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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE |
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State
Rep. Ted Harhai |
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Governor signs Harhai coal refuse disposal bill into law
HARRISBURG, Feb. 1 – Gov. Ed Rendell today signed into law a bill sponsored by state Rep. Ted Harhai, D-Westmoreland, to reduce the spread of coal refuse piles onto new property.
The Harhai bill (H.B. 1847) passed the House overwhelmingly in September followed by unanimous Senate approval of an amended bill in December. Last week the House agreed to the amendments, which Harhai supported, by a 183-12 vote.
The new law designates property conditions that would make a site more acceptable to coal refuse than a new location. The preferred sites would include property already used for coal refuse or adjacent to an existing coal refuse site. Other conditions that would establish property as a preferred site for coal refuse would include a watershed already polluted by acid mine runoff that would not be made worse by the new refuse or an unreclaimed surface mine refuse pile where the runoff situation could be improved by a new refuse disposal operation.
"From our long and costly experience of dealing with the aftermath of mining and disposal of mine refuse over the past 150 years, we know that any future projects must be carefully sighted and operated to ensure against worsening the runoff problems that plague many local watersheds and, where possible, to reverse the damage," said Harhai. "The new law that I proposed and the governor has signed will prevent mine and refuse pile runoff from expanding, and help us mitigate existing environmental damage.
"A great deal of money and work has been committed to reversing mine runoff damage. It would be a great waste to allow any new watershed problems to develop."
Harhai supported the amendments the Senate made in considering his proposal. The amendments create a three-member Coal Bed Methane Review Board to find alternatives to court litigation to resolve disputes over the placement of coal bed methane wells and the roads that would be built and maintained to used access well sites.