Abandoned Mine Drainage in the Susquehanna River Basin

From the colonial iron industry of the mid-1700s to the steel industry of the 1800s and electricity generation of today, coal mining has been the primary fuel source of our modern world. But for hundreds of years, progress through the coal industry rarely stopped to think about environmental consequences. Once coal from one site was depleted, operators would simply move to the next one. Nearly a quarter of a million mine lands were abandoned in Pennsylvania leaving environmental and safety hazards behind. And more than 5,500 miles of waterways in Pennsylvania are polluted by abandoned mine discharges of sulfuric acid and/or dissolved iron. The Susquehanna River Basin Commission (SRBC)’s Mine Drainage program, led by Andrew King, involves assessment and planning initiatives that lead to design and construction of abandoned mine drainage (AMD) treatment systems and abandoned mine land (AML) restoration projects. Join Andrew King, the Susquehanna River Basin Commission’s Mine Drainage Coordinator, on Friday, September 20 at 12:15 PM, to learn more about this enormous environmental problem, why it’s so difficult to clean-up, and the progress that’s been accomplished in remediation.