HARRISBURG, Pennsylvania, November 2, 2007 (ENS) - The high cost of treating the acid mine drainage that has damaged more than 6,000 miles of Pennsylvania streams has kept many companies from entering the cleanup business, but that may change with the state’s financial support for a new technology now being used in Cambria County.

Earlier this week, Pennsylvania Environmental Protection Secretary Kathleen McGinty visited the pilot project where a portion of the polluted St. Michael’s mine shaft discharge is being treated and materials are being extracted so they can be used in other products.

The abandoned coal mine near the village of St. Michael's has been leaching iron-laden water for decades. State Department of Environmental Protection spokesman Ron Ruman says that while coal mining had taken place there for more than two centuries, the mine was abandoned in the 1950s or early 1960s, and there is no record of ownership.

The Little Conemaugh River has been affected by the mine's acidic discharge water, which can kill fish and adversely impact other aquatic life, Ruman said.

The pilot project, which is a joint effort of the Winner Technology and Research Institute, part of Winner International, and the Battelle Memorial Institute, of Ohio benefited from a $1.5 million state investment through the state's Growing Greener II program.

Headquartered in Sharon, Pennsylvania, privately-held Winner International has in the past been a battery, security and safety products company. With this project, the company is branching out into mine waste cleanup.

Scientists from Winner and Battelle are adapting a process used in the heavy metals industry to extract materials from the acid mine water discharge

At the St. Michael’s site, workers are extracting potassium sulfate for use as commercial fertilizer and ferrous sulfate to treat wastewater.

The process eliminates the sludge that is typically created when iron and other minerals are removed from the acid mine drainage. Traditionally, this sludge must be pumped into an underground mine pool or disposed of in a landfill.

McGinty said, "By supporting cutting edge research, we’re advancing a promising technique that will encourage more companies to undertake this environmental improvement work. Selling the treatment byproducts as commodities can help companies defray much of their costs and spawn industries that offer new jobs for our people."

If this pilot is successful, McGinty said, more companies will pursue stream restoration work because of the financial incentive, which would relieve the demand for cleanup on limited state and federal government resources.

"Historically, treating acid mine drainage has been an expensive proposition that produced the environmental benefit of cleaner water," said McGinty, "There was little incentive for private companies to engage in this kind of work, so state and federal governments had to pick up the tab. The technology demonstrated by this pilot project could change all of that."

Reclaiming the approximately 180,000 acres of abandoned mine land and restoring the more than 6,000 miles of stream damaged by acid mine drainage in Pennsylvania carries an estimated price tag of $15 billion.

Since 2003, nearly $173 million has been invested in Pennsylvania to address this problem - including $121.7 million from the federal Abandoned Mine Lands Fund and $51 million from the commonwealth.

Copyright Environment News Service (ENS) 2007. All rights reserved.