Stuck ice, debris in Palo Alto cause mine water flood

BY BEN WOLFGANG
POTTSVILLE REPUBLICAN & HERALD
Wednesday, December 24, 2008

PALO ALTO — The orange is spreading.

“This doesn’t only affect us, it affects the whole borough,â€

_________________
View More of My Photos At:

http://www.railpictures.net/showphotos.php?userid=10145

http://mst145.rrpicturearchives.net/

Almost the same situation in the 60's before the Old Forge borehole was drilled. A bit off subject. Heres a thought to ponder. Ok let me get this strait. The state came in to drill a borehole to relieve the preassure. The mine water was going to flow into a storm drain. And being a storm drain, eventually into a stream, river etc. Now that water wasnt to be treated. BUT if it were a private interest it would have to be treated at a great expense !!!! Banks and I saw a video that Rodger at the Lacka. coal mine tour produced concerning the Porter tunnel/mine. One reason it closed was the water,and the cost cost to treat it. The point of the video was to bring attention to this exact scenario. DEP drills a borehole, and they can dump it untreated. But if your a private interest. that same agency that is allowed to dump water untreated will site you and shut you down ? I always brought this up on my tour. Perfect example is the Old Forge borehole. The state owns and maintains it. yet no treatment . Sound Fair ?

I had heard through word or mouth that they (Lickman) wanted to re-open the tunnel. The biggest reason why it never happened was the PADEP cannot find any of the bond money that was paid all those years to help support the treatment of AMD. Lickman didnt think this was fair that he would have to pay for the treatment solely. Never did find out from my source if they ever continued the search for the bond money???

Most interesting... I'm going to have to go for a ride to Pottsville this week, I guess.

What has been the situation since? As to the stuff surrounding DEP--we have it here too.

_________________
Neeb?

What has been the situation since? As to the stuff surrounding DEP--we have it here too.

_________________
Neeb?

I find it quite amazing the attitude your government in the states shows to the legacy that mining leaves behind. Take a look at the way mine water is treated in my part of the world.

http://www.forumforfree.com/viewtopic.p ... rthwestway

They actually do put effort into treating some areas where there is run-out of mine water. There are quite a few projects I have seen where they built treatment areas for mine water drainage tunnels. There are certainly areas of untreated mine water, but many times the over looking of treatment was done to look out for the people. For example, after mining was done in the Northern Anthracite field, as the mine pool rose in the adjacent mines from the lack of pumping, people's basements began flooding and other catastrophic effects of rising water began to appear. As a result, they had no choice but to drill drainage bore holes to relieve the pressure. These efforts aren't always treated ideally though.

Miner Greg