Old coal mines continue to taint Ohio waterways
Many streams in region are orange, resident says.
The images of Colorado’s Animas River over the past week have been jarring: An abandoned gold mine was breached, causing it to spew tainted water that has dyed the river yellow-orange all the way into Utah.
That water contains toxic chemicals, including arsenic, manganese and cadmium, all known to cause health problems for people. The cleanup likely will take years.
The issue of abandoned mines and their legacy of water pollution is not unique to Colorado.
Abandoned mines across Ohio have polluted streams and creeks for decades, turning waterways orange and lacing them with sulfuric acid, dissolved metals and toxic sediments.
Although some polluted waterways have been cleaned up, a lack of funding has made dealing with acid-mine drainage impossible in others.
About 36,000 acres of land across Ohio have been damaged by underground and strip mines, an area equal in size to Pittsburgh, according to a database kept by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources.
Records that indicate which mines have polluted waterways are harder to track down, but 1,300 miles of streams or creeks have been polluted in Ohio because of water from coal mines, the data show.
“We have many streams that run orange — all the time — from abandoned mines,” said Jen Bowman, a senior environmentalproject manager at Ohio University’s Voinovich School.
She writes annual stream-health reports for waterways affected by mine drainage and has worked on plans to save creeks and streams polluted by acid-mine drainage.
Ohio has not suffered a disaster on the magnitude of what happened in Colorado, where about 3 million gallons of polluted water gushed into the Animas River.
The leaks in Ohio are smaller but still continue to pollute waterways, Bowman said.
The Colorado blowout happened as a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency team attempted to slowly release water that had built up inside the Gold King mine. The barrier gave way, and the water was all released at once.
Eric Heis, a spokesman for the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, said the state takes care to prevent that type of thing from occurring.
“We take extra precautions when working on mines, such as decanting water before we make or seal an entry, (or) letting water out slowly to prevent potential large releases,” he said. “There is mine water naturally flowing out of mines, and we are working every day to protect the environment and people that could be impacted.”
Coal’s legacy on Ohio’s waters, particularly in the southeastern part of the state, is visible in creek after yellow creek.
In some instances, coal companies intentionally pumped water out of coal mines into nearby streams. In others, abandoned coal mines that fill with rainwater continuously leach water into nearby watersheds.
Consider Sunday Creek, a tributary of the Hocking River that starts in Perry County. An abandoned mine has leaked polluted water into the creek for decades.
But Sunday Creek is one of five watersheds in an ongoing state project to clean up mine drainage. The state has spent nearly $30 million, using money from a federal fee that coal companies pay.
“There’s forever orange water flowing through there, still even now,” Bowman said.
Other watersheds outside the project continue to take on polluted mine water.
Sometimes, local residents drive efforts to clean up the creeks and rivers.
This week, Marissa Lautzenheiser visited a polluted creek that feeds the Tuscarawas River. She coordinates cleanup efforts there for the nonprofit group Rural Action, and her work often involves talking to students at elementary and middle schools about mine pollution.
Many of the streams in that area are bright orange, she said, “just like the pictures coming out from out West. Some of the kids (here), they don’t know that water isn’t that color everywhere.”
Lautzenheiser’s family is from Tuscarawas County, and her ancestors worked in the coal mines that now pollute streams and rivers there.
“These towns wouldn’t have been here, my family probably wouldn’t have been here, if it wasn’t for the coal-mining industry here,” she said.
“I think you can appreciate their work while still acknowledging the damage that the industry did before it was regulated. It is definitely a legacy of what non-regulation can leave in these kinds of forgotten-about areas, these small rural communities.”
About 36,000 acres of land across Ohio have been damaged by underground and strip mines, an area equal in size to Pittsburgh, according to a database kept by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources.
Eric Warfel’s attorney
Michael O’Shea