NEWS  MEDIA  ADVISORY

Monday, October 28, 1996                 Alan Cole (202) 208-2565
                                       Jean O'Dell (205) 290-7283


     Bob Armstrong, Assistant Secretary of the Department of the Interior, today joined with
various federal, state, and local government representatives, plus industry, environmental groups,
and citizens, in support of a project to clean up acid mine drainage (AMD) at Cane Creek in
Walker County, Alabama..

     At a special announcement ceremony, Armstrong announced that the Alabama
Department of Industrial Relations will receive a total of $325,000 as part of the Office of
Surface Mining's (OSM) Appalachian Clean Streams Initiative to seed Alabama's efforts to
improve the water quality in Cane Creek and other polluted streams within Alabama's coal
bearing regions.

     OSM's Appalachian Clean Streams Initiative was launched in 1994 to build a federal,
state, and local government and public-private shared commitment to clean up waters polluted by
AMD.  The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has identified AMD as the most pervasive
water quality problem in the region.

     Armstrong said that for Fiscal Year 1997, Congress for the first time has appropriated
money from the billion-dollar Abandoned Mine Land Reclamation Fund for cleaning up acid
mine drainage.  The 1997 Appropriations Act includes $4 million for 13 Clean Stream projects.

     Cane Creek, a tributary of the Mulberry Fork of the Black Warrior River, drains a 6,000+
acre watershed and is affected along a 20-mile reach between the inflow of Black Branch and the
Mulberry Fork.  Acid mine drainage, with pH values as low as 3.2 - 4.4 and high levels of iron,
manganese and other metals, is deposited into Cane Creek from 25 acres of mine refuse piles and
deep mine portals located along the banks of Black Branch.  Upstream of Black Branch, the
water in Cane Creek has a pH of 7.3 with low iron and manganese content.  The Cane Creek
AMD project would remediate many of the identified problems through a combination of
traditional mine reclamation and the construction of anoxic limestone trenches and artificial
wetlands.

     Armstrong said, "We are excited about the partnership and the community effort it
represents.  Federal, state, and local agencies, industry, environmental groups, local colleges, and
private citizens are working together to restore water resources that have been adversely
impacted by mining.  This event provides the opportunity to highlight the positive efforts to
correct the pollution caused by past mining practices, including acid drainage that has damaged
many miles of Cane Creek."

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