Black Moshannon and the Centre County Dump

Yesterday I participated in a 5 mile walk sponsored by a group named People Protecting Communities. The walk was a fundraising event for this group's opposition to the proposed Centre County dump near the Black Moshannon State Forest in the north central region of Pennsylvania. Because these lands represent one of my favorite places to paint, I wanted to take advantage of the beautiful weather and the efforts of the volunteers involved in this project to go check out the area that would be affected if the dump proposal gains final approval.

On August 28, 2006, the Centre Daily Times reported, "Lancaster County-based Resource Recovery wants to build a 274-acre municipal waste landfill on a 5,758-acre tract of land that crosses Rush and Snow Shoe townships. Company officials have said the site near Interstate 80 is well-suited for the project. They point out that mining took place there. They have also said they will help restore the area, including the Red Moshannon Creek, which gets its name and color from old, leaking mines." See the entire article here...

The walk route took participants to the Viaduct Railroad Bridge (Pictured above) and the Peale railroad tunnel. To me, the area was very impressive in both its natural beauty and its history. Originally populated by Swedish coal mine workers who loaded coal cars all day long for 35 cents a ton, the coal mining industry began here in 1883. Workers took daily "hikes" of three miles each way from Peale to the Tunnel Mines in this area to do their jobs. Indeed, settlement in this area was driven by the coal industry as it brought railroad workers, telegraph operators, clerks, physicians, teachers, Justice of the Peace offfices, and police officers to the earliest communities of Peale, Gorton, Tunnel Side, and Viaduct. However, the Tunnel Mines closed in the early 1900's and by 1912 buildings were being dismantled after the coal production moved to Grassflat. By the 1930's, most Peale residents left. Learn more about the history of Peale, Pennsylvania...

Unfortunately, one huge consequence of the coal industry was the pollution of the Moshannon Creek. Commonly called the Red Moshannon or Red Mo, this creek is noted for its reddish orange rocks, banks and water caused by an iron compound that precipitates out of the acidic waters that seep into the stream from numerous old coal and clay mines in the basin. The view of the creek from the Viaduct Bridge was pretty nifty, although I had to quell my innate fear of the 110' height, sans guardrails in some sections.

According to Resource Recovery's table for Origin, Composition, and Weight of Waste, they list Municipal, Construction/Demolition, Sewage Sludge, Residual, and Other (Asbestos) as the types of waste to be disposed in the landfill. The origin of trash is to be determined, although it has been rumored that much of it would come from New Jersey and New York states. If this landfill proposal goes through, it would be the largest dump east of the Mississippi with 5,000 tons of waste per day and a proposed site life of 28 years. This would only exacerbate Pennsylvania's unfortunate standing as the largest importer of municipal waste in the country. According to a 2002 edition of the Columbia Political Review, in 1996, of the 14.6 million tons of waste interred in Pennsylvania landfills, 7.9 million tons were imported.

To learn more about Resource Recovery's proposal, visit the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection. To take action, check out People Protecting Communities.