Governor McDonnell Announces Intent to Award $340,000 Grant for Acid Mine Drainage Water Quality Projects
RICHMOND- Governor Bob McDonnell today announced the state intends to award $340,000 to fund projects that reduce nonpoint source pollution from acid mine drainage from pre- Surface Mine Control and Reclamation Act (1977) coal mining in the Powell River watershed of southwestern Virginia. The Virginia Water Quality Improvement Act funds will be awarded upon completion of a 30-day public comment period to end May 22. The grant is in addition to the $1.69 million award in acid mine drainage remediation funds McDonnell announced in May 2012.Speaking about the announcement, Governor McDonnell said, "This grant shows Virginia's continued commitment to reducing the leading source of water quality problems - nonpoint source or runoff pollution - including from historic coal mining activities."
"The Wagonertown 2 and Penhook projects continue DMME's successful partnership with local, state and federal agencies to address acid mine drainage problems in the Clinch and Powell River watersheds," said Conrad T. Spangler, III, Director of the Department of Mines, Minerals and Energy. "The remediation of AMD in these streams helps ensure the protection of endangered mussels and fish species and provides clean water to the citizens of Southwest Virginia." DMME oversees coal, non-fuel mineral mining and natural gas and oil well operations in Virginia and will provide technical oversight on the funded projects.
"While acid mine drainage is a predominantly Southwest Virginia problem, nonpoint source, or runoff pollution, is a problem statewide," said DCR Director David Johnson. "These funds targeted to specific mining runoff projects are another tool we use to help improve all of Virginia's waters." DCR is the state's lead agency in reducing stormwater and runoff pollution.
The projects are part of an ongoing effort to remediate damage from acid mine drainage (AMD) from abandoned coal mining and state and federal funds administered through the Virginia Department of Mines Minerals and Energy are being used to match state WQIA and federal Clean Water Act funds administered by the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation. The proposed projects will help remedy AMD seeps along Straight Creek, part of the Powell River, home to many endangered or threatened aquatic species.
Specific sites to be addressed with these funds are Wagonertown 2 south of the town of St. Charles and the Penhook site draining to an unnamed tributary of Straight Creek. With matching funds, the cost of these projects is more than $730,000. Virginia receives funding to reclaim abandoned mine lands through a federal reclamation fee on tonnage mined, which is administered in Virginia by the Department of Mines, Minerals and Energy. However funding for AMD from historic mine sites is limited by a Congressional mandate to expend the reclamation funds on abandoned mine lands features that impact human health and safety; making the nonpoint sources funds critical to this project.
Questions concerning the projects or project funding may be directed to DCR Abingdon Regional Manager Kelly Miller at Kelly.miller@dcr.virginia.gov, 276-676-5529, ext. 117.
NOTICE OF INTENT TO AWARD
2013 Virginia Acid Mine Drainage Remediation in the Powell River
The Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation intends to award a grant utilizing state-funded Water Quality Improvement Funds to the following nonpoint source water quality improvement project in response to the 2013 Virginia Acid Mine Drainage Remediation in the Powell River Request for Proposals, DCR Document # (DCR199-217)(02/2013), issued February 28, 2013.
The purpose of this grant award is to support nonpoint source pollution reduction initiatives targeted to acid mine drainage (AMD) remediation in the Powell River. A grant will fund on-the-ground activities that will remedy AMD in Straight Creek, sub-watershed of the Powell River which is home to many endangered or threatened aquatic species and covered by the Straight Creek TMDL Implementation Plan for total dissolved solids making the projects eligible for Section 319(h) federal funding as well as state WQIA funds
A grant will be awarded for projects Virginia watersheds that drain outside the Chesapeake Bay, in the Southern Rivers Watersheds. The Water Quality Improvement Act requires the list of projects selected for grant awards be made available for public review and comment for at least 30 days prior to executing final grant agreements.
| DCR Intends to Award a grant, in response to the 2013 AMD RFP to the following applicant: Project Sponsor | Project Title | WQIF Award Amount | Match Amount | TOTAL Project |
| Daniel Boone Soil and Water Conservation District | Straight Creek AMD Remediation Project | $340,000 | $394,444 | $734,444 |
| Project Abstract: Several acid mine drainage (AMD) sites have been identified in the North Fork Powell River Watershed of Lee County. Project partners will implement watershed plans addressed by various agencies and groups to remediate some of these AMD sites along Straight Creek. The completion of this project will help aquatic ecosystems in the area recover from years of degradation related to past coal mining practices. Improving this sub-watershed will also improve the downstream habitat in the main stem of the Powell River thereby improving the chances of survival for 29 threatened or endangered freshwater mussel species and 19 species of rare fish species. As a result aesthetic values will improve in the area leading to improved socioeconomic conditions. • Wagonertown 2 Site-Acid mine drainage seeps at this site are located along an unnamed tributary to Straight Creek south of the town of St. Charles. The proposed treatment system is construction of approximately 600 feet of open limestone channel along this unnamed tributary with a constructed wetland at the end of the system. According to the watershed plan the estimated benefits of this system in conjunction with the 700 foot open limestone channel installed upstream of this site in 2002 by the DMME AML Program are 1.53 pH increase, 0.23 stream miles of water quality improvement, and 0.76 miles of potential fishery recovered. |
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