Acid drainage flowing from abandoned coal mines has caused pollution so severe that plant and animal life in streams cannot survive. The Environmental Protection Agency has singled out drainage from abandoned coal mines as the number one quality problem in Appalachia. Many of these problems originated many years ago and resulted from coal production that helped build America's strong industrial base and fueled our war efforts during World War I and II.

Acid drainage is water containing acidity, iron, manganese, aluminum, and other metals. It is caused by exposing coal and bedrock high in pyrite (iron-sulfide) to oxygen and moisture as a result of surface or underground mining operations. If produced in sufficient quantity, iron hydroxide and sulfuric acid, a result of chemical and biological reaction, may contaminate surface and ground water.

President Carter signed the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act in 1977. One of the main reasons the new law was needed was to prevent future coal mining from creating acid drainage problems. Another was to clean up abandoned mine land problems from past mining. Today, thousands of miles of streams are so badly polluted with acid drainage that all plant and animal life has been destroyed. Acid drainage problems exist in Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Ohio, Kentucky, Maryland, Indiana, Illinois, Oklahoma, Iowa, Missouri, Kansas, Tennessee, Virginia, Alabama, and Georgia. Some of the worst pollution is from decades-old abandoned mines in Pennsylvania and West Virginia.

Eliminating Acid Drainage

Cleaning up the acid drainage produced from abandoned coal mines is very difficult and expensive. Approximately 10 percent of acid drainage comes from abandoned surface mines. Preventing acid drainage from surface mines requires the elimination of water movement through the acid material. Limestone rock drains may also be used to neutralize the acid drainage on these mines.

Unfortunately, most acid drainage originates in abandoned underground coal mines and flows in surface or ground water into nearby streams (oxidation of new pyritic material, exposed through slow collapsing of mine roofs and walls, can continue for hundreds of years). Some success has been achieved by filling or grouting mine voids with alkaline material that is a by product of coal-fired power plants; however filling or sealing the old shafts and tunnels to eliminate acid production is expensive, and results are inconsistent. For this reason, water treatment has been the most practical solution to the problem.

Methods of water treatment used to eliminate acid drainage from abandoned underground mines can be grouped into two types. The most common method is chemical treatment. Called "active" treatment because it requires constant maintenance, this method usually involves neutralizing acid-polluted water with hydrated lime or crushed limestone. This treatment reduces acidity and significantly decreases iron and other metals. However, it is expensive to construct and operate and is considered a temporary measure because the acid drainage problem has not been permanently eliminated. The second treatment method is called biological, or "passive" control. This technology involves the construction of a treatment system that is permanent and requires little or no maintenance. Passive control measures involve the use of anoxic drains, limestone rock channels, alkaline recharge of ground water, and diversion of drainage through man-made wetlands or other settling structures. Passive treatment systems are relatively inexpensive to construct and have been very successful on small discharges of acid drainage. However, these are new technologies and, although they have significant potential, they are considered experimental because their long-term effectiveness has not been proven.

Appalachian Clean Streams Initiative

For decades, the problem of stream pollution from acid drainage has been recognized as a major problem in the eastern United States. Over the years, many programs have had great success, but despite the severity of the problem there had not been a coordinated effort with the primary focus of eliminating acid drainage until the Appalachian Clean Streams Initiative was introduced in the fall of 1994.

The Appalachian Clean Streams Initiative began as a broad-based program to eliminate acid drainage from abandoned coal mines. Today the program is more focused, with a clear goal of cleaning up acid drainage problems using a combination of private and government resources.

The mission of the Appalachian Clean Streams Initiative is to facilitate and coordinate citizen groups, university researchers, the coal industry, corporations, the environmental community, and local, state, and federal government agencies that are involved in cleaning up streams polluted by acid drainage. The initiative responds to all major interests in this endeavor. Although eliminating acid drainage is now a federal government priority, the problem is so widespread and costly to solve that it can be eliminated only through combined public and private efforts.

A major goal of the clean-up plan is to increase the exchange of information and eliminate duplicate efforts among local, state, and federal government agencies working on acid drainage projects. Clean-up technology must be described in terms of cost, effectiveness, and applicability so all can benefit. Existing funding sources are being identified, and new sources are being developed. Those sources include combinations of local, state, and federal government agencies, plus private, matching, and in-kind services for clean-up projects. The success of cooperative solutions to acid drainage problems has been building the grassroots level in recent years. Watershed associations, community groups, and recreation associations are working together, with funding from government and private sources. This cooperative approach supports greater efficiency and gets better results from the expenditure of public funds. The Appalachian Clean Stream Initiative is an opportunity for a partnership to solve one of the major environmental problems facing the regional ecosystems of the coalfields. The major benefits of coordinating acid drainage cleanup are: