Treating abandoned mine drainage can protect streams cost effectively and benefit vulnerable communities

Some communities endure environmental hazards from abandoned mines and job loss from the energy transition away from coal. Recent US legislation provides a historic appropriation for abandoned mine hazards like the acidic water that often drains from them. Who the investment will benefit and what it will accomplish is unclear. Here we provide answers for the case of abandoned mine drainage in Pennsylvania. We find that communities most exposed to mine drainage have incomes 30 percent below that of unaffected communities and are twice as vulnerable to the energy transition. Within affected communities, exposure is associated with a greater urban, non-white, renter population. Analytical modeling using data from past treatment efforts shows that they have been relatively cost effective, protecting streams for about $5700 per kilometer per year. Federal appropriations for Pennsylvania could address all impaired streams for 25 years but would leave insufficient funding for other abandoned mine hazards.

Katie Jo Black, Jeremy G. Weber