Pa. receives $55 million to clean up hazardous mining sites

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Pennsylvania will receive $55 million of about $300 million in annual funding from the Abandoned Mine Land Trust Fund to clean up hazardous sites left behind by the mining industry, U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke announced at a volunteer fire hall in East Bethlehem Saturday afternoon.

The Washington County community is home to one of about 800 coal refuse piles left in the state — Black Dog Hollow, a 45-acre site of debris and hazardous material that climbs about 90 feet high. The nearest home is located just 100 feet away.

The site poses a number of environmental threats including dangerous runoff into the Monongahela River, soil erosion and the movement of slate onto local roads and into sewers, clogging the public drainage system. It’s the byproduct of a mining conveyor system that was built at the pile prior to 1958.

In 12 to 18 months, Mr. Zinke hopes to see grasses cover the toxic pile. In five years, he said, there will be trees sprouting.

Since 1980, the state has received over $1.2 billion from the fund, which is derived from coal companies themselves. Firms pay 28 cents per ton for surfacemined coal and 12 cents per ton for coal mined underground, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection.

While the grant money is intended to eliminate existing health and safety hazards, some local residents are frustrated that they weren’t informed about the impending redevelopment more than 24 hours before