Pennsylvania Backwoods

After seeing the pictures Denny posted on his Stop Mountaintop Removal blog about acid mine drainage, I decided to take some similar pictures from my area. The effects from mining coal last for decades and possibly 100 or more years. These pictures are of runoff from the Sagamore Mines in Armstrong County, PA. These basins are on slightly different elevations, with the water flowing through 1 then dropping down into the next. I guess this gives the compounds that are suspended in the water time to settle and end up in the soil. They recently dredged these to remove the contaminated soil, but I wonder how red it was before dredging and how often they clean it out.

Below is a pile of soil contaminated by the sulfuric runoff from the abandoned mines.

Below is an image from Microsoft Virtual Earth. I have marked the area in red where the above images were taken. You can clearly see the polluted water still entering the lake in this image. Make sure you click on the image to make it bigger.

I guess this is an effort to keep our waterways safe, but the disturbing reality of this area is that it is located at the head of a very beautiful lake less than a mile away from where I live. The lake itself was built to keep a supply of water for steam and the cooling towers at The Keystone Power Plant a few miles away, which is one of the “dirtiest” power plants in the nation, releasing more mercury than any other power plant.

Pennsylvania has quite a few problems related to coal mining. According to ActionPA.org Pennsylvania’s Dirty Energy Legacy…:

Abandoned Mines and Subsidence
• Pennsylvania has one-third of all the abandoned mine-related problems in the country, more than any other state in the nation. Pennsylvania is home to over 250,000 acres of abandoned surface mines. Abandoned mines, coal refuse banks, old mine shafts and other relics of past mining exist in 45 of our 67 counties.
• Approximately 200,000 acres of land throughout Pennsylvania are prone to subsidence, a type of shifting in the ground caused when mines collapse, that can crack homes’ foundations, redirect streams, damage roads and more.
  Pennsylvania is home to 90% of the country’s mine-related hazardous and explosive gas problems and half of its hazardous water bodies.

Acid Mine Drainage

• The single biggest water pollution problem facing Pennsylvania is polluted water draining from abandoned coal mining operations. Over half of the streams that don’t meet water quality standards — more than 2,400 miles of the state’s 54,000 miles of streams — don’t meet standards because of mine drainage.
• Pennsylvania is the worst state in the U.S. for acid mine drainage.

While here in Pennsylvania, we don’t have to worry about Big Coal ripping the tops of our mountains off and pushing them into valley’s(although strip mining sometimes comes very close), we do have some of the most serious environmental issues in the nation related to coal.

You can read more about acid mine drainage on Wikipedia’s acid mine drainage page.

Man I can’t wait for Spring to completely arrive! I’m sick of everything being so dull and gray. At least there are still sights to see that aren’t so bad. These turkey were in the corn field behind the house when we pulled in.

They had already started to head out of the corn field and into the Christmas trees when we pulled in, so I had to jump out in order to get the pictures. The last 2 were at full digital and optical zoom, so they are a little blurry. It’s odd that there were only 2 there. We have been seeing a flock of at least 10 of them.

I’m sure by the time “Spring Gobbler” has arrived, they will have moved elsewhere anywhow, so its nice to see them while they are here.

I couldn’t find any pictures that show just how difficult the morel mushrooms are to find here in the woods of Pennsylvania. However, I think you can see from the image on the bottom. Now just imagine the forest floor covered in oak leaves and trying to spot these guys poking their heads up through!

If, you know where a patch is, they are easier to find, because you know they are there and once you spot the first 1, they are easier to find. Just try finding a new patch tho, you can be in the woods for hours and not find a single 1.

Around here they mature around the end of April into the 1st part of May coinciding with the 1st week of Spring gobbler season.

They seem to grow in a variety of environments. The spot we find them in I believe was an orchard at 1 time. I have read that they grow mainly on south facing slopes, that they like soil underneath Ash and Oak trees, and that they also like the ground under dead Elms. I don’t know if there are any elms left around here, there was a disease that nearly wiped them off of the face of the planet a few years back.

If you like mushrooms, then you will definently like these things. Fry them in butter and serve as a side dish to anything you like.

I’ll start this post with 2 of my nicest pictures. To me, these 2 pictures define what I thought the “country life” was all about when I still lived in the city. The views around here never fail to amaze me! Sometimes I wonder how I ever lived in the city at all. It’s so much nicer being able to walk out the back door and be in the woods in minutes. Or to jump on the quad and go riding, without having to load it up and take it somewhere to ride it. Or to go outside and shoot a gun anytime I might want, without having to worry about getting in trouble.

These are just a couple of the pictures I have added to the new Pennsylvania Backwoods Photo Gallery. I got the idea for the new gallery from Denny over at The Backwoods Drifter after he put up his gallery at
Backwoods Drifter Photo Gallery

Actually, I kinda get a lot of influence from Denny, including the idea for my blog and part of its name, so thanks Denny! Make sure you stop over at his blog and say hi. Denny does many posts on the destructive behaviors of big coal, so if you like the pictures of the scenery in my gallery and enjoy nature, make sure to give him your support so we can keep nature looking like the 2 pictures up there instead of this:

I also want to say hi to Adam in California. He will be here to visit next week and he also likes the scenic vistas around here. I told him this summer that I was planning on starting a blog to show off the scenery around here, so here it is! If you want you can register here and if you want to show your friends pictures from here go to the photo gallery. Cya Wednesday!

Has been a while since I posted… I need to find time and ideas for more posts. For now here is a picture taken about 200 yards from my house.

Haven’t had a lot of time to write lately, so I decided I’d put up a post with some pictures of this past summer. It sure is nice seeing everything all green

These are the “twins” at the farm this summer. I think there were actually 3 sets of twins there this year, but its hard to tell.

You can click on the images to make em bigger. Just hit you “back” button when you are done looking to get back here.

Apparently, you need a special certification to transport passengers in the state of Pennsylvania. Apparently, the Pennsylvania public utilities commission has been sending out cease and desist letters to citizens who help the Amish by driving them places that they need to go such as grocery shopping or to the doctor - whether or not you are profiting from the trips or not!

Those who are familiar with the Amish know that due to tradition, the Amish do not drive. If they need to get somewhere not easily accessible by horse(or horse and buggy), they must have someone from outside their community with a vehicle take them where they need to go.

Apparently, the state has found a new revenue stream, even though the law itself is not new. The letters have been being sent mainly to those who are transporting the Amish. The reason for this is that with their traditional dress, it is a lot easier for the state to spot the Amish in a vehicle.

According to The Indiana Gazette , there have been hundreds of warning letters sent out since 2004. Also according to The Indiana Gazette , reporting on information obtained from Denise DiNunzio, PUC acting press secretary,

Under PUC regulations, in Pennsylvania, it is “illegal to transport any passenger for compensation without holding a PUC Certificate of Public Convenience,” DiNunzio said.

The certificate is required for vehicles in two categories: Metered taxis and paratransit carriers. Paratransit carriers include passenger cars up to 15-passenger vans, and vehicles in this category are commonly used to transport “people whose personal convictions prevent them from owning or operating a vehicle,” DiNunzio said.

These certificates allow the PUC to monitor adherence to rules, rates, territory, insurance and safety standards and have been in place for a long time, DiNunzio said.

“The law that states anyone who transports others for compensation must be certified isn’t new,” she said. “This is something that has been in the PUC Public Utility Code for several decades.”

Just like everything, they claim its about safety, but with all of the letters mailed out and the certificates costing $350 per year, I know better. I mean to a point, it may be about safety, but to me it is just the state with its hand out like usual. What would they say if I take a few bucks to take my non-driving neighbor to the store? Am I required to hold the certificate to do this? I think they need to butt out!

While the effects of mountaintop don’t directly affect us in this region, some of the environmental effects are the same. In our area, our drinking water supply is contaminated from another byproduct of Coal.

In this area, CCW(coal combustion waste), the leftover ash produced from burning coal is being disposed of by placing it in abandoned mines. Not only is it being used as fill in deep mines, but it is also being disposed of in surface mines that are being “reclaimed”.

According to
Earth Justice ,

Disposing of coal ash in mines is contaminating water supplies throughout Pennsylvania, according to a report released today by Clean Air Task Force (CATF) and Earthjustice. In 10 of 15 mines examined across the state, groundwater and streams near areas where coal ash, or coal combustion waste, was placed had levels of arsenic, lead, cadmium and selenium and other pollutants above safe standards.

“Disposing of coal combustion waste in these mines is threatening water supplies all over the state,” said Jeff Stant, director of the Pennsylvania Minefill Research Project at the Clean Air Task Force. “If the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection won’t act now to stop these dangers, the US EPA should step in to protect the residents of Pennsylvania who live near coal ash mine fills.”

This does affect me as one of the major fill sites is about 15 miles away from me, located at the old Earnest Mine in Rayne/White townships. To add to this problem, some of the coal being mined for fuel is “crop” coal. Crop coal is much less efficient, and produces far more waste than good bituminous coal.

You can read more about the damage being done to our watersheds in the study posted here:
New Study Reports Pennsylvania Groundwater Contamination from Coal Ash .

I read a post on The Rasch Outdoor Chronicles titled: Taking It To The House that made me write this post. He provides a nice email template to use for emailing your Congressman and asking them to support the Clean Water Protection Act, H.R. 2169. What more can you ask for? He has done more than half of the work for you to email your rep. If you care about the quality of the water in your area, I urge you to get over to his site and use the template!

I didn’t intend to start this blog for a political platform, however I just can’t help it when I read stories like these. Take a look at Marines can stay in Berkeley, without an apology from City Council to see why I can’t avoid speaking my mind.

I actually read about the recruiters being thrown out a couple of weeks ago, but lately it’s just the “norm” so I didn’t pay it much thought. You can read more on the original story at Berkeley City Council Votes: Marines ‘Unwelcome Intruders’ In City (caution the language). Upon reading this article though, I started thinking about it more in depth. My thoughts are that our recruiters should pull out of there, and when the islamo-facists invade the country, then Berkeley and the rest of the anti-war, military hating towns can defend themselves. It is one thing to be against the war, but for a city council to vote the Marine Corp. out of their city, thats just ridiculous. Not only did they throw the Corp. out of town, but they also dubbed them as “uninvited and unwelcome intruders” in the city. This is absolutely ludicrous.

The sad thing is that this is not the only time this has happened in this country. I seem to recall an incident like this one around the Pittsburgh area a year or two ago. I guess all the left wing nuts aren’t going to be happy until we bring our military home, cut the defense budget, have our women start wearing burqas and pray to Mecca. I mean that is what they want isn’t it? After all, Islam is the only politically correct religion allowed in the country these days.

I could go on and on, but I’ll end it with this: If you want to read more stories like this, vote for “Osama Obama” or better yet, lets put the Clintons back in charge for another 4 years.

Here is yet another elected official who is against the troops. Toledo’s mayor Carleton “Carty” S. Finkbeiner kicked a group of Marines out of the city on Friday. The troops, all members of Company A, 1st Battalion, 24th Marines, out of Grand Rapids, MI, were there to do urban warfare training as they have in the past. They do the training in Toledo because most of the soldiers are unfamiliar with the city, which adds to the value of the training. During the training they do foot patrols, fire blank ammunition and drive in military vehicles, much like they would in a real combat situation.

The police were on board with the the training and even allowed the use of the area where the exercise was to take place. Furthermore, the police also issued a press release to the public letting the citizens of Toledo know about the events. these are the same events that have happened in the past when the unit has trained there.

Supposedly, the problem was a communications breakdown between the mayors office and the police department. Supposedly the mayor had told th police chief, in charge at the time of the last training event, that he did not want the Marines back. That chief failed to inform the new chief of this and this is what caused the whole problem.

Even if this is the case, the mayor had to know about the police issuing a press statement well before the Marines arrived in town. Yet it was only after they had arrived, that the mayor heard, and then sent out a member of his staff to kick out the Marines, instead of going himself to do it. His excuse was that he did not want the soldiers to scare the citizens.

To me, it sounds like he is just another liberal who is against the war and takes it out on the Marines, much as Jack Murtha has done in the past. Both Jack Murtha and the mayor are well past their expiry dates in my opinion anyway. I think that there should be a limit on how old our elected leaders can be. What do you think?

You can read more about this story on MSNBC .