Shamokin Creek Restoration Alliance, Bucknell Post Presentations From Conference On Using Abandoned Mine Pools As Resources

The Shamokin Creek Restoration Alliance and Bucknell University have now posted the presentations from their groundbreaking conference they held in June on using abandoned mine pools as sources of geothermal energy, pumped storage hydroelectric facilities, sources of consumptive water use, harvesting critical minerals and more.

Abandoned mine pools are vast underground bodies of water that have filled underground voids left from coal mining operations in Pennsylvania.

In much of Northeast Pennsylvania, the mine pools were created as a result of the 1959 Knox Mine Disaster when a coal company illegally mined underneath the Susquehanna River and the river broke through eventually flooding underground anthracite mines in Scranton, down through Wilkes-Barre.  

The flooding not only killed 12 miners but effectively ended deep anthracite mining in the region.

In Western Pennsylvania, the mine pools formed in underground bituminous coal mines when mining was abandoned and water pumping stopped to keep the mines workable.

Presentations

The presentations are posted on the Conference webpage. Here are some highlights--

Geothermal, Energy

-- Mike Korb (DEP, TetraTech, Retired): Save Money, Save the Environment: Another Discussion of Mine-Water Geothermal

-- James Britton (W. VA Geological and Economic Survey) Assessing Mine Pool Geothermal Potential in West Virginia using the WVGS Coal Bed Mapping Project (CBMP) Database

-- Taylor Smith (Penn State University) Novel Integration of Concentrated Solar Power and Datacenter Cooling with Abandoned Mine Pits

Investigation and Characterization

-- Daniel Goode, PhD (USGS, retired) Hydrologic Data Synthesis for Mine Pool Water Management

-- Michael Hewitt/Robert Hughes (EPCAMR) Mosaics, Maps, and Multi-Colliery Hydrogeologic Units: EPCAMR’s Efforts to Advance Mine Pool Mapping Models to Address AMD throughout the Anthracite Region

-- Tom Clark (Kleinfelder) Necessary Mine Pool Investigations to Restore Shamokin Creek

Pumped Storage Hydro

-- Tim Scarlett, PhD (Michigan Technological University) PUSH and Abandoned Mines: Perspectives on Site Selection and Qualification

-- Thomas Johansson (CEO, Mine Storage International AB, Sweden) Mine Storage for Enabling the Energy Transition

Rare Earth, Critical Minerals

-- Mohammad Rezaee, PhD (Penn State University) Selective Recovery of Multi-Critical Minerals from Acid Mine Drainage

-- Charles Cravotta, PhD, P.G. (USGS, Retired)  Water-quality Modeling Tools to Evaluate Potential for Recovery of Critical Minerals From Acid Mine Drainage

-- Bette Conway (EPA) EPA ROAR Research Project, Sampling for Critical Rare Earth Metals (CREMS) in Acid Mine Drainage (AMD) and Coal Refuse in Shamokin PA and Surrounding Communities to Inform Long-term Mine Pool Treatment and Land Reclamation

Funding

-- Angela Meck, P.E. (Tetra Tech) Available Federal/State Funding Sources for Remediation and Development

Community Involvement

--  Bode Morin, PhD (Eckley Miners Village and Heritage Museum) Heritage Beyond the History and the Value of the Past

-- Shaunna Barnhart, PhD (Bucknell University) Coal Region Revitalization: A Reflection on Multi-stakeholder Collaborations and Partnerships for Environmental Resiliency

-- Steve Chrismer, PhD, P.E. (SCRA) A Creek Runs Through  it - Water and the People of Shamokin [Video Presentation]

Visit the Conference webpage for more information.

Visit the Shamokin Creek Restoration Alliance website for more information on watershed restoration activities in the Northumberland County region.

[Posted: July 10, 2025]  PA Environment Digest