Hello everyone and welcome to this week's edition of Environment Matters. I'm Mike Huff
A mountain of coal refuse in Greenbrier County is getting a major facelift
to fix an ongoing and expensive acid mine drainage problem.
The project is a design collaboration between
the DEP and West Virginia University.
Viewed from the air, the Royal Scot site near Anjean
doesn't look like your typical mine reclamation project.
the DEP is using a process called
Geomorphic Landform Design
which basically reshapes the contours of the land
to more closely match the surrounding terrain,
but this process isn't done for looks alone.
This 47-acre coal refuse pile
is one giant sponge
absorbing precipitation and generating acid mine drainage.
>>RICK PINO: I believe it's our most expensive treatment site
in the state.
This configuration is capping with this material
should reduce our infiltration, thus
reducing the volume that we have to treat in the future
and save us money.
It's all about money, either on the front end or the back end.
>>Narration: That's because using geomorphic landform design
is more expensive that conventional surface mine reclamation
at least in the short term,
but this is one site where it pays to play the long game.
>>RICK PINO: We anticipate within two years,
we'll have a reduction in our treatment cost - existing,
but at that point we'll be able to
to properly size an actual treatment plant then to handle
that in the future and that way it will minimize the costs even more
because it's a treatment plant setting instead of a pond setting.
Your control of the treatment process is much greater.
So, we should be able to do it with less treatment chemicals.
>>NARRATION: And analysts say those savings will offset the
increased cost of the reclamation in about nine years.
Geomorphic landform design was first used in Canada
and the western and southwestern U.S.
This is the first time it's being used east of the Mississippi.
This project was designed by a team from WVU.
>>JOHN QUARANTA: It's humbling.
To be part of a group - one of many people
who have invested their time, their resources
that we can come together as different professionals
of hydrologists, environmental professionals,
safety professionals, agricultural engineers,
and we could work together
to solve a large problem as a team.
It illustrates the scope of the complexity
of the overall problem
in reclaiming a landform of this size.
>>NARRATION: That included a detailed analysis of the
composition of the pile to determine its acid mine drainage
making potential. That allowed the team
to work out how thick the compacted barrier layer
needed to be to minimize infiltration of
surface water.
Finally, they studied stream formation in the region
to help with the design of channels to control runoff from the site.
>>JOHN QUARANTA: As we see this now, how the land contour
kinda makes sense.
It's intuitive how the drainage will work.
So, it was an investment that has been going on for years and
and hopefully we can continue to collaborate
to bring this technology and approach
to other locations in the state.
While it may not be a one size fits all
maybe in this case it will highlight
that there's other methods that we can use -
another tool in our toolbox
to get us to a better place.
>>NARRATION: Work at the site is currently ahead of schedule
and is expected to be completed later this year.
In Greenbrier County, I'm Mike Huff for Environment Matters.
Thanks for watching.