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>>DAVID BROSCHART: Everything here was acid producing - the stone, the rock on top,
the black stuff - everything
>>NARRATION: It's a different picture today.
That's David Broschart with the West Virginia Department of Environmental
Protection talking about the Kempton refuse and acid mine drainage
abandoned mine lands project located here in Tucker County near the Maryland border.
The area had been minded, first from underground beginning in the 1880's and
then from the surface.
>>BROSCHART: It was all gob pile and acid producing material. The sandstone is acid producing.
The coal reject was acid producing.
This site didn't have anything going for it.
>>NARRATION: The sixty acre site is located near the headwaters
of the North Branch of the Potomac river
and had been abandoned and left in dangerous condition since
the 1950's.
Twenty-five hundred linear feet of exposed high wall, two partially collapsed
mine portals and a pair of impoundments were just some of the problems
associated with the site.
Site reclamation and safety improvements began in August of 2007.
The more than 2.3 million dollar project was completed
two years later. >>BROSCHART: What we did when we came in to reclaim it
was regrade everything and put it all
on a positive contour to where it would drain adequately,
and provided all the ditches needed in order to convey the water off the site.
We installed two wet mine seals and did a lot of passive water treatment work.
>>NARRATION: Limestone was added to the tributaries and
natural stream design techniques were used to help neutralize the water from the site.
These changes reduced stream acidity by a third.
>>BROSCHART: Prior to construction pH was running 2.5 to 3.4
and since construction we're running somewhere between 6 and 7 pH at all times
>>NARRATION: The worst of the acid mine drainage on-site comes from the former mine portals.
There's also a high concentration of of aluminum from that source.
The combined drainage from the two portals is treated by a passive system
that filters the water through a series of cells.
The drainage is first captured in what's called an equalization pond. Here, solids are
allowed to settle out before going into the next pond.
Water is filtered through a layer of mushroom compost over a limestone bed
and that is collected through a series of perforated pipes and then channeled into
a third pond containing an aerobic wetland.
The results speak for themselves...
>>BROSCHART: This was the worst AMD producing site
in West Virginia on the Potomac
so we turned that around and made it one of the better
areas of the Upper Potomac. It looks really great. We've done no maintenence to the site
other than monitoring water quality.
>>NARRATION: The site was recently awarded an Abandoned Mine Land Reclamation Award
by the Office of Surface Mining and Reclamation Enforcement
>>ERIC COBERLY: The award is granted to
those who receive
ratings and evaluations from their peer group.
It's different voting groups from across the country in different states
and the Federal government so everybody evaluates it and scores
are tallied up and they base the award on that.
>>NARRATION: Eric Coberly heads West Virginia's Office of Abandoned Mine Lands.
He says this project goes above and beyond a typical restoration.
>>COBERLY: Very satisfied with the way the project looks... It's been finaled out for
a couple of years so we've seen the vegetative stand continue to achieve the success we like.
We've also seen some of the tree plantings we have up there
that some of the trees have have lived and are starting to
grow pretty well... We've pretty much achieved
all our goals on the project and it continues to look good.