The Department of the Interior’s Office of Surface Coal Mining Reclamation and Enforcement presented Northampton Fuel Supply Company, Inc. (NFS) with the “Excellence in Surface Coal Mining and Reclamation” National Award in September 2016 for the land reclamation at the Loomis Bank Operation off of Middle Road in Luzerne County, Hanover Township, PA. The Loomis site was an abandoned culm bank that covered over 100 acres of land. NFS started operations at the site in the late nineties and processed over a million tons of the culm material converting it to a viable fuel for power generation at Northampton Generating Company, LP’s (NGC) power plant located in Northampton, PA.

1. Excellence in
Surface Coal
Mining and
Reclamation
LOOMIS BANK
2016 National Award
Winner from the
Interior Department’s,
Office of Surface
Mining

2.  September 28th, 2016, the Department of the
Interior’s Office of Surface Coal Mining
Reclamation and Enforcement (OSMRE)
presented Northampton Fuel Supply
Company, Inc.(NFS), a mining subsidiary of
Northampton Generating Company LP, with
the “Excellence in Surface Coal Mining and
Reclamation” National Award in Las Vegas
Nevada –
 Mine Expo

3. OSM initiated the award program in
1986 to
recognize those responsible for “the
nation’s most outstanding
achievements in environmentally sound
surface mining and land reclamation”

4. OSM initiated the award program in
1986 to recognize those responsible for
“the nation’s most outstanding
achievements in environmentally sound
surface mining and land reclamation”
The award was presented to NFS for
the land reclamation at the Loomis
Bank Operation

5.  Special Thanks to those involved:
 Operators, PADEP DMO, Earth
Conservancy, Senator John Yudichak,
Wilkes-Barre Chamber of Business &
Industry, EPCAMR, Hanover Township,
Vendors, Engineers – F. Spott P.E. and
Inspiration from John McNew P.E., - Grade
layout by Charles Soroka……..and etc.
 PENN ANTHRACITE SME Members
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RzSae
E9ZecY&t=6s

6. Where is the Loomis
 Off of Middle Road in
 Hanover Township
 South Wilkes Barre – just North of Nanticoke
 Luzerne County

8. BEFORE

9. AFTER

10. Award Eligibility
 Surface coal mining and reclamation
operations conducted under a Title V permit
(1978 - present)
 Government Financial Reclamation Contracts
 AML projects are eligible for a National Award
if they are integrated with Title V permitted
operations
 More info on OSMRE website -
https://www.osmre.gov/programs/awards/Acti
veMineAwards.shtm

11. Nominations
 Nominations Submitted to OSMRE
 This year’s due date was April 27, 2017
 The above is completed In conjunction with a
Separate submission to the PADEP Bureau
Director. To
 Bureau Director selects site to represent PA –
(multiple nominations from bigger mining
states whittled down to one on State level)

12. Nomination - Criteria
 Cover sheet containing basic info
 Narrative description of the specific
reclamation or environmental control
techniques that resulted in exemplary
performance under the Surface Mining Law
 Graphic and Photos (including maps,
diagrams, or graphics)
 Specific instructions for Electronic formatting
– PDF and .JPEG pics
 Video Submission – for OSMRE presentation.
– DRONE FOOTAGE

13. Before and After Photos
Submitted

14. Before and After Photos

15. Selection and Judging
 Difficulty of Achieving Reclamation under
existing conditions (20 points)
 On-Site Effectiveness (30 points)
 Transferability of the Technique or Practice
(12 points)
 Increased Public Awareness of SMCRA (8
points)
 Long-Term Benefits to the Community (15
points)
 Exceeds the Spirit and Intent of SMCRA (15
points)

16. The Beginning of this
Reclamation Story
 Owners Earth Conservancy and the Greater
Wilkes-Barre Chamber Development
Corporation.
 EC founded in 1994 to reclaim and re-utilize
16,300 acres of former Blue Coal Company
owned land – Mostly AML sites.
 NFS maintains leases of land with EC - as
part of EC’s Mixed Use Land Development
Master Plan

17. Northampton Activity
 NFS started in late nineties
 shipped waste coal to Northampton
Generating Plant
 For electrical generation
 This process lasted over 11 years
 A million tons of waste coal used for power
generation

19. The Loomis Bank
 an abandoned coal refuse dump
 included a tailings pond that covered over 100
acres of land
 deposited on the surface of this property
 prior to the enactment of the SMCRA of 1977
 No persons or past entities could have been
held liable

20. Initial Remediation effort
 Started with Silt – aka tailings
 7.2 acre tailing pond
 40 feet deep
 473,000 tons of waste coal tailings
 Was the underflow reject of the Loomis
Colliery’s massive processing plant
 remained uncapped for decades
 air quality issues for local community – my
Grandmother’s porch was always coated with
black dust

21. Culm Process and Removal
 The culm was processed using a small heavy
media coal separation plan
 Raw culm at 3,800 BTU – beneficiated to
7,500 BTUs (AR)
 This culm is unconsolidated and open to the
elements…... analogy would be comparing it
to a giant maker - coffee grounds and filter
that sits on the land, allowing groundwater
and precipitation to simply percolate through it
 drains into and around the surrounding
Nanticoke Creek watershed

22. Culm Process – Coarse Reject
 Heavy Media coarse reject used to construct
the final grades for the property
 Similar to a 2B product
 Used to achieve the site’s surface
topography
 site’s hydraulics, air quality, and vegetation
growth all enhanced
 Mine Sequencing tricky with previous mine
fire

23. Culm Process Fine Rejects
 Fine rejects were utilized to fill underground
mine voids
 Pumped underground to fill underground
mine voids
 reduced the potential for mine subsidence
occurrence
 underground anthracite mine activities from
the early 1900’s
 Very difficult locating voids in target seam –
went through barrier pillars in mines above,
major fault on site, extensive use of old
mine maps.

24. Capping and Seeding
 1 foot of clay and soil to cap
 obtained locally and within the property
boundaries
 Stockpiles of clay and soil cover material were
strategically placed
 Acts as a semi-permeable top layer
 Reduces infiltration through remaining reject
material
 Surfaces flows channeled to the Nanticoke
Creek watershed and ultimately to the
Susquehanna River Basin

25. Overcoming the Challenges
 Obtain SMP – NFSC assumes liability for
reclamation – Bonded – affected.
 NGC’s CFB technology allowed NFSC to
export waste coal material from this property
– allowed for the CUT.
 Culm Bank Fire
 Underground injection
 Transportation
 Constructing Grades that addressed both
water runoff and that would be conducive for
land development

26. The Final Grade
 Maximize development platform with 2% grade
for runoff
 Runoff - Series of collection channels directing
flow to retention basins
 Settling - 2 high capacity retention basins
 one remains and was used for another project,
 the other has a skeletal remnant that can be
repurposed for future development.
 Erosion control - Benched slopes to break 70
feet of vertical relief found on property

27. Top – Flat with 2%

29. North Side Collection Channel

30. Drainage Core – Slope Bench

31. Enhanced Channel

36. Final Grade – Tracking up and Down slopes

37. On Site Mine Fire

40. Culm Bank Fire
 Co-operation with Regulatory Agencies,
Landowners, and Corporate Owners.
 Initial Isolation with NGC ash
 Isolation repaired once
 All ash removed and layered into Beneficial
Use area to maintain isolation
 OSM drilled monitoring holes. Temperature
eventually dropped over time
 OSM sign off that fire out – or non threat – to
finalize reclamation

41. Seeps and Monitoring Points
 The site was also complicated by pre-existing
mine seeps
 One retention basin design had to be
changed and re-worked (to un-encounter a
pre-existing seep that moved into basin)
 The monitoring data over the sampling period
indicate improvement as a result of
reclamation activity.

43. Project Benefits

44. Project Benefits
 Long term commitment made by NFSC
 Conservation of State funds for other reclaim
projects
 Creation of over 100 acres of land suitable for
wildlife an/or development
 Improved aesthetics of the local region

45. Project Benefits
 Reduction of the acid loading on the local mine
pools and surrounding watershed
 A favorable control of surface runoff for the
Susquehanna river basin
 The addition of a vegetated habitat
 improved air quality and general safety for the
local community
 Elimination of threats of uncontrolled fires in waste
coal pile
 Subsurface stabilization through underground
mine backfilling
 The elimination of a secluded dumping ground for
litter

47. Summary
 An exemplary model of an industrial facility
and operation that promotes and showcases
environmentally responsible land use
reclamation, planning and development
 Returned a hundred acres of polluted, once
wasted land back to a useful state
 Provide societal, environmental, and
economic advantages to the state, region,
and country ($13 million annually in services -
$7 million in wages)