non-point source pollution, contaminated sediment clean up, water quality, and beach monitoring/clean up.

Lake Erie and Ohio has been affected by all of these problems. Projects and plans have previously been developed by Ohio and cooperating organizations. The Lake Erie Protection and Restoration Plan, Lake Erie Lakewide Management Plan (LaMP), the Remedial Action Plans for the Ashtabula, Cuyahoga, Black and Lower Maumee Rivers as well as other watershed and Basinwide Plans have provided a list of programs and projects that reflect the needs of Lake Erie as developed with significant citizen input. The Great Lakes Restoration Initiative can provide significant funding to implement these plans.

Ohio is preparing to move quickly to utilize these funds. A Fact Sheet and Draft List of possible projects, which includes programs and projects of state government and partners in Lake Erie restoration and protection, is accessible at the Commission’s website for Ohio GLRI projects. The list reflects many projects for which funding may be requested of USEPA and other federal agencies. This list of projects is a draft, subject to change and requires further input and review before submission. The projects vary in their length of time from one-to-three years. The final project list will be developed after the Request for Proposals are issued.

A website for the Fact Sheet and Ohio GLRI projects has been opened at lakeerie.ohio.gov/GLRI/ASPX. Any comments can be conveyed to the Ohio Lake Erie Commission or to the Agency contacts identified on this webpage. The Fact Sheet and Project List and additional details will be posted to this website to provide an opportunity to keep the materials current and up-to-date.

Tuesday, November 3, 2009

EPA Requests Comments on Survey for Stormwater Rule

WASHINGTON - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is proposing a survey to help strengthen stormwater regulations and reduce stormwater discharges from newly developed and redeveloped sites. Stormwater discharges can harm water quality through increases in stormwater volume and pollutant loadings into nearby waterways.

Generally, as sites are developed, less ground area is available for rain to soak into, which increases stormwater volume. This stormwater flows across roads, rooftops and other surfaces, picking up pollutants that then flow into waterways. The draft survey would require detailed information about stormwater management and control practices, local regulations, and baseline financial information.

EPA plans to propose a rule to control stormwater from newly developed and redeveloped sites and to take final action no later than November 2012. In support of this rulemaking, EPA is proposing to require three different groups to complete questionnaires about current stormwater management practices: 1) the owners, operators, developers, and contractors of newly and redeveloped sites; 2) the owners and operators of municipal separate storm sewer systems; and 3) states and territories.

The proposed survey will be open for public comment for 60 days following publication in the Federal Register.

More information: http://www.epa.gov/npdes/stormwater/rulemaking

Abandoned Mines Would Grow Algae in Mo. Biofuels Project

Backers of algae-based biofuels tout the simplicity of their feedstock. Sunlight and water are all that's needed to convert carbon dioxide into fuel.

Now, some scientists are testing the notion that sunlight might be optional.

Researchers at the Missouri University of Science and Technology are planning to grow algae for fuel in abandoned mines using light-emitting diodes, or LEDs.

"About this time in the conversation, someone usually raises their hand and says, 'But it's dark,'" said David Summers, a mining engineering professor. "That's not necessarily a disadvantage."

Algae need light to produce lipids, or oil, but they work best when they use only the red and blue parts of the light spectrum and when they are given time in the dark to process the photons, Summers said.

That is where LEDs come in, Summers said. They can be tailored to emit only the needed light frequencies, and they can be set to pulse several times a second at a rate that gives the algae time to absorb and process the light energy without wasting it.

"When it's sunny, plants are totally saturated pretty early on in the day," said D.J. Vidt, a graduate student. "Unless they get shade to process the photons, it's basically wasted energy. We're just shortening ours from hours to milliseconds ... for efficiency."

Using LEDs to grow algae is not a new idea. Researchers have been working on the concept for years, and some startup companies are using the idea as the basis for their business models.

"We like LEDs because they're so efficient," said Riggs Eckelberry, president and CEO of OriginOil Inc., a California-based company using LEDs to grow algae.

But Summers wants to take the concept a step further by placing the photobioreactors, which house the algae, underground in abandoned mines. Using mines allows algae growers to address three problems of open, outdoor ponds: evaporation, contamination and fluctuating temperatures.

Full article here.

Monday, November 2, 2009

PA DEP Announces Nine Projects to Reclaim 235 Abandoned Mine Land Acres

Harrisburg – Environmental Protection Secretary John Hanger announced today that 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.

“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,” Hanger said. “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.

Full article here.