CLEARFIELD COUNTY AMD FACTS

Facts about Abandoned Mine Drainage (AMD) in Clearfield County (From “Abandoned Mine Watershed Fact Pack” produced by POWR)

• Clearfield County is home to 588 abandoned mine land sites (All of PA has 5,172 sites)
  
  
• Clearfield County also contains 3,374 land features that need improved. These features include strip mines, spoil piles, mine entries, mine shafts and subsidence openings (All of PA 27,376 features)
  
  
• 23,715 acres of mine lands that need improvement are present in Clearfield County. (All of PA 184,432 acres)
  
  

Other Facts about AMD in Clearfield County

• There are 638 miles of stream polluted by AMD in Clearfield County.
  
  

• Clearfield County contains 51% of the AMD polluted streams in the West Branch of the Susquehanna River watershed.
  
  

• Only 3 out of 33 townships in the county do NOT have a stream listed as polluted due to AMD on the Integrated Water Quality Report produced by DEP.
  
  

• The first known mining in Clearfield occurred in 1758 along the West Branch of the Susquehanna River upstream of Clearfield.
  
  

• It is estimated it will cost between $100-453 million to bring back the entire West Branch Susquehanna. In one example in Clearfield County, it is estimated to take over 2.6 million to clean-up Montgomery Run alone.
  
  

• As part of Trout Unlimited’s recent study on the economic benefits of restoration of AMD in the West Branch, it was determined that Clearfield County is experiencing $4 million in lost property value due to AMD.  You can read more about the Economic Benefit Analysis here. 
  
  

Link to Abandoned Mine Land sites in Clearfield County

http://www.portal.state.pa.us/portal/server.pt?open=514&objID=588925&mode=2