Federal Office of Surface Mining in Wilkes-Barre Pa. Closes by End of September
The state Department of Environmental Protection’s Bureau of Abandoned Mine Reclamation now responds to such emergencies.
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The federal Office of Surface Mining located in the Stegmaier Building on Wilkes-Barre Boulevard will close by the end of September and all the maps of area coal mines will be transferred to an office near Pittsburgh.
Dirk Fillpot, spokesman for the U.S. Department of Interior’s Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement, said the move is a result of an amendment to federal law that transfers responsibility for addressing emergency abandoned mine land projects, such as subsidence, to the states.
The state Department of Environmental Protection’s Bureau of Abandoned Mine Reclamation now responds to such emergencies.
Fillpot noted the federal government allotted $145.3 million for abandoned mine land projects to states and tribes in 2007. That funding increased to $395.6 million this year.
“Because of the increased amount of funding to states and tribes, we began phasing out funding for the federal offices,” Fillpot said. “Staff resources are being reduced as these functions are no longer needed.”
He said the eight employees who staff the Wilkes-Barre office will be offered positions at other agency offices.
Estimated savings from closing the office were not available on Friday, Fillpot said, adding that an office in Ashland, Ky., also is closing.
In addition to being a base for emergency projects, the Wilkes-Barre office also serves as a mine map repository that, along with a repository in Green Tree, is part of the National Mine Map Repository.
The repository in Green Tree collects and maintains mine map information and images for all types of mining for the entire country. The repository in Wilkes-Barre maintains maps specific to the coal fields in the anthracite coal region of Northeastern Pennsylvania.
Many of the maps in the repository are currently available in digital format and the repository is in the process of scanning all the maps in the collection.
Mine maps are often used to help business owners, contractors and new homeowners make decisions on construction and determine whether mine subsidence insurance should be purchased.
A searchable index of mine maps in each state is available online at the Office of Surface Mining website.
Source: The Times Leader
To stop by The National Mine Map Repository’s website to search the index of all mine maps in the collection, CLICK HERE
