Public Meeting Presentation

The Coal Creek Watershed Brownfields Project Anderson County, Tennessee

Lake City, TennesseeNovember 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

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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

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• 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

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Brownfields Meet Mine-Scarred Lands (MSL)

• 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

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Characteristics of MSL Watersheds

• 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

Coal Creek Watershed

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• 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?

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Challenges

Heritage

Coal Creek Watershed Assessment Assets

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Coal Creek Watershed Assessment Assets

Ecology

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Golden-winged warbler

Diana fritillaryAmerican elk

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

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• 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

CCW Assessment Approach/Objectives

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• Cultural

• Historical

• Water quality

• Hydrological

• Geological

• Ecological

• Socio-economic

• Landownership12

Initial Assessment – Historical Data

• Mines– Strip

– Deep

• Water quality– Chemical

– Physical

• Biological– Fish

– Benthicinvertebrates

• Data distribution

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Environmental Data

Map deleted. Contact project coordinators to view.

• 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

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Environmental Conditions

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

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• 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 selection16

Sediment Loading Model

Aerial Photography and Photointerpretation

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Map deleted. Contact project coordinators to view.

Landuse/Landcover Classification

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Map deleted. Contact project coordinators to view.

Sub-Watershed Delineations

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Map deleted. Contact project coordinators to view.

Example of the Sediment Contribution Model Output Data

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Model Outputs

Project Watershed

Soil Loss, tons/acre/year

Total Tons/Year

110 111 112 115 117

01 0.45 294.54 0.000 0.000 20.050 0.000 0.00002 0.94 585.97 0.000 2.915 30.339 0.000 0.000

201 0.26 54.60 0.000 0.000 6.410 0.000 0.00003 0.62 385.98 4.996 8.107 22.901 2.014 1.372

0301 0.74 701.35 0.000 0.000 49.341 0.000 1.80504 0.66 100.82 0.532 1.462 7.249 0.000 1.284

0401 0.44 376.85 0.000 0.000 41.182 0.000 0.00005 1.28 194.48 0.000 1.687 5.613 0.000 0.000

0501 0.55 540.24 0.000 5.543 31.806 0.000 0.0000502 0.45 834.62 0.000 0.000 54.977 0.000 0.000

050201 0.39 373.75 0.000 0.840 48.818 0.000 0.00006 0.84 2305.74 0.000 0.000 52.092 0.000 0.000

0601 0.60 602.71 0.000 0.000 9.307 0.000 0.0000602 0.42 1400.24 0.000 0.000 2.622 0.000 0.000

060201 0.35 655.18 0.000 0.000 4.478 0.000 0.00007 0.37 721.04 0.000 0.000 11.702 0.000 0.000

0701 0.82 1917.62 0.000 0.000 6.339 0.000 0.00008 0.32 307.19 0.000 0.000 6.961 0.000 0.000

0801 0.38 498.66 0.000 0.000 0.107 0.000 0.000Total 12851.58 5.528 20.554 412.295 2.014 4.461

Tons/Year = R*K*LS*C*PTons/Acre/Year = (R*K*LS*C*P)/sub-watershed acres

Map deleted. Contact project coordinators to view.

Sub-Watershed Sediment Loading Prioritization

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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 improvement22

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

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Target Property –Old Block Factory Site

Map deleted. Contact project coordinators to view.

• Phase I Environmental Assessment

• Phase II Environmental Assessment– Focus on soil and groundwater sampling

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Phase I and Phase II Environmental Assessments

• 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

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Coal Creek Watershed Outlook

Questions

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