WPCAMR

Western PA Coalition for Abandoned Mine Reclamation

Quarterly Meeting Minutes

February 16, 2005

Eat’N’Park, Indiana, PA

In attendance:

Dave Beale (Armstrong) Dennis Beck (Cambria) Lance Bowes (Venango) Karen Brady (Headwater Eric Cavazza (DEP) Tom Clark (Armstrong, Indiana) Rita Coleman (DEP) Bill Doney (Westmoreland) Jim Eckenrode (Blair) Bob Eppley (President) Bruce Golden (Staff) Tom Grote (Kiski-Conenaugh Basin)

Dennis Hawley (BCWA) Bernie Hoffnar (Bedford) Lester McNutt (Somerset) Pam Meade (Armstrong) Jim Panaro (Secretary) Greg Phillips (Treasurer) Dennis Remy (Blacklick) Dan Seibert (NRCS) Deb Simko (Staff) Dick Smith (Beaver) David Steele (Southern Alleghenies RC&D) LeeRoy Vatter (Indiana)

Meeting was called to order by Bob Eppley at 10:10 am, who chaired the meeting.

Jim Panaro offered the minutes from the previous quarterly meeting held Nov 10, 2004 for discussion. Bernie Hoffnar offered a correction that was accepted Motion to accept minutes as corrected made by Vatter/Beck . Motion passed.

Greg Phillips read the treasurer’s report. Motion to accept the treasurer’s report by Hoffnar/Ecenrode passed.

Greg offered research by Bruce on rates and terms of lines of credit in the amount of $35,000. Bruce recommended Southwest Bank as his first choice. Motion by Hoffnar / Vatter to choose Southwest Bank to obtain $35,000 line of credit. Passed.

Motion by Hoffnar / Smith to authorize Bruce Golden to act as WPCAMR representative in obtaining line of credit from Southwest Bank.

Bob Eppley initiated discussion on the possibility of Bruce Golden becoming a signatory for WPACMR banking. Following a lengthy discussion, it was decided that Bruce would research issue and present a recommendation for board policy regarding banking issues for a future meeting.

Eric Cavazza of DEP BAMR in Ebensburg talked about ongoing developments regarding possible changes in Chapter 105 permitting for wetland and waterway encroachments as they relate to AMD/AMR issues. He said that BAMR has had authority to issue permitting for its own projects under PA State Programmatic General Permitting 2 (PASPG2)

He said DEP management is working to revamp the permitting process along several fronts:

1. BAMR is working with the Army Corps of Engineers to revise PASPG2 so that it applies to everyone, not just its own projects
2. DEP Bureau of Watershed Management is working on rewriting Chapter 102 and 105 regulations. That process will be opened up for input over the course of the next several months.
3. BAMR is working on the possibility of taking over all permits and approvals for AMD/AMR projects in the state instead of the DEP Regional Offices.

Bernie Hoffnar suggested that the conservation districts and NRCS become involved with the process.

Bruce Golden presented the Regional Coordinator’s report.

Annual Conference
Plans for the joint statewide conference sponsored by the ongoing conference committee (which includes WPCAMR as a lead organization), OSM and SAC are proceeding. The 2005 Mine Water Treatment Technology Conference will be held at Station Square Sheraton in Pittsburgh, Aug 16-18. The conference will be dominated by technical presentations aimed at transferring AMD/AML technologies. Aug 16-17 are devoted to treatment systems, Aug 18 to resource recovery. A pre-conference activity on Aug 15 will be a free workshop on passive treatment technologies. A website www.treatminewater.com is devoted to the conference. Currently, there is a solicitation for presentation abstracts which will be open through May 6. See website for details.

OSM’s Watershed Cooperative Agreement Program

In December it came to light that OSM’s Watershed Cooperative Agreement Program may be in real danger of evaporation. (The program provides up to $100,000 in supplemental funds to watershed groups for construction of AMD passive treatment systems.) We learned that no money was allocated to for FY 2005 and no money had been requested for the FY 2006 budget. We also learned that OSM was in the budget-making process. I wrote a letter to OSM Director Jeff Jarrett with our concerns, and also put out an email advisory to other stakeholders who might want to do the same. We’re aware of about 30 or so communications sent to Mr. Jarrett as a result. We have subsequently received correspondence on the issue. Here is the most salient quote.

“Because of budget constraints, we do not anticipate being able to continue funding at quite that level [referring to 2004 awards totaling $3,177,677.50]. However, we are hopeful of being able to maintain a stable program at around $2 million per year for the next couple years. Funding beyond that will likely be affected by what occurs with the AML fee extension.”

It therefore appears that WCAP is still alive, which was our primary objective. However, we may want to consider voicing our concerns about future funding.

SMCRA Title IV Reauthorization

With the June 30, 2005 expiration date approaching, there has been no noticeable action in Washington regarding reauthorization of SMCRA Title IV: no introductions of legislation in either the House or Senate. The Bush Administration maintains its support for reauthorization and has requested an appropriation in the 2006 budget of $246 million (increase of $58 million). It’s speculated that work may be going on behind closed doors by those having influence. Senator Specter or Congressman Peterson aren’t likely to re-introduce the legislation they did last year in that their bills simply died. With respect to PA’s Congressional delegation, the feeling is “what can be done, has been done” with our past efforts. It’s indeed a shame that unfortunate incidents, such as the recent mine pool blowout in McDonald, are among the better ways to shed light on the gravity on the situation.

John Dawes of the Western PA Watershed Program expressed a willingness to pay for convening a facilitated strategy session of conservation minded stakeholders. The problem we face is where influence needs to be applied, and that is outside of Pennsylvania where are reach is limited.

Future Statewide Funding

The future of statewide funding for conservation and environment is still up in the air, now with 2 competing visions: Gov. Rendell’s Growing Greener II initiative and the GOP alternative, Green PA. Both propose an $800 million bond issue to offer more money in the upcoming 4 to 7 years. Otherwise the proposals differ substantially, although details are difficult to come by. Prior to the announcement of Green PA, I was invited to testify before the state’s Green Ribbon Commission on acid mine drainage on Jan 26th where I touted the great work being done though citizen involvement in restoring the environment and the need for funding at the highest possible levels. Even though Gov. Rendell is still pushing for Growing Greener II, the administration seems to be open for compromise. March 17 is the last date that legislation can be adopted to put a bond issue on the spring ballot. The administration is calling for support for its vision of the legislation. Any support, however, has to come quickly because of the short timeline. I’ve requested additional information from DEP so that the two proposals may be compared side by side.

WPCAMR takes over Payroll from Westmoreland CD

As of January, we have taken over payroll responsibilities from Westmoreland CD (and are very appreciative to the CD for that service over the years). We are now using a payroll service that is directly tied in with our accounting software, Quickbooks. The service takes care of filing federal and state taxes and does direct deposit to bank accounts. They guarantee to pay any penalties that might occur. It was a much more involved and time-consuming process to make this transition than I anticipated, but now that it’s done, the process of doing a payroll only takes a few minutes per pay period. We are paying about the same for the service as we were to Westmoreland CD.

Capturing hydropower from AMD discharges

Recently a member of the Loyalhanna Watershed Association advanced the idea of harnessing the power of a set of high flow AMD discharges to generate electricity which could in turn be used in treating mine drainage. I’ve talked to several people about the idea, one of which is DEP Deputy Secretary Scott Roberts. Scott liked the idea and is convening a group of people in March to talk about the concept. I’ve done an Internet search on small scale hydro generation and created a new topic on our website www.amrclearinghouse.org under the subject “Out of the Box” which provides links to background information useful in understanding how hydro power works.

OSM’s Appalachian Regional Reforestation Initiative

OSM is promoting the reforestation of abandoned mine lands using their Forestry Reclamation Approach:

· Create a suitable rooting medium for good tree growth that is no less than 4 feet deep and comprised of topsoil, weathered sandstone and/or the best available material

· Loosely grade the topsoil or topsoil substitutes established in step one to create a non-compacted growth medium

· Use native and non-competitive ground covers that are compatible with growing trees

· Plant two types of trees - early succession species for wildlife and soil stability, and commercially valuable crop trees

· Use proper tree planting techniques

I participated in the signing ceremony of the Statement of Mutual Intent in Roanoke, WV. See http://www.osmre.gov/news/122004.htm for details.

Growing Greener Submissions

We plan on submitting the following Growing Greener proposals for the upcoming round:

· Statewide Conference for Abandoned Mine Reclamation (new submission)

· Providing Sample Analysis Support to Watershed Groups for Monitoring Passive AMD Treatment Systems Follow On (Resubmit modified version)

· Application of a Market-Based Approach to Mined Land Reclamation (Resubmit)

· Fiscal Management for Quick Response Repair of Growing Greener-Type Projects (Resubmit)

· So. Sandy Watershed Association Organizational Support (Fiscal Sponsor)

Deb Simko presented the Watershed Coordinator’s report:

Growing Greener Grant – 2006 and 2007 Statewide AMR Conference

The last two conferences were administered by EPCAMR using Growing Greener funds. The next two years will be administered by WPCAMR. We are seeking roughly $30,000 for each conference – total of $60,000. It will be more technical in nature than the last few years with an emphasis on New Technologies. We also plan to combine the Resource Recovery conference component again since it is working out quite well this year.

Growing Greener Grant – So Sandy Watershed Association

The So. Sandy Watershed Association has asked WPCAMR to be their fiscal sponsor on a Growing Greener grant for start-up of their organization. They will be asking for approx. $4,000 toward this endeavor.

Passing Go Workshops – as a follow-up to the Passing Go Workshops the Southwest and Northwest regions are each offering a workshop this year tailored to the specific requests taken from evaluation forms. The Southwest is conducting a workshop on Board Development, Legal Issues and Insurance on Saturday, March 5 at the U. of Pittsburgh Greensburg campus. The Northwest is offering a grant writing and fundraising plan development workshop on Saturday, April 9 at the DEP’s Meadville office.

W. Branch Susquehanna Symposium – there will be a W. Branch Symposium to be held May 6 and 7, 2005 at the Penn Stater Conference Center. Speakers will be from local watershed groups or Agency personnel working in the W. Branch with a focus on a W. Branch Restoration Plan – specific to AMR. Sixty percent of the water quality impairment in the W. Branch is from AMD.

ACT 220 – State Water Plan

You will find the following items on the WPCAMR website:

a. Summary of the State Water Plan Committee activities from 2004

b. DRAFT of the Critical Water Planning Area Criteria – for comments. Comments are being taken by the Regional Committees

c. List of upcoming Regional Committee meeting dates

Also, we will be holding Public Hearings sometime in May or June in each region. For example, the Ohio Basin will probably have 3 (I am pushing for 4). WPCAMR has a link to the ACT 220 homepage.

C-SAW Partnership

WPCAMR has been invited to become a partner in the C-SAW partnership. There is money available for this year 2005 to provide services specifically to the Ohio River. They have asked us to put together a list of our services and then these will be the ones we will provide to the groups requesting. C-SAW will also be putting in for this round of GG to continue this TAG and would like us to partner with them with this.

Motion by Hoffnar / McNutt to have WPCAMR enter into the C-SAW partnership to provide services to watershed groups. Passed.

Bruce Golden said DEP BAMR has recently issued 2 RFP’s: one for the innovative approaches to in-situ and ex-situ treatment and abatement of mine pool water and metals recovery; and another for economic development possibilities using mine pool water. Because this is a grant program, any potential grantee must be a non-profit organization. As such, any private organization wishing to apply to either program must have a fiscal sponsor having non-profit status. DEP has suggested that WPCAMR and EPCAMR are good organizations for the sponsorship role. WPCAMR’s strategic plan explicitly encourages innovative approaches. Further, WPCAMR’s level of involvement in any such proposal could range at a minimum of being a fiscal pass-through to a more active involvement, at its discretion.

Bernie Hoffnar cautioned that the kinds of projects that apply to these kinds of programs aren’t always well grounded, and he was concerned that money could be spent unwisely.

Motion by Smith / Vatter to approve WPCAMR being a sponsor for one of more proposals to DEP’s mine pool initiative. Passed – Hoffnar in opposition.

Brief reports from the attendees were giving on projects happening in their regions.

On a motion by Vatter, the meeting was adjourned at 1:45 pm.

Minutes taken and assembled by Bruce Golden.

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