U.S. Department of the Interior Office of Surface Mining News Release For immediate release Contact: Mike Gauldin (202) 208-2565 August 15, 2003 Federal mining agencies report to Congress on safety of coal waste impoundments WASHINGTON - The US Office of Surface Mining (OSM) and the Mining Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) have reported to Congress on what they're doing to improve the safety of coal waste impoundments. Following the October 11, 2000, coal slurry impoundment accident in Martin County, Kentucky, Congress asked the National Research Council to examine ways to reduce the potential for such accidents. One year later, in its report to Congress, the Council made twenty-eight specific recommendations. In their report, Responses to Recommendations in the National Research Council's Report Coal Waste Impoundments: Risks, Responses, and Alternatives OSM and MSHA address each of the Council's recommendations and summarize the actions the agencies have taken so far to help prevent coal slurry impoundment accidents. Issues addressed by the report include: review and approval of impoundment plans or permits; requirements for mine surveying and mine mapping in the vicinity of impoundments; and the use of geophysical methods to locate mine workings. The report by the agencies was requested by Congress in the FY 2003 Omnibus Appropriations Act. It is available on the internet at OSM's website, www.osmre.gov. -30- Attachment: executive summary Executive Summary Responses to Recommendations in the National Research Council's Report Coal Waste Impoundments: Risks, Responses, and Alternatives On October 11, 2000, more than 300 million gallons of coal-waste slurry broke into an underground mine from the Big Branch Slurry Impoundment in Martin County, Kentucky. Slurry flowed through the mine to contaminate miles of creeks and rivers. This was the most notable of several incidents in which slurry from coal-waste impoundments has broken into underground mine workings in recent years. Such incidents have caused environmental damage and have the potential to endanger persons working in the underground mines or living in the affected areas. Before constructing an impoundment of significant size, or one that can present a hazard, coal mining companies are required to obtain approval from the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) of the engineering plans and construction specifications. Permits for impoundment construction must also be obtained from the State regulatory authority or the Office of Surface Mining (OSM). Investigators determined that the cause of the Martin County incident was the mine operator's failure to follow the approved plans. Nevertheless, MSHA and OSM also scrutinized their plan review processes following the Martin County incident and took several actions to help prevent similar occurrences in the future. MSHA inspected 330 impoundments with breakthrough potential, required re-evaluations and revisions of plans for such impoundments, strengthened its own plan review process, and initiated an update of its impoundment review handbook. OSM inventoried impoundments within 500 feet of underground mine workings and, in close cooperation with the States, developed a strategy to prevent leaks from such impoundments. Also following the incident in Martin County, Congress provided funding for the National Research Council (NRC) "to examine ways to reduce the potential for similar accidents in the future." The NRC appointed a Committee on Coal Waste Impoundments, which prepared a report entitled "Coal Waste Impoundments: Risks, Responses, and Alternatives." In their report, the NRC does not specifically define the word "waste." They do, however, describe that the purpose for constructing coal refuse disposal impoundments is to dispose of any coal, rock, and related material removed from a coal mine in the process of mining. The report focuses on coal slurry impoundments and does not address valley fill coal disposal. The NRC report included 28 recommendations organized in the following categories: • Impoundment Plans and Permits: Administrative Issues • Impoundment Plans and Permits: Technical Review Issues • Mine Surveying and Mapping Issues • Use of Geophysical Methods to Locate Mine Workings • Chemical Properties of Coal Waste • Alternative Coal Waste Disposal Methods MSHA and OSM examined the NRC's recommendation to determine how the findings of the report could be used to further reduce the potential for impoundment breakthroughs. As requested by Congress as part of the FY 2003 Omnibus Spending Bill, this report addresses each of the NRC's recommendations and summarizes the actions MSHA and OSM have taken. Among the significant findings reported by OSM and MSHA: • MSHA and OSM have addressed several of the NRC committee's recommendations by jointly developing a technical report titled "Guidance for Evaluating the Potential for Breakthroughs from Impoundments into Mine Workings and Breakthrough Potential Measures." This document addresses issues concerning such aspects of design as outcrop coal barrier width; overburden thickness and competence; site evaluation; basin design, construction and operation; and bulkheads. • OSM and MSHA believe that there is a need to update the existing publication, "Engineering and Design Manual for Coal Waste Disposal Facilities," originally issued in 1975. This comprehensive manual has assisted coal companies, engineering consultants, and government regulators in carrying out their responsibilities to help ensure that impoundments are designed and constructed safely. However, many significant changes have occurred in the field of mine waste disposal since 1975. • Agreements need to be developed by OSM and the States in order to coordinate and enhance efforts to collect, store and scan mine maps. • OSM's National Mine Map Repository (NMMR) is working through a five-year plan to improve its technical capability for electronic storage, copying, and information access. • MSHA and OSM will work collaboratively with the States as they identify and address impediments to the collection and release of mine map information to the public and other Federal and State agencies. • OSM and MSHA are working jointly on improving outreach to mine map owners. OSM also plans to continue its procedural agreement with MSHA that supplies the NMMR with closure maps submitted to MSHA. • OSM and MSHA believe that surface topographic surveys along the coal outcrop should be performed by coal companies as part of their permit submittal, where practical and at critical locations. The surveys should be tied to either the U.S. Geological Survey or the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey benchmark system as used for the underground mine surveys. By using common benchmarks for the surface and underground surveys, appropriate vertical and horizontal control can be ensured. • To ensure mapping accuracy, it is recommended that closed-loop surveys be used exclusively. At a minimum, a closed-loop traverse or equivalent should be conducted every 1,000 feet and at the last open crosscut. Extraction heights should be included on all maps. • To ensure the accurate location of mine workings, it is recommended that all mine maps use the State plane coordinate system as the primary reference. Vertical control should be referenced to the North American Vertical Datum of 1988 to ensure accurate reporting of seam elevations. Floor elevations should be reported on the maps, along with mining heights, at regular intervals. • At least two permanent survey monuments should be located on areas of mine property that will not be destroyed or disrupted during the life of the operation. • Work is under way to develop and evaluate the use of geophysical and other remote sensing techniques through conferences and Federally supported research. Both MSHA and OSM are engaged in furthering this research. • MSHA and OSM agree that further research would be valuable in several areas identified by the NRC committee that fall outside the two agencies' mandates: specifically, research to identify the constituents of coal waste, to characterize hydro-geologic conditions around impoundments, and to identify and evaluate alternative methods of coal mine waste disposal. Research on the chemical properties of coal waste would best be conducted by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) or the Department of Energy (DOE). Research on characterizing the hydro-geological conditions around impoundments would best be conducted by the United States Geological Survey (USGS). The NRC's recommendation for a study to identify technologies that will eliminate or reduce the need for slurry impoundments would best be done by universities or by the DOE. Examining the costs of alternatives would best be done by the mining industry itself or mining organizations. The environmental impacts of alternative methods of waste disposal could be evaluated by universities or the EPA. Exploring economic incentives to encourage the development of alternatives would best be done by university research or the DOE, perhaps within the mining industry program in the Office of Industrial Technologies in Industries of the Future.