Anthracite Coal Fields Research Articles

Legacy sediment as a potential source of orthophosphate: Preliminary conceptual and geochemical models for the Susquehanna River, Chesapeake Bay watershed, USA

Nutrient pollution from agriculture and urban areas plus acid mine drainage (AMD) from legacy coal mines are primary causes of water-quality impairment in the Susquehanna River, which is the predominant source of freshwater and nutrients entering the Chesapeake Bay. Recent increases in the delivery of dissolved orthophosphate (PO4) from the river to the bay may be linked to long-term increases in pH, decreased acidity of precipitation, and decreased acidity, iron, and aluminum loading from widespread AMD. Since the 1950s, baseline pH increased from ~6.5 to ~8 in the West Branch and “North Branch” of the Susquehanna River, which drain bituminous and anthracite coalfields of Pennsylvania. A current baseline pH of ~8 and daily maxima exceeding 9 have been documented along the lower Susquehanna River. In response to improved river quality, bioavailable PO4 now may be released into solution from legacy sediment that has filled major impoundments in lower reaches of the river. At typical pH (5–8) of natural water, aqueous PO4 species tend to be adsorbed by hydrous iron, aluminum, and manganese oxides that coat soil and sediment particles; however, PO4 may be substantially desorbed at pH >8. We created a geochemical model that simulates equilibrium aqueous/solid distributions of PO4 as pH and other solution characteristics change. Considering current conditions in the lower Susquehanna River, the model demonstrates potential for extensive release of adsorbed PO4 at pH >8. Empirical data from laboratory experiments corroborate model results. The transfer of PO4 into the water column may increase algae growth, which removes CO2 and drives pH to higher values, facilitating additional PO4 release and exacerbating the potential for harmful algal blooms. Thus, legacy sediment is a currently unquantified source of PO4 that warrants consideration by resource managers and programs collaborating to reduce phosphorus loads to the bay and similar settings worldwide.

Sewn in Coal Country: An Oral History of the Ladies' Garment Industry in Northeastern Pennsylvania, 1945–1995

Sewn in Coal Country: An Oral History of the Ladies' Garment Industry in Northeastern Pennsylvania, 1945–1995

Development and Environment: Industrial Action in the Anthracite Region of Pennsylvania, 1947–1968

ABSTRACT Coal mining is a historically dirty business, creating numerous environmental problems. This article examines the detrimental impact anthracite mining had on the environment of northeastern Pennsylvania and the involvement of local groups, specifically business interests, in their efforts to reverse the effects of mining in the post–World War II era. Despite a rich social and labor historiography of the anthracite coalfields, little has been written on the environmental aspects of the region. The traditional historical perspective is one of environmental degradation due to uncontrolled capitalism. These accounts largely ignore the environmental perspectives and reactions of local interests. Examining local involvement reveals a strong correlation between a healthy environment and economic progress that ultimately changed the environment of the area. Seen in this way, business and environmental interests in the anthracite region were two sides of the same coin.

Using maximum entropy modeling to predict suitable habitat locations for the Cutshin Crayfish (Cambarus taylori)

The Cutshin Crayfish (Cambarus taylori) is a recently described species which is endemic to the Middle Fork of the Kentucky River basin. The Middle Fork of the Kentucky River lies within the anthracite coal fields of Eastern Kentucky, and thus a conservation assessment of C. taylori is warranted. The goal of this study was to predict suitable habitat locations for C. taylori through use of maximum entropy modeling (MaxEnt). The Middle Fork of the Kentucky River’s crayfish fauna was surveyed during the summer of 2014. The occurrence data from this study coupled with landscape scale environmental variables—such as stream order and land use data—was used to create the model. The mean area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) value was 0.898, showing the model had high predictive accuracy. The model indicated high probability of occurrence in streams at the southern end of the basin, and a low probability of occurrence at the northern end of the basin. Stream order and stream sinuosity had the highest contribution to the model showing that C. taylori prefers 3rd and 4th order streams with low sinuosity. Although the AUC value showed high predictive accuracy for the model, predicted sites will need to be ground validated to confirm the model’s predictive accuracy.

Here and There: Reading Pennsylvania’s Working Landscapes by Bill Conlogue (review)

Reviewed by: Here and There: Reading Pennsylvania’s Working Landscapes by Bill Conlogue Robert Gordon (bio) Here and There: Reading Pennsylvania’s Working Landscapes. By Bill Conlogue. University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 2013. Pp. xviii+ 218. $45.48/$26.96. Bill Conlogue’s book is roughly equal parts autobiography, interpretation of literary texts, and local history of Scranton, Pennsylvania, and its environs. These disparate components are united around the theme of “reading” landscape, a technique introduced by W. G. Hoskins in England. The author’s introduction explains his approach to the landscapes of work—work here being anthracite coal mining and dairy farming—as seen by a college professor of English. In each chapter a place or structure in or near Scranton introduces a theme that the author then explores through works of poetry and prose that usually shift the discussion to places elsewhere, enlarge the interpretation, and eventually bring the narrative back to home ground. The technique illuminates Conlogue’s theme that “looking around us” helps us see “what’s beyond us.” His primary concern is abuse of the land but he also worries about the valuation of literary scholarship and liberal education today. The first chapter introduces water issues, beginning with drainage of contaminated runoff from flooded anthracite mines. They lead him to Robert Frost’s poem “A Brook in the City,” and the assertion that a farmer adapts to what the land offers while a city alters the land to suit its needs, here the creation of a watershed to supply its water demand. Next he moves to place-based poems. Can we fully appreciate W. S. Merwin’s poem about the massive Lackawanna furnaces without actually reading it on site? Or, in an account of underground mine fires, do we need to smell the sulfurous odor, feel the scorched earth, and see the abandoned homes to fully appreciate the poem? In the third chapter Conlogue turns to the division of the land by Early Republic surveyors and its subsequent settlement by migrants from Philadelphia competing with incomers from Connecticut who were following King Charles’s grant that set their state’s western boundary at the Pacific Ocean. This leads him to a discussion of Frost’s “Mending Wall.” Next, razing the cattle barn on the Conlogue family farm takes us to the decline of dairy farming, to Thoreau, and to a Wordsworth poem. [End Page 542] The last two chapters turn to liberal arts in college education via the International Correspondence School, which happens to be located in Scranton, and was probably the first learning-at-a-distance educational institution. The final chapter examines waste, specifically mine waste (culm) and more generally garbage such as that shipped from New York to Pennsylvania to fill worked-out open-pit mines. The coda revisits natural gas extraction first mentioned in the Introduction. The “Pennsylvania’s Working Landscapes” of the subtitle are actually just one landscape, the northern anthracite coalfield. It is an early, domestic example of a global issue that Conlogue touches on but doesn’t explore extensively. Anthracite, a clean-burning fuel, gave residents of New England and the mid-Atlantic states heat in winter without the foul air that residents of London or Pittsburgh endured from burning soft coal. Delivered to seaports such as New Bedford and Fall River in Massachusetts, it freed manufacturers from dependence on waterpower, and allowed the production of textiles and machinery at lower cost to consumers than would otherwise have been possible. These were positive benefits that left the consequences of coal extraction in the mining region. The issue remains with us, now on a global scale. We export the environmental and social costs of supplying metals and minerals for the consumer-driven, throw-away society to miners and mining communities in Africa and South America. The worked-out open-pit anthracite mines Conlogue describes in Pennsylvania now can no longer contain all of New York’s waste. Workers in China and India deal with the hazardous materials in our discarded electronic devices. Would that Conlogue had explored these issues further. A few questions arise. Why the assault on the International Correspondence School for failing to provide liberal arts education...

Priority pollutants and associated constituents in untreated and treated discharges from coal mining or processing facilities in Pennsylvania, USA

Clean sampling and analysis procedures were used to quantify more than 70 inorganic constituents, including 35 potentially toxic or hazardous constituents, organic carbon, and other characteristics of untreated (influent) and treated (effluent) coal-mine discharges (CMD) at 38 permitted coal-mining or coal-processing facilities in the bituminous coalfield and 4 facilities in the anthracite coalfield of Pennsylvania. Of the 42 facilities sampled during 2011, 26 were surface mines, 11 were underground mines, and 5 were coal refuse disposal operations. Treatment of CMD with caustic soda (NaOH), lime (CaO or Ca(OH)2), flocculent, or limestone was ongoing at 21%, 40%, 6%, and 4% of the facilities, respectively; no chemicals were added at the remaining facilities. All facilities with CMD treatment incorporated structures for active or passive aeration and settling of metal-rich precipitate.The untreated influent samples had wide ranges of pH (2.8–7.6), hot acidity (−600 to 8000mg/L as CaCO3), specific conductance (SC; 253–13,000μS/cm), total dissolved solids (TDS; 168–18,100mg/L), and associated dissolved (<0.45-μm pore-size filter) constituents, including SO4 (14.7–10,700mg/L), Fe (<0.01 to 4100mg/L), Mn (0.02–136mg/L), Al (<0.01 to 128mg/L), and Zn (<0.003 to 18.8mg/L). Concentrations of Ag (<1μg/L), Hg (<1μg/L), Sn (<0.5μg/L), and CN (<0.01mg/L) were below detection limits. Only one influent sample met permitted mine effluent (PME) limits plus dissolved-constituent criteria maximum concentration (CMC) thresholds for the protection of freshwater aquatic organisms.The pH of the treated effluent samples ranged from 5.5 to 11.9 and was greater than or equal to the pH of the corresponding influent at all sites. All the effluent samples met CMC levels for dissolved concentrations of Ag, As, Ba, Cd, Cl, Cr, Pb, Ni, Sb, Se, Tl, V, NH3, NO2, NO3, and CN; however, nine violated one or more of the PME limits for pH (<6, n=1), net acidity (>0, n=3), Fe (>7mg/L, n=1), or Mn (>5mg/L, n=8), plus one or more exceeded CMC levels for Al (>0.75mg/L, n=2), Co (>95μg/L, n=5), Zn (>307μg/L, n=1), Cu (>7.4μg/L, n=1), or Se (>12.8μg/L, n=3). Although CMC exceedances for Co and Zn were attributed to samples also violating the PME limit for pH or Mn, the samples that exceeded the CMC for Al, Cu, or Se met applicable PME limits for pH, Fe, and Mn. Furthermore, many of the pH-compliant effluents did not meet reference criteria for SO4 and related measures of ionic strength, including TDS, SC, and osmotic pressure.The Wilcoxon matched-pair signed-ranks statistic was used to test if the overall difference between the effluent and influent pairs was equal to zero. Constituents that statistically were the same for effluent and influent (p>0.05) included flow rate, SC, osmotic pressure, hardness, alkalinity, total organic carbon (TOC), K, Cl, NO3, PO4, Sb, Sr, Br, Se, Mo, and V. Although temperature, dissolved oxygen, pH, Ca, and Na were greater in the effluent than the influent, most constituents decreased as a result of treatment, including TDS, acidity, SO4, Al, Fe, Mn, Mg, As, Ba, Be, Cd, Cr, Co, Cu, F, Pb, Ni, NH3, Tl, Ti, U, Zn, Zr, total phenols, total inorganic carbon (TIC), biological oxygen demand (BOD), and chemical oxygen demand (COD). Nevertheless, some constituents that decreased, such as SO4, still did not meet reference criteria.Findings from this study suggest that typical chemical or aerobic treatment of CMD to pH>6 with removal of Fe to <7mg/L and Mn to <5mg/L may provide a reasonable measure of protection for aquatic life from priority pollutant metals and other toxic or hazardous constituents in effluent but may not be effective for achieving permissible or background levels for TDS, SC, osmotic pressure, or concentrations of SO4 and some other pollutants, including Se, Br, and Cl, if present.

“It's the Union Man That Holds the Winning Hand”:

“It's the Union Man That Holds the Winning Hand”:

The Gilded Age Wasn’t So Gilded in the Anthracite Region of Pennsylvania

The Lattimer Massacre occurred in September of 1897 in the anthracite coalfields of Northeast Pennsylvania. This tragic event saw the death of 19 miners, fired upon by local law enforcement and a posse gathered from local businessmen. This paper will situate this event amidst the deeply turbulent themes underlying the Gilded Age: race, American exceptionalism and Empire and labor struggle. A project undertaken by archaeologists from the University of Maryland seeks to restore the memory of the massacre, highlighting the implications of this history within the current anti-immigrant politics extant in its contemporary setting.

Abandoned Mine Drainage in the Swatara Creek Basin, Southern Anthracite Coalfield, Pennsylvania, USA: 2. Performance of Treatment Systems

A variety of passive and semi-passive treatment systems were constructed by state and local agencies to neutralize acidic mine drainage (AMD) and reduce the transport of dissolved metals in the upper Swatara Creek Basin in the Southern Anthracite Coalfield in eastern Pennsylvania. To evaluate the effectiveness of selected treatment systems installed during 1995–2001, the US Geological Survey collected water-quality data at upstream and downstream locations relative to each system eight or more times annually for a minimum of 3 years at each site during 1996–2007. Performance was normalized among treatment types by dividing the acid load removed by the size of the treatment system. For the limestone sand, open limestone channel, oxic limestone drain, anoxic limestone drain (ALD), and limestone diversion well treatment systems, the size was indicated by the total mass of limestone; for the aerobic wetland systems, the size was indicated by the total surface area of ponds and wetlands. Additionally, the approximate cost per tonne of acid treated over an assumed service life of 20 years was computed. On the basis of these performance metrics, the limestone sand, ALD, oxic limestone drain, and limestone diversion wells had similar ranges of acid-removal efficiency and cost efficiency. However, the open limestone channel had lower removal efficiency and higher cost per ton of acid treated. The wetlands effectively attenuated metals transport but were relatively expensive considering metrics that evaluated acid removal and cost efficiency. Although the water-quality data indicated that all treatments reduced the acidity load from AMD, the ALD was most effective at producing near-neutral pH and attenuating acidity and dissolved metals. The diversion wells were effective at removing acidity and increasing pH of downstream water and exhibited unique potential to treat moderate to high flows associated with storm flow conditions.

Abandoned Mine Drainage in the Swatara Creek Basin, Southern Anthracite Coalfield, Pennsylvania, USA: 1. Stream Water Quality Trends Coinciding with the Return of Fish

Acidic mine drainage (AMD) from legacy anthracite mines has contaminated Swatara Creek in eastern Pennsylvania. Intermittently collected base-flow data for 1959–1986 indicate that fish were absent immediately downstream from the mined area where pH ranged from 3.5 to 7.2 and concentrations of sulfate, dissolved iron, and dissolved aluminum were as high as 250, 2.0, and 4.7 mg/L, respectively. However, in the 1990s, fish returned to upper Swatara Creek, coinciding with the implementation of AMD treatment (limestone drains, limestone diversion wells, limestone sand, constructed wetlands) in the watershed. During 1996–2006, as many as 25 species of fish were identified in the reach downstream from the mined area, with base-flow pH from 5.8 to 7.6 and concentrations of sulfate, dissolved iron, and dissolved aluminum as high as 120, 1.2, and 0.43 mg/L, respectively. Several of the fish taxa are intolerant of pollution and low pH, such as river chub (Nocomis micropogon) and longnose dace (Rhinichthys cataractae). Cold-water species such as brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis) and warm-water species such as rock bass (Ambloplites rupestris) varied in predominance depending on stream flow and stream temperature. Storm flow data for 1996–2007 indicated pH, alkalinity, and sulfate concentrations decreased as the stream flow and associated storm-runoff component increased, whereas iron and other metal concentrations were poorly correlated with stream flow because of hysteresis effects (greater metal concentrations during rising stage than falling stage). Prior to 1999, pH < 5.0 was recorded during several storm events; however, since the implementation of AMD treatments, pH has been maintained near neutral. Flow-adjusted trends for 1997–2006 indicated significant increases in calcium; decreases in hydrogen ion, dissolved aluminum, dissolved and total manganese, and total iron; and no change in sulfate or dissolved iron in Swatara Creek immediately downstream from the mined area. The increased pH and calcium from limestone in treatment systems can be important for mitigating toxic effects of dissolved metals. Thus, treatment of AMD during the 1990s improved pH buffering, reduced metals transport, and helped to decrease metals toxicity to fish.

Welsh Americans: A History of Assimilation in the Coalfields. By Ronald L. Lewis. (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2008. xii, 395 pp. $49.95, ISBN 978-0-8078-3220-2.)

In Welsh Americans, the historian Ronald L. Lewis reconstructs the world of a largely forgotten group of immigrants who profoundly shaped American industry between the Civil War and World War I. The Welsh who came to America during that era possessed knowledge of industrial production that allowed them to thrive in the nation's coalfields. Their cultural affinity with Americans made advancement easier, but, Lewis argues, it also led to rapid assimilation and the loss of cultural distinctiveness. The author begins this important study with an examination of industrialization in Wales, the development of Welsh identity, and the out-migration of industrial workers in the second half of the 1800s. Welsh immigrants tended to congregate in Pennsylvania and Ohio. In the former, the anthracite coalfields attracted the most Welsh immigrant miners, with Scranton boasting the largest concentration. Later, the Welsh were central to the development of the industrial center of Youngstown, helping to build the coal, iron, and steel industries of that city. Lewis documents influential Welsh immigrants wherever those industries expanded, from West Virginia to Utah to Alabama and parts in between.

Laboratory and field evaluation of a flushable oxic limestone drain for treatment of net-acidic drainage from a flooded anthracite mine, Pennsylvania, USA

Abstract This paper demonstrates the use of dissolution-rate data obtained in the laboratory to indicate the potential quality of effluent from a field-scale oxic limestone drain (OLD) treatment system for neutralization of dilute acidic mine drainage (AMD). Effluent from the Reevesdale Mine South Dip Tunnel, a large source of AMD and base flow to the Wabash Creek and Little Schuylkill River in the Southern Anthracite Coalfield of east-central Pennsylvania, is representative of AMD with low concentrations but high loadings of dissolved Fe, Al and other metals because of a high flow rate. In January 2003, rapid neutralization of the AMD from the Reevesdale Mine was achieved in laboratory tests of its reaction rate with crushed limestone in closed, collapsible containers (Cubitainers). The tests showed that net-alkaline effluent could be achieved with retention times greater than 3 h and that effluent alkalinities and associated dissolution rates were equivalent for Fe(OH) 3 -coated and uncoated limestone. On the basis of the laboratory results, a flushable OLD containing 1450 metric tons of high-purity calcitic limestone followed by two 0.7-m deep wetlands were constructed at the Reevesdale Mine. During the first year of operation, monthly data at the inflow, outflow and intermediate points within the treatment system were collected (April 2006–2007). The inflow to the treatment system ranged from 6.8 to 27.4 L/s, with median pH of 4.7, net acidity of 9.1 mg/L CaCO 3 , and concentrations of dissolved Al, Fe and Mn of 1.0, 1.9 and 0.89 mg/L, respectively. The corresponding effluent from the OLD had computed void-volume retention times of 4.5–18 h, with median pH of 6.6, net acidity of −93.2 mg/L CaCO 3 , and concentrations of dissolved Al, Fe and Mn of

Downflow Limestone Beds for Treatment of Net-Acidic, Oxic, Iron-Laden Drainage from a Flooded Anthracite Mine, Pennsylvania, USA: 2. Laboratory Evaluation

Acidic mine drainage (AMD) containing elevated concentrations of dissolved iron and other metals can be neutralized to varying degrees by reactions with limestone in passive treatment systems. We evaluated the chemical and mineralogical characteristics and the effectiveness of calcitic and dolomitic limestone for the neutralization of net-acidic, oxic, iron-laden AMD from a flooded anthracite mine. The calcitic limestone, with CaCO3 and MgCO3 contents of 99.8 and <0.1 wt%, respectively, and the dolomitic limestone, with CaCO3 and MgCO3 contents of 60.3 and 40.2 wt%, were used to construct a downflow treatment system in 2003 at the Bell Mine, a large source of AMD and baseflow to the Schuylkill River in the Southern Anthracite Coalfield, in east-central Pennsylvania. In the winter of 2002–2003, laboratory neutralization-rate experiments evaluated the evolution of effluent quality during 2 weeks of continuous contact between AMD from the Bell Mine and the crushed calcitic or dolomitic limestone in closed, collapsible containers (cubitainers). The cubitainer tests showed that: (1) net-alkaline effluent could be achieved with detention times greater than 3 h, (2) effluent alkalinities and associated dissolution rates were equivalent for uncoated and Fe(OH)3-coated calcitic limestone, and (3) effluent alkalinities and associated dissolution rates for dolomitic limestone were about half those for calcitic limestone. The dissolution rate data for the cubitainer tests were used with data on the volume of effuent and surface area of limestone in the treatment system at the Bell Mine to evaluate the water-quality data for the first 1.5 years of operation of the treatment system. These rate models supported the interpretation of field results and indicated that treatment benefits were derived mainly from the dissolution of calcitic limestone, despite a greater quantity of dolomitic limestone within the treatment system. The dissolution-rate models were extrapolated on a decadal scale to indicate the expected decreases in the mass of limestone and associated alkalinities resulting from the long-term reaction of AMD with the treatment substrate. The models indicated the calcitic limestone would need to be replenished approaching the 5-year anniversary of treatment operations to maintain net-alkaline effluent quality.

Downflow Limestone Beds for Treatment of Net-Acidic, Oxic, Iron-Laden Drainage from a Flooded Anthracite Mine, Pennsylvania, USA: 1. Field Evaluation

Passive-treatment systems that route acidic mine drainage (AMD) through crushed limestone and/or organic-rich substrates have been used to remove the acidity and metals from various AMD sources, with a wide range of effects. This study evaluates treatment of net-acidic, oxic, iron-laden AMD with limestone alone, and with organic-rich compost layered with the limestone. In the fall of 2003, a treatment system consisting of two parallel, 500-m2 downflow cells followed by a 400-m2 aerobic settling pond and wetland was installed to neutralize the AMD from the Bell Mine, a large source of AMD and baseflow to the Schuylkill River in the Southern Anthracite Coalfield, in east-central Pennsylvania. Each downflow cell consisted of a lower substrate layer of 1,090 metric tons (t) of dolomitic limestone (60 wt% CaCO3) and an upper layer of 300 t of calcitic limestone (95 wt% CaCO3); one of the downflow cells also included a 0.3 m thick layer of mushroom compost over the limestone. AMD with pH of 3.5–4.3, dissolved oxygen of 6.6–9.9 mg/L, iron of 1.9–5.4 mg/L, and aluminum of 0.8–1.9 mg/L flooded each cell to a depth 0.65 m above the treatment substrates, percolated through the substrates to underlying, perforated outflow pipes, and then flowed through the aerobic pond and wetland before discharging to the Schuylkill River. Data on the flow rates and chemistry of the effluent for the treatment system indicated substantial neutralization by the calcitic limestone but only marginal effects from the dolomitic limestone or compost. Because of its higher transmissivity, the treatment cell containing only limestone neutralized greater quantities of acidity than the cell containing compost and limestone. On average, the treatment system removed 62% of the influent acidity, 47% of the dissolved iron, 34% of the dissolved aluminum, and 8% of the dissolved manganese. Prior to treatment of the Bell Discharge, the Schuylkill River immediately below its confluence with the discharge had pH as low as 4.1 and supported few, if any, fish. However, within the first year of treatment, the pH was maintained at values of 5.0 or greater and native brook trout were documented immediately below the treatment system, though not above.

The Face of Decline: The Pennsylvania Anthracite Region in the Twentieth Century (review)

Reviewed by: The Face of Decline: The Pennsylvania Anthracite Region in the Twentieth Century Priscilla Long (bio) The Face of Decline: The Pennsylvania Anthracite Region in the Twentieth Century. By Thomas Dublin and Walter Licht . Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 2005. Pp. 275. $65/ $24.95. Thomas Dublin and Walter Licht's The Face of Decline is essential reading for anyone concerned with the economic development or redevelopment of a community, region, or state. It is also a definitive history of the anthracite region of northeastern Pennsylvania that by 1890 was supplying 16 percent of the nation's energy. The book's handsome, large-format pages conceal its great length, including detailed chapters that narrate (title notwithstanding) the early decades when the industry was raking in profits. These provide ballast for what follows—an account of eighty years of decline, ending in regional economic collapse. The anthracite region comprises three distinct coalfields, with Scranton, Wilkes-Barre, Hazleton, and Pottsville—all once-thriving towns—serving as urban centers of districts that were essentially rural and remote. In hard coal's heyday, an "imperial cartel"—the anthracite railroads—controlled an industry financed by outside investors. Modes of development, the authors observe, are mirrored in modes of decline. When the industry began its slide during the 1920s (with the competition from oil and natural gas), these investors dis-invested in a region in which they had no stake. This coincided with John Lewis's rise within the United Mine Workers of America and the union's subsequent abandonment of anthracite coal miners. After World War II, with coal-mining jobs going up in smoke, the elites of several towns went on campaigns to diversify the regional economy. Quasi-official municipal organizations such as the Scranton Industrial Development Corporation mounted fundraising drives to assist entering firms by abating taxes, building industrial parks, and offering generous leases on buildings. But local public–private campaigns, spurred by inadequate state and federal programs, pitted one town against another and therefore discouraged comprehensive regional planning. Certainly there were successes, but ultimately these efforts garnered mostly low-wage jobs, to the disgruntlement of working people who had donated to the campaigns. New companies provided fewer jobs than projected, some departed after their tax breaks expired, and others went bankrupt. Today, the region that fueled the industrialization of America has turned to the landfill business. The environment, far from being reclaimed, is being converted into a toxic-waste dump. (Prisons also provide jobs.) The catastrophe of the Centralia coal-mine fire—it ignited in 1962 and has since destroyed the town—symbolizes the devastation of the region; so also do boarded-up business districts and Scranton's "distressed municipality" status. [End Page 205] At every turn, Dublin and Licht place the decline of the anthracite coalfields into a comparative framework. They are neither didactic nor reductive: in some ways the anthracite region differs from the Midwest rustbelt or the lumber-depressed Pacific Northwest. Still, anthracite is not utterly unique. It is useful to learn of the Maytag Corporation's low-tax, low-wage dalliance in Galesburg, Illinois, before departing for Mexico and of Great Britain's far more effective response to the decline of its coal industry, continuing even into the Thatcher era of re-privatization. The history of anthracite coal does have a bright side: the spirit, tenacity, pride, and community-oriented values of its people. What the authors call the "mothers and fathers" generation grew up during the 1920s and 1930s; they were born to Irish or later-arriving Eastern and Southern European immigrants who had streamed into northeastern Pennsylvania back when coal was king. These mothers and fathers alike remained attached to the coalfields and to their close-knit, ethnically diverse communities. Decline divided this generation into "persisters"—families who stayed and made do with less—and commuters—families whose ex-miners car-pooled with others to heavy-industry, out-of-region jobs and returned home on weekends. A third group migrated out, but even these families came home to visit or bury their dead or retire. Successive economic shocks catalyzed a shift in sex roles, as Dublin and Licht meticulously delineate. Older women increasingly worked...

English

Water-quality data for discharges from 140 abandoned mines in the Bituminous and Anthracite Coalfields of Pennsylvania illustrate relations among pH, sulfate, and dissolved metal concentrations. The pH for the 140 samples ranged from 2.7 to 7.3, with two modes at pH 2.5 to 4 (acidic) and 6 to 7 (near neutral). Generally, flow rates were smaller and solute concentrations were greater for low-pH samples; flow rates increased with pH. Although the pH distribution was similar for the bituminous and anthracite subsets, the bituminous discharges had smaller median flow rates, greater concentrations of sulfate, iron, and aluminum, and smaller concentrations of barium and lead than anthracite discharges with the same pH values. The observed relations between the pH and constituent concentrations can be attributed to (1) dilution of acidic water by alkaline ground water; (2) solubility control of aluminum, iron, manganese, barium, and lead by hydroxide, sulfate, and/or carbonate minerals; and (3) aqueous sulfate-complex formation. The formation of AlSO4 + and AlHSO4 +2 complexes adds to the total dissolved aluminum concentration at pH of equilibrium with aluminum hydroxide or hydroxysulfate minerals and can account for 10 to 20 times greater concentrations of dissolved aluminum in bituminous discharges compared to anthracite discharges at similar pH. Sulfate complexation also can account for 10 to 30 times greater concentrations of dissolved ferric iron concentrations at equilibrium with ferrihydrite (Fe(OH)3) and/or schwertmannite (Fe8O8(OH)4.5(SO4)1.75) at pH of 3 to 5. In contrast, lower barium and lead concentrations in bituminous than anthracite discharges indicates elevated sulfate concentration could decrease mobility of these metals by the formation of insoluble minerals such as barite (BaSO4) or anglesite (PbSO4). Most samples were saturated with barite, but none were saturated with anglesite. Hence, lead concentrations could be controlled by coprecipitation with barite and/or by adsorption to schwertmannite or another sulfate-bearing oxide. Additional

Role of microbial iron reduction in the dissolution of iron hydroxysulfate minerals

Iron‐hydroxysulfate minerals can be important hosts for metals such as lead, mercury, copper, zinc, silver, chromium, arsenic, and selenium and for radionuclides such as 226Ra. These mineral‐bound contaminants are considered immobilized under oxic conditions. However, when anoxic conditions develop, the activities of sulfate‐ or iron‐reducing bacteria could result in mineral dissolution, releasing these bound contaminants. Reduction of structural sulfate in the iron‐hydroxysulfate mineral jarosite by sulfate‐reducing bacteria has previously been demonstrated. The primary objective of this work was to evaluate the potential for anaerobic dissolution of the iron‐hydroxysulfate minerals jarosite and schwertmannite at neutral pH by iron‐reducing bacteria. Mineral dissolution was tested using a long‐term cultivar, Geobacter metallireducens strain GS‐15, and a fresh isolate Geobacter sp. strain ENN1, previously undescribed. ENN1 was isolated from the discharge site of Shadle Mine, in the southern anthracite coalfield of Pennsylvania, where schwertmannite was the predominant iron‐hydroxysulfate mineral. When jarosite from Elizabeth Mine (Vermont) was provided as the sole terminal electron acceptor, resting cells of both G. metallireducens and ENN1 were able to reduce structural Fe(III), releasing Fe+2, SO4−2, and K+ ions. A lithified jarosite sample from Utah was more resistant to microbial attack, but slow release of Fe+2 was observed. Neither bacterium released Fe+2 from poorly crystalline synthetic schwertmannite. Our results indicate that exposure of jarosite to iron‐reducing conditions at neutral pH is likely to promote the mobility of hazardous constituents and should therefore be considered in evaluating waste disposal and/or reclamation options involving jarosite‐bearing materials.

Optimization of Limestone Drains for Long-Term Treatment of Mine Drainage, Swatara Creek Basin, Schuylkill County, PA

Abstract . Limestone drains were constructed in 1995, 1997, and 2000 to treat acidic mine drainage (AMD) from the Orchard, Buck Mtn., and Hegins discharges, respectively, in the Swatara Creek Basin, Southern Anthracite Coalfield, east-central Pennsylvania. This report summarizes the construction characteristics and performance of each of the limestone drains on the basis of influent and effluent quality and laboratory tests of variables affecting limestone dissolution rates. Data for influent and effluent indicate substantial alkalinity production by the Orchard and Buck Mtn. limestone drains and only marginal benefits from the Hegins drain. Nevertheless, the annual alkalinity loading rates have progressively declined with age of all three systems. Collapsible-container (cubitainer) testing was conducted to evaluate current scenarios and possible options for reconstruction and maintenance of the limestone drains to optimize their long-term performance. The cubitainer tests indicated dissolution rates for the current configurations that were in agreement with field flux data (net loading) for alkalinity and dissolved calcium. The dissolution rates in cubitainers were larger for closed conditions than open conditions, but the rates were comparable for coated and uncoated limestone for a given condition. Models developed on the basis of the cubitainer testing indicate (1) exponential declines in limestone mass and corresponding alkalinity loading rates with increased age of limestone drains and (2) potential for improved performance with enlargement, complete burial, and/or regular flushing of the systems. Additional Key Words: limestone dissolution rate, cubitainer tests, armoring.

Kevin Kenny, Making Sense of the Molly Maguires. New York: Oxford University Press, 1998. xi + 336 pp. $18.95 paper.

Few episodes in North American working-class history have attracted as much attention as the rise and fall of the Molly Maguires. The term refers to a secret movement of Irish miners who employed threats and violence in confronting their adversaries in the anthracite coal fields in the decade after the US Civil War. Most interpretations have been ideologically charged and focused mainly on the violence itself, beginning with sensational newspaper accounts and Alan Pinkerton's own book based on information from his operative James McParland who infiltrated the movement. At least one study, J. Walter Coleman's The Molly Maguire Riots (Richmond, 1936), showed a healthy skepticism for McParland's biased sources—Pinkerton and others who were more interested in hanging the Molly Maguires than in understanding them. In The Molly Maguires (New York, 1983 [1964]), however, Wayne Broehl, Jr., developed the more typical view that the Mollies were terrorists and the Pinkertons heroes. Though he handled the evidence less critically than Coleman, it is Broehl's account that has been viewed as the standard, perhaps the definitive account for more than a generation. With all this work and much more, why do we need another study of the Molly Maguires and what is it that makes Kevin Kenny's by far the most valuable treatment of them?

Coalbed methane resource potential and current prospects in Pennsylvania

Coalbed methane gas content analyses from exploratory coal cores and existing data indicate that gas content generally increases with increasing depth and rank. The coal beds studied are from the Main Bituminous field of Pennsylvania (which currently contains 24 coalbed methane pools) and the Northern and Southern Anthracite coal fields. They range from the Middle Pennsylvanian Allegheny Group to the Late Pennsylvanian–Early Permian Dunkard Group. Previous US Bureau of Mines studies revealed gas contents from 0.4 to 13.8 cm 3/g at depths of 99 to 432 m for the bituminous coal beds of the Allegheny Group. More recent core data from the Allegheny Group yielded gas contents from 2.2 to 8.9 cm 3/g at depths from 167 to 387 m. In the Anthracite region of eastern Pennsylvania, the little data that are available show that gas content is anomalously high or low. Gas yields from test holes in eastern Pennsylvania are low with or without artificial stimulation mainly due to the lack of a good cleat system. Overall estimates of coalbed methane resources indicate there may be 1.7 Tm 3 (61 Tcf) of gas-in-place contained in the Northern Appalachian coal basin. The amount of technically recoverable coalbed methane resources is projected by the US Geological Survey National Oil and Gas Resource Assessment Team [US Geological Survey National Oil and Gas Resource Assessment Team, 1996. 1995 National assessment of United States oil and gas resources—results, methodology, and supporting data, US Geological Survey Digital Data Series DDS-30, CD-ROM, Denver, CO, 80 pp.] and Lyons [Lyons, P.C., 1997. Central-northern Appalachian coalbed methane flow grows. Oil and Gas Journal 95 (27) 76–79] at 0.3 Tm 3 (11.48 Tcf). This includes portions of Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia, and a small part of Maryland. Consequently, a mapping investigation was conducted to evaluate the regional geology of the bituminous coal-bearing intervals in southwestern Pennsylvania and its influence on coalbed methane potential. Phase I of this study involved the entire Pennsylvanian coal-bearing interval of southwestern Pennsylvania. Phase II focused on a stratigraphic delineation and evaluation of Allegheny Group coal beds and associated sandstones. Several prospective coal beds and associated facies relationships with channel–fill sandstones were determined. Possible non-coal scenarios for coalbed methane include erosional contacts between coal beds and overlying channel–fill sandstones and areas of stacked channel–fill sandstones. Repetitive sequences of coal accumulation are stacked, commonly with shale interburden, and are also potential coalbed methane targets. Additional Pennsylvania Geological Survey drilling/coalbed methane sampling occurred in Armstrong, Beaver, Cambria, Greene, Lawrence, Somerset, and Washington Counties. Raw coalbed methane desorption data tables/graphical displays of gas contents versus depth, thickness, and time, and average composition and heating values from coal beds of the Allegheny Group to the Dunkard Group are available at the Pennsylvania Geological Survey. Further information on cross-sections, isopleth maps, isopach maps, raw drillhole data, and ownership issues can also be obtained from the same source.