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The Babb Creek reclamation project has restored fish habitat |
Signor Brothers received special recognition as a small
coal operator for excellence in reclamation. The company’s mining
operation removed 22,000 tons of coal refuse that had been used to build a
railroad bed along Babb Creek in the late 1800s. The railroad was built
near the turn of the century to haul coal from an underground mine and
service a tannery in Morris, but the railroad bed was made from coal and
coal refuse. The coal refuse was polluting Babb Creek with acid mine
drainage. Signor Brothers designed the project with stream bank protection
methods to remove the refuse without impacting the stream.
The project used downed trees along the stream bank to turn Babb Creek
away from the refuse removal, a move that also provided a fish habitat. As
a result of the refuse removal, one of the last major pollution sources in
the stream was eliminated. The company used only four employees to
complete the reclamation.
Signor Brothers removed the coal material, which still had enough heat
value to be used as fuel. The company also stabilized the stream banks and
reclaimed and revegetated the old rail bed. Another innovative technique
was the use of large equipment to load the refuse during frozen winter
weather. This greatly reduced possible sediment problems.
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The
Office of Surface Mining, Reclamation & Enforcement presented the 25th
Anniversary National Excellence in Surface Coal Mine Reclamation Award to
Signor Brothers’ Babb Creek Operation, located in Bloss Township,
Pennsylvania, for exemplary reclamation on the former coal mine site. The
OSM awards program began in 1986 to publicly recognize outstanding active
coal mine reclamation and to highlight and show recognition for exemplary
reclamation techniques.