OSM NEWS
U. S. Department of the Interior           
Office of Surface Mining

For Release: July 26, 2000                   Jerry Childress (202) 208-2719
                                             jchildre@osmre.gov

      OSM FUNDS MARYLAND APPALACHIAN CLEAN STREAMS PROJECTS
          UNDER WATERSHED COOPERATIVE AGREEMENT PROGRAM

     Kathrine L. Henry, Acting Director of the Interior Department's Office of Surface Mining
Reclamation and Enforcement (OSM), has approved $160,000 in funding for two Appalachian
Clean Streams Initiative projects in Garrett County, Maryland.  These projects are funded under
OSM's Watershed Cooperative Agreement Program.

     Henry announced that the Western Maryland Resource Conservation and Development
Council, will receive two $80,000 grants to assist in funding the Kempton Man Shaft project and
the Teets Acid Mine Drainage (AMD) project.   

     "Funding for local watershed groups like the Western Maryland Resource Conservation
and Development Council, through the Appalachian Clean Streams Initiative, is a top priority for
OSM," Henry said.  "Local groups are doing tremendous work to clean up AMD problems in
their own communities.  This year Congress provided us increased funding to assist local clean
water initiatives like these projects."    
       The Kempton man shaft sealing project is the result of the efforts of the Western Maryland
RC&D and other partners who have joined together to work to eliminate a major source of AMD. 
The AMD ranges in volume from 50,000 to 100,000 gallons per day entering the Kempton
abandoned mine complex and ultimately flowing into the North Branch of the Potomac River. 
The Kempton Mine Complex is the most significant source of AMD in Maryland.  Total cost of
the project is $206,000.

     The project is one of several dealing with Kempton that involves reducing acid formation
and restoring pre-mining drainage patterns in the area.  In 1998-1999, the State of Maryland used
OSM funds to reclaim the surface area of the Kempton Mine Complex.  The surface reclamation
provided for the protection and restoration of some wetlands adjacent to the site, categorized as
Wetlands of Special State Concern.  Through the proposed project, groundwater that previously
entered the deep mine complex and became AMD will now be redirected to those wetlands, thus
ensuring their further survival and expansion in the headwaters of the North Branch. 

     The acid loading to Laurel Run and the North Branch from the Kempton complex ranges
from 900 to 26,000 pounds of acid per day.  By eliminating the Kempton man shaft water, acid
loadings can be reduced in one further step to eliminate AMD from going into the Potomac, a
National Heritage River, and the Chesapeake Bay.  Additional benefits include improved water
quality in Jennings Randolph Lake, the backup water supply for the Washington, D.C.
metropolitan area.  Elimination of the additional water going into the mine complex will have the
added benefit of reducing the amount of treatment required of the Laurel Run Limestone doser
and reduction in the amount of iron and aluminum hydroxides that clog wetland and tributary
areas along the Potomac.

     The Teets AMD remediation project is located in the Cherry Creek area of Garrett
County, Maryland.  Cherry Creek is the main tributary which flows into Deep Creek Lake,
Maryland's largest freshwater lake.  Other OSM projects in the Cherry Creek watershed have
been supported by OSM funding:  the Glotfelty Appalachian Clean Streams Initiative project,
and the Everhart Watershed Cooperative Agreement project in 1999.

     The project involves the construction of a holding pond near the source of the AMD and
installing a Pyrolucite passive treatment system at the site to treat the AMD.  The pyrolucite
system is a patented AMD treatment system which incorporates the use of limestone and
microorganisms.  The limestone dissolves when the AMD runs through it and creates alkalinity
in the water while the microbes utilize the metals in the AMD for energy and convert the metals
into a non-soluble form.  The resulting discharge is net alkaline with a near neutral pH and low
metals.

     As part of OSM's fiscal year 2000 Appalachian Clean Streams Initiative, $1,750,000 is
available to fund cooperative agreements between OSM and not-for-profit groups, especially
small watershed organizations, for local acid mine drainage projects.  Eligible applicants are not-
for-profit, established organizations with IRS 501(c)(3) status.  Applicants must have other
partners, contributing either funding or in-kind services.  The partners must provide a substantial
portion of the total resources needed to complete the project.

     For this year, proposed  projects from the following Appalachian Clean Streams states are
eligible: Alabama, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Maryland, Missouri, Ohio, Oklahoma,
Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia.

                              -OSM-