Mineral Point-area waste coal pile to be removed
Apr. 13—MINERAL POINT, Pa. — The removal of a mammoth mound of waste coal left behind by Bethlehem Mines Corp. in the Mineral Point area will start this summer.
Logging is winding down to clear the way for the removal of 2.5 million tons of "boney" bituminous waste coal from an East Taylor Township hillside, according to Robindale Energy Services Inc. Executive Vice President Jim Panaro.
After the logging is complete, a paved access road will be built to the site from Mineral Point Road so that workers "can begin accessing coal from the rear of the pile," Panaro said.
Latrobe-based Robindale Energy Services estimates it will take more than 10 years to remove the entire pile and reclaim the land on which it sits.
Before any coal is removed, a sediment pond will be built to capture any stormwater runoff from the site, Panaro said. As outlined by the company's Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection mining permit, that project will likely occur in May.
Dubbed the Brookdale Pile, the site was used for decades as a dump for the onetime Mine No. 77. Much of the waste was deposited during the mine's heyday in the 1960s and '70s.
Panaro said runoff from the pile has been captured on site and transported by a pipeline to a nearby water treatment facility.
"There's continuous runoff from that hill," Panaro said, "but once the pile is gone, and the site is (remediated), there won't be any (acid mine drainage) left to treat anymore."
Once leftover boney coal is removed from the site, alkaline-rich material, topsoil and new grass will be added to eliminate any lingering acidity.
Panaro said the boney coal will be used as fuel for some of the region's cogeneration plants, including the 525-megawatt Seward Generation plant. The plants burn the low-grade coal to create energy with lower emissions than traditional counterparts.
DEP Regional Communications Manager Lauren Camarda said Robindale is permitted to mine just over 145 acres of land.
The coal will not be processed on site, Camarda said. On average, approximately 40 loads of waste coal would be hauled from the site each day.
According to Panaro, the daily traffic will be double that at times, but their route will mostly follow state and U.S. highways. All trucks will exit the yet-to-be-built access road and follow Mineral Point Road to state Route 271 before heading west on U.S. Route 22.
He said trucks would run Monday through Friday throughout the year, weather-depending. On rare occasions, hauling may also occur on Saturdays.
He estimated the project will mean work for up to 20 outside truck operators, as well as three full-time Robindale Energy Services employees who would work on site.
Mining operations are permitted to begin at 5 a.m. at the site, but Panaro said trucks wouldn't be hauling that early. Operations would end at approximately 5 p.m. each day, he said.
Robindale Energy Services has held the state permit to conduct the work for 10 years, but work is just now ramping up after several other boney pile removal projects have been completed.
That list includes a few small piles in the Nanty Glo area and a much larger 330,000-ton pile that was polluting the South Branch of Blacklick Creek for decades, Panaro said.
Panaro said the Mineral Point Road pile's impact is more comparable to that of a pair of piles that once were unsightly bookends to the Route 271 gateway into Nanty Glo. Now, those hills have been replaced by sloping grasslands.
"They are both gone," he said. "Now you can't even tell they were there."
