Western Pennsylvania Coalition for Abandoned Mine Reclamation

Contact Information

OSM/VISTA: Vacant
Supervisor: Bruce Golden
Sponsoring Organization: WPCAMR
Address: Donohoe Center, RR 12 Box 202 1B, Greensburg, PA 15601
Phone: 724.837.5271
E-Mail: bruce@wpcamr.org
Website: http://www.amrclearinghouse.org
U.S. Congressional Districts:
County: Multiple counties in Western Pennsylvania

The Western Pennsylvania Coalition for Abandoned Mine Reclamation (WPCAMR) came into being in 1981 when a Western Pennsylvania group intent on improving the devastation resulting from over a centuryâs worth of unregulated coal mining acted upon their frustrations. Comprised of conservation district leaders, federal conservation professionals, and other conservation-minded individuals, the group believed more resources should be made available and applied to the massive abandoned mine reclamation issues of the region.

Initially, their goal was to obtain more money for the Rural Abandoned Mine Program (RAMP), a federal program designed to address AMR. Through advocacy and outreach efforts and by involving local officials, communities, state and federal agencies, the group was successful in obtaining RAMP funding for western PA. The model based on partnering proved to be quite practical and effective. As one successful land reclamation project after another came to fruition, state and federal agencies slowly came to embrace the approach. Over time, WPCAMR began to place an elevated emphasis on the then largely neglected issue of degraded water quality due to abandoned mine drainage (AMD). Other avenues to providing the necessary resources were also identified, including the use of the PL-566 law to provide funding and resources for AMD projects. In spite of the successes with the RAMP program in PA, it ultimately faded out of the picture because of lack of support nationally. However, the groundwork lain throughout the 80âs and into the 90âs by the all-volunteer organization paved the way for other opportunities.

In 1994, a financial breakthrough came from EPA's Non-Point Source Section 319 program as administered through PA DEPâs Bureau of Watershed Management. Funding provided the means to hire WPCAMRâs first employee, Mark Killar, as the Regional Coordinator. Urging local support and partnerships and starting with small, doable projects as the model to follow in building local sustainability, Killar provided support to fledgling local groups interested in solving AMD problems. DEP was encouraged by the approach and lent financial and on the ground support to projects. At the same time, innovative passive treatment technologies were just coming on the scene as cost-effective alternatives for AMD treatment. As prototype projects succeeded, the model of locally driven passive treatment solutions gained momentum.

From 1995 through 1997 WPCAMR coordinated 18 passive treatment demonstration projects involving federal, state, and county agencies and local watershed associations and partners. In this timeframe, a second paid position of Watershed Coordinator was funded by the 319 program, further expanding WPCAMRâs ability to help build local capacity through the establishment and nurturing of watershed associations. Teamwork, partnerships, and a ãground-upä approach developed over the years by conservation districts proved to be very successful.

As more and more systems were proposed, another issue increasingly came into play: landowner liability. To insulate and encourage landowners to participate in allowing passive treatment systems to be built on their properties, WPCAMR played a key role in the establishment of the Good Samaritan legislation. WPCAMR was also instrumental in the formation of the Eastern PA Coalition for Abandoned Mine Reclamation in the anthracite coal region and the National Coalition for Abandoned Mine Reclamation. WPCAMR also participated in successful advocacy efforts to reenact AML funding legislation.

In 2000, WPCAMR took a major organizational step by formally incorporating as a non-profit corporation. While still maintaining close ties with Westmoreland Conservation District that hosted the Coalition through its formative years, the Coalition has increasingly grown more independent. The Coalition broadened its service thrust when Growing Greener funding became available. Projects include: digitizing Scarlift abandoned mine site reports; locating, evaluating and prioritizing mine refuse piles; studying the formation of an Ohio River headwaters organization; creating the abandoned mine reclamation clearinghouse web site; and communicating with decision-makers concerning AMD issues. WPCAMR also administered the Regional Watershed Support Initiative grants program, aiding watershed associations in capacity building over a 5 year period.

Personnel changes have occurred throughout the years. Bruce Golden is now the Regional Coordinator and Deb Simko is the Watershed Coordinator. The service area is currently 24 counties which include almost 90 watershed associations. New issues continually appear such as bankruptcies of major coal operators, the flooding of mine pools in the Monongahela basin, and the uncertainties involved in the future of the AML Fund. In fact, through work initiated by WPCAMR, the Monongahela and Allegheny Rivers were named as the 5th most endangered river system in the nation by the American Rivers organization in 2004. WPCAMR continues to promote innovate and cost-effective treatment and reclamation technologies and the need to adequately address the operations and maintenance needs of existing treatment systems.

The OSM/VISTAâs primary responsibility would be to work with local watershed groups and community leaders, both governmental and non-governmental, to help make the resources of WPCAMR available to them. This capacity building would be accomplished by increasing access to a WPCAMR program called AMD and Your Community, the goal of which is to better educate local decision makers about AMD and the steps they can take to mitigate its damaging effects on their environment. The other major project the OSM/VISTA would have would be to work with local watershed groups in developing operation and maintenance plans for their passive treatment systems, constructed to mitigate water pollution from runoff, including AMD. Getting these groups connected to a centralized, web-based data management system that will hold all of the data from analyzed water samples of each passive treatment system will be part of this work. The data management system will greatly improve the efficiency of monitoring passive treatment systems, provide a central location for research data, and alert WPCAMR and its associated watershed groups to problems with any treatment systems.