Services / Environmental Management / Confluence Newsletter

Confluence: February 2002, Vol. 4, No. 2
Interesting Individuals

This month, Confluence interviews Jill Byers, media director for AMD&ART. Jill Byers is a second year AmeriCorps member and works with communities to develop publication media and conferences. Jill is a 2000 graduate of the University of Pittsburgh in Pittsburgh, PA with a B.A. in Urban Studies and Political Science.

CONFLUENCE: What is AMD&ART?

AMD&ART: AMD&ART is a Johnstown based non-profit that is artfully transforming environmental liabilities into community assets. It is staffed by a volunteer executive director, AmeriCorps, and AmeriCorps VISTA volunteers and directed by a nine-member Board of Directors.

CONFLUENCE: How did the founders of AMD&ART come up with the concept?

AMD&ART: In the early nineties, Dr. T. Allan Comp, a historian working with the Southwestern Pennsylvania Heritage Commission became interested in the environmental and economic effects of acid mine drainage (AMD), the most widespread problem in the Appalachian region. He realized AMD had become the emblem of the region's social and economic woes.

In 1994, Dr. Comp and E. Jeanne Gleason, then the Executive Director of the Pennsylvania Rural Arts Alliance, founded AMD&ART. Realizing that the future of small coal towns relied on clean water and a proud community, the two sought to fuse the science of AMD remediation with public participation and art. Often, the large ponds required for passive AMD treatment disrupt the larger landscape and do not provide additional recreational opportunities. AMD&ART was established to make AMD treatment sites a public space and source of community pride. Comp and Gleason assembled a dedicated Board of Directors along with a design team including engineers, historians, landscape architects and artists.

CONFLUENCE: Who are the primary partners?

AMD&ART: AmeriCorps and AmeriCorps VISTA volunteers, AMD&ART's main office in Johnstown and field offices in Vintondale and Central City. The Corporation for National Service has provided AMD&ART with such volunteers since 1996. The Dept. of the Interior Office of Surface Mining, The Environmental Protection Agency, and The Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection have been major partners since AMD&ART's inception providing funds and guidance.

CONFLUENCE: What have been some successes of the program?

AMD&ART: In 2001, the Vintondale AMD&ART park was opened. The 35-acre site incorporates public art, historical interpretation and recreational opportunities. It has made great strides in the environmental and economic recovery of Vintondale, a small borough of 528 people in Southwestern PA, including reclamation of over 35 acres of abandoned mine lands, treatment of an AMD discharge that can flow as high as 400 gallons per minute, creation of seven acres of habitat rich wetlands and 17 acres of recreational space, and the removal of over 50,000 tons of AMD producing waste coal refuse.

AMD&ART is also working in the 34 square mile Dark Shade Watershed in Somerset County, Pennsylvania. The Dark Shade Watershed included the communities of Central City Borough and Shade Township. In 1999, AMD&ART wrote an EPA Brownfields Demonstration Pilot Project grant application that resulted in an award of $200,000 for inventory, assessment and planning of brownfields sites in the Dark Shade Watershed. This was the first time a coal - impacted watershed was recognized as a brownfield by the EPA. So far, assessment has been completed on two of the watershed's priority brownfield sites. One former coal mine site in the village of Gahagen that was covered with over 20,000 tons of coal refuse has been reclaimed and transformed into the Gahagen Community Park. The Dark Shade Brownfields project continues to work in the watershed on environmental justice issues, brownfields redevelopment and watershed restoration.

AMD&ART's work in Vintondale and Dark Shade has resulted in the completion of similar projects in other parts of Coal Country. In Murray City, Ohio, the Monday Creek Restoration Project (MCRP) is in the planning stages of an AMD treatment park incorporating history, art and community. When complete, the park adjacent to the recently renovated Murray City Train Depot will contain a passive AMD treatment system, walking trail, pavilion and amphitheatre. AMD&ART was a primary consultant to MCRP in developing the ideas for combining AMD treatment and public space.

CONFLUENCE: How do communities go about initiating a project?

AMD&ART: AMD&ART chose the communities of Vintondale and the Dark Shade Watershed as pilot projects. Both of these communities were severely impacted by AMD but had a resolute population committed to changing their community. Since these two projects began, grassroots watershed organizations and local governments from all over Coal Country have been contacting AMD&ART to assist in their AMD remediation plans. Any community who wishes to incorporate art, education, and history into AMD cleanup can contact AMD&ART for assistance.

CONFLUENCE: What is the potential economic impact for a community taking part in the program?

AMD&ART: Communities who are working with AMD&ART to transform environmental liabilities into community assets are expected to see great community and economic developments. AMD remediation and abandoned mine land reclamation produce clean water and eliminates the negative stigma attached to communities suffering from it. Clean water is an important infrastructure element and is essential for economic development.

A park that incorporates ART and AMD remediation not only removes pollution but also produces aesthetically pleasing greenscapes and recreational opportunities. As people come to town to bike, boat, or fish, they are likely to spend time and money in town. Additionally, transforming abandoned eyesores into reusable greenscapes creates previously unusable land for redevelopment and raises real estate values.

CONFLUENCE: How does funding for a project work?

AMD&ART: A major goal of AMD&ART is to seek out local and non-traditional funding sources. AMD&ART tries not to seek large federal and state funds for AMD remediation and Abandoned Mine Land (AML) Reclamation funds. This strategy allows for project duplication throughout Coal County and for flexibility in incorporating artistic elements. AMD&ART seeks innovative ways to pay for low cost projects.

One such example used in Vintondale allowed for a no cost refuse coal removal through a Government Financed Construction Contract (GFCC), a permit issued by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (PADEP) which allows a private company to remove a source of pollution and sell the material suitable for reuse for a profit. A permit for Vintondale was issued in May 2001. Two months later, the permitted contractor who partnered with AMD&ART sold the 50,000 tons of refuse to a regional cogeneration plant. The value of this no-cost refuse removal was estimated at over $300,000

For more information about the AMD&ART project contact them at www.amdandart.org or by phone at 814.539.5357.

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