Coal Refuse
Coal refuse is a legacy of previous coal mining and consists of low-quality coal mixed with rock, shale, slate, clay and other material. Also known as waste, culm, gob and boney, it was discarded as a “waste” during the original coal extraction process and randomly disposed in piles near the mine sites. These piles, which can spontaneously combust and leach acid mine water and hazardous substances, are major sources of land, air and water pollution and represent public health and safety hazards.
According to the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, there remains at least 211 million tons of polluting coal refuse located on more than 760 identified sites covering 8,001 acres. However, this inventory is acknowledged to be non-comprehensive.
For further details, click here to read ARIPPA's Coal Refuse Whitepaper.
Air Impacts
Coal refuse piles pose a number of threats to public health and safety, including air quality impacts. It has long been recognized that the enormous inventory of coal refuse piles abandoned by the legacy coal mining industry represents an ongoing ecological threat to the environment. While adverse environmental impacts to soil, stormwater runoff, surface water, and groundwater by these un-remediated, abandoned environmental hazards are well documented, comparatively fewer examinations of the adverse air quality and carbon dioxide equivalent greenhouse gas emissions impacts of un-remediated and abandoned refuse piles have been identified.
Until recently, direct study on the comparative environmental impact of using coal refuse for energy instead of leaving refuse coal in situ was largely unavailable. However, recent research provides compelling evidence that the operation of coal refuse reclamation to energy facilities results in net improvements in air quality. Two quantitative studies were commissioned by ARIPPA to study the emissions from coal refuse reclamation to energy industry operations at 11 facilities in Pennsylvania and West Virginia as compared in the projected emissions from an equivalent amount of coal refuse piles combusted in nature to produce a net emissions profile for the full fuel cycle operations of this industry. The first study, “Net Air Emission Benefits from the Remediation of Abandoned Coal Refuse Piles,” was performed by Robert G. Fraser, QEP, and Patrick Fennell, PE, of TRC Environmental Inc., a global engineering and consulting company that provides environmental services for regulatory compliance, development and implementation of remediation and reuse strategies, and protection and restoration of natural resources services. The second study titled “Comparison of the Impact on Greenhouse Gas Emissions Between Unabated Coal Refuse Piles and Reclamation-to-Energy Power Plants” was conducted by Dr. Carlos Romero of the Energy Research Center at Lehigh University in Bethlehem, PA. Those final reports are available here and here, respectively.