SOMERSET, PA. Task force sought to deal with mine drainage

The conservation group represents sportsman groups, mining companies, government agencies and environmental groups.
SOMERSET, Pa. (AP) -- A conservation group is urging Pennsylvania Gov.-elect Ed Rendell to form an independent task force made up of representatives from the steel industry, state government and environmental groups to investigate drainage from abandoned mines.
Members of the Stonycreek-Conemaugh River Improvement Project are concerned that financially troubled steel companies will not continue to clean up contaminated water that seeps from abandoned mines.
It is also possible that small coal companies that go out of business will not be forced to clean up acid mine drainage, said Len Lichvar, a member of the river improvement project.
Priority
The coalition of sportsman groups, mining companies, government agencies and environmental groups is circulating a petition via e-mail that urges Rendell to direct his environmental secretary to make acid mine drainage a priority.
The task force should find new ways to treat contaminated water that drains from mines and new ways to fund the cleanup, the petition said.
"They need to deal with this up front, and they need to deal with it now, or they're facing very catastrophic consequences in the short term," Lichvar said.
A transition team is studying all environmental issues, but Rendell recognizes that acid mine drainage is a significant problem, Rendell spokesman Patrick Mellody said.
The river improvement project has worked to clean pollution, including acid mine drainage, from the Stonycreek and Little Conemaugh rivers in Cambria and Somerset counties.
But Lichvar is concerned that mine drainage could again taint the rivers unless groups around the state take action now.
There are more than 4,600 abandoned coal sites around the nation that the government deems unhealthy and unsafe, according to the federal Office of Surface Mining.
Concerns
Acids and metals produced by abandoned mines can discharge into streams, killing fish and insects, hurting plant growth and turning water orange. Treating acid drainage from abandoned mines is a $5 billion problem for Pennsylvania alone, according to the state's Department of Environmental Protection.
The state estimates 1,700 miles of streams remain polluted by acid mine drainage.
In November, the DEP ordered bankrupt Bethlehem Steel Corp. and a coal-mining subsidiary to continue their treatment of polluted water at nine coal mine sites to protect water quality in streams and a public reservoir.
In August, the DEP announced that a $2 million trust fund will pay for the pumping and treating of polluted groundwater leaking from five former coal mines owned by bankrupt LTV Steel.
The river improvement project is circulating the petition now because Rendell's new administration presents a "window of opportunity," Lichvar said.
The group's Web site is www.ctcnet.net/scrip/.