Transcript Coal Creek Watershed Brownfields Project

Public Meeting Presentation
The Coal Creek Watershed Brownfields Project
Anderson County, Tennessee
Lake City, Tennessee
November 30, 2006
Prepared by:
Jason Bulluck and Berny Ilgner
Presented by:
Berny Ilgner
Team/Acknowledgements
• Beverly Williams – EPA Region 4
• Allan Comp, PhD – Office of Surface Mining
• Andy Shivas – State of Tennessee
• Alan Neal – National Resources Conversation Service
• Brian Jenks/Rex Lynch – Anderson County
• Buck Wilson – Lake City
• Barry Thacker / Carol Moore – Coal Creek Watershed
Foundation
2
Brownfields
• Urban definition – a real property, the expansion,
redevelopment, or reuse of which may be
complicated by the presence of a pollutant
• Includes real or perceived
• Mine-scarred lands
3
Brownfields Meet Mine-Scarred Lands (MSL)
• MSL added to Small Business Liability Relief and
Brownfields Revitalization Act of 2002
• MSL includes lands, associated waters, and
surrounding watershed where extraction, beneficiation
or processing of ores and minerals
(including coal) has occurred
• MSL considered Brownfields even
if chemical contaminants are not
primary barriers to revitalization
4
Characteristics of MSL Watersheds
• Aquatic ecosystems degraded by Acid Mine
Drainage (AMD) and increased erosion
• Visual and chemical impacts of spoil piles
and washing operations
• Sedimentation of waterways
• Limited infrastructure and
level land to redevelop
• Limited land access
5
Coal Creek
Watershed
• 36 square miles
• Communities built on
coal, now in decline
• Abandoned mine lands
• Potential adverse
impact to local
environment/ water
quality
• Coal Creek 303d listed
as partially impaired
6
Challenges
• How can these environmental
impacts be quantified over such a
large area?
• How can Brownfields be applied to
non-point sources, and still be a
catalyst for economic recovery?
• How do you stimulate interest by
large landholders to develop
properties for redevelopment?
7
Coal Creek Watershed Assessment Assets
Heritage
8
Coal Creek Watershed Assessment Assets
Ecology
Golden-winged warbler
American elk
Diana fritillary
9
Local Activism
Coal Creek Watershed Foundation (CCWF)
• Stream bank stabilization projects
• Dead wood removal events
• River clean-ups
• Annual Coal Creek Health Day
• Annual CCWF Scholarship Fund
• Annual Coal Creek Miners Festival
10
CCW Assessment Approach/Objectives
• Initial watershed assessment
• Geodatabase construction
• Integrated Pollutant Source Inventory
(IPSI)-Sediment Loading Model (SLM)
• Data gaps/data collection
• Geodatabase update
• Site identification
• Phase I/Phase II
Environmental Assessments
• Actively engage community members
in the process
11
Initial Assessment – Historical Data
• Cultural
• Historical
• Water quality
• Hydrological
• Geological
• Ecological
• Socio-economic
• Landownership
12
Environmental Data
• Mines
– Strip
– Deep
• Water quality
– Chemical
– Physical
Map deleted. Contact
project coordinators to
view.
• Biological
– Fish
– Benthic
invertebrates
• Data
distribution
13
Environmental Conditions
• Strip benches and deep mine portals throughout
watershed (numerous non-point sources)
• Some flooding corrected (removed from 303d listing
due to siltation)
• Water chemistry (pH, TSS, alkalinity) indicates
generally acceptable water quality (24 samples
collected seasonally)
• Coal Creek listed as partially impaired based on
pathogens (must reduce by 56%)
• Terrestrial and aquatic habitats degraded throughout
watershed
14
Geodatabase Construction
• Populated with all existing
data/ information
• Interlinked with base layers
– USGS topographic maps
– Roads, political boundaries
– Hydrology, land cover
• Integrated geodatabase for
modeling, analysis
– Guide for this assessment
– Tool for future redevelopment
efforts
15
Sediment Loading Model
• Recent aerial photography
• Photointerpretation
• Land use/land cover classification
• sub-watershed delineations
• Sediment contributions via Revised Universal
Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE)
• Identification of data gaps
• Geodatabase integration
• Target properties selection
16
Aerial Photography
and
Photointerpretation
Map deleted. Contact
project coordinators to
view.
17
Landuse/Landcover
Classification
Map deleted. Contact
project coordinators to
view.
18
Sub-Watershed
Delineations
Map deleted. Contact
project coordinators to
view.
19
Model Outputs
Example of the Sediment
Contribution Model Output Data
Project
Watershed
Soil Loss,
tons/acre/year
01
02
201
03
0301
04
0401
05
0501
0502
050201
06
0601
0602
060201
07
0701
08
0801
Total
0.45
0.94
0.26
0.62
0.74
0.66
0.44
1.28
0.55
0.45
0.39
0.84
0.60
0.42
0.35
0.37
0.82
0.32
0.38
Total
Tons/Year
294.54
585.97
54.60
385.98
701.35
100.82
376.85
194.48
540.24
834.62
373.75
2305.74
602.71
1400.24
655.18
721.04
1917.62
307.19
498.66
12851.58
110
0.000
0.000
0.000
4.996
0.000
0.532
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
5.528
111
0.000
2.915
0.000
8.107
0.000
1.462
0.000
1.687
5.543
0.000
0.840
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
20.554
112
20.050
30.339
6.410
22.901
49.341
7.249
41.182
5.613
31.806
54.977
48.818
52.092
9.307
2.622
4.478
11.702
6.339
6.961
0.107
412.295
115
117
0.000
0.000
0.000
2.014
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
2.014
0.000
0.000
0.000
1.372
1.805
1.284
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
4.461
Map deleted. Contact
project coordinators to
view.
Tons/Year = R*K*LS*C*P
Tons/Acre/Year = (R*K*LS*C*P)/sub-watershed acres
20
Sub-Watershed
Sediment Loading
Prioritization
21
Base Flow Data Results
• Water quality similar to historic
sites
• Slightly abnormal conditions in two
sub-watersheds where past mining
took place
• Perception more of a
“contaminant” than constituents
• Aquatic habitat quality lower than
other streams in the region
• Healthier aquatic communities
in headwaters and tributaries of
Coal Creek than in Coal Creek
• Seeds for improvement
22
Target Property Selection:
Priority Site Screening Criteria
A property may be chosen if it…
• is a source of Acid Mine Drainage
• has visual or chemical impact
• contributes to erosion or siltation
• has historically/culturally important features
• has potential to build tourism infrastructure
• has ecological important features
23
Target Property –
Old Block Factory Site
Map deleted. Contact
project coordinators to
view.
24
Phase I and Phase II
Environmental Assessments
• Phase I Environmental Assessment
• Phase II Environmental Assessment
– Focus on soil and groundwater sampling
25
Coal Creek
Watershed Outlook
• Pursuit of current economic
development strategy
• Focused volunteer clean-up
efforts
• Stream bank stabilization grants
from TDEC and OSM
• Additional assessment/clean-up
funding opportunities via
Brownfields Program
26
Questions
27