Pennsylvania is a remarkable state with abundant natural riches, including a tremendous heritage of coal production that fueled the industrial revolution and provided hardworking residents with opportunities for a better life. Unfortunately, that legacy also left significant parts of our state scarred from past mining activities.

Travel the back roads of our Commonwealth and it's not uncommon to see refuse piles of unused coal and rock. These waste coal mixtures, commonly called culm, gob or boney piles, are a significant problem in Pennsylvania, which has some 250,000 acres of abandoned mine lands and more than 2,200 miles of streams impaired by polluted mine drainage.

For years, these piles sat abandoned, generating iron, manganese and aluminum pollution that discharged as runoff into Pennsylvania's waterways. Acid mine drainage left many streams lifeless. Burning refuse piles contributed to poorer air quality. Rural communities and small coal mining towns were plagued by scarred lands.

Pennsylvania has a unique opportunity to power its economy by putting to use this energy source that otherwise would be a threat to our environment and a hazard to our health. Small power plants began to find ways to utilize waste coal to generate electricity during the 1980s. Improvements in technology, rising imported fuel prices and record-high oil and natural gas prices have made it more practical to pursue energy technologies that only a few years ago might not have been cost-competitive.

Waste coal facilities use circulating fluidized bed combustion to generate electricity. This technology is inherently cleaner than conventional coal-fired generation, and the facilities have similar or lower air emissions than traditional coal-fired power plants for particulates, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxide, mercury and dioxins.

For example, waste coal boilers typically emit 0.2 to 0.6 pounds of sulfur oxides per million BTU heat input while conventional bituminous coal boilers emit 2.5 to 3 pounds of sulfur oxides per million BTU heat input when they are uncontrolled. Bituminous boilers emit in the range of 0.15 to 0.45 pounds of sulfur oxides per million BTU heat input when they are controlled by scrubbers. Waste coal boilers emit mercury and dioxins about 80 percent and 99 percent less than from the conventional bituminous coal boilers respectively.

Even the residual ash from electric generation at these facilities provides a benefit for Pennsylvania as it is used to fill strip mine pits with dangerous highwalls. Similarly, because the ash is mixed with limestone, the alkaline mixture makes it effective for use to remediate the acidic drainage that pollutes streams and threatens drinking water supplies.

According to ARIPPA, a trade organization representing 13 Pennsylvania waste-coal power generators, more than 88 million tons of coal refuse, mostly from abandoned piles, have been utilized for energy generation since 1998. This means that through the end of 2002, nearly 3,500 acres of waste coal piles and associated abandoned mine lands have been reclaimed, turning formerly dangerous sites into wildlife habitat and providing communities with development opportunities.

Taxpayers also benefit. Pennsylvania's average per acre reclamation cost for coal refuse disposal sites is $20,000 to $40,000. Consequently, every acre reclaimed by the state's waste coal industry avoids costs that otherwise would be carried by you and me.

Using waste coal to produce energy is an innovative process that will attract new investment and help to create the jobs we critically need while ensuring the highest standards of environmental protection and public health. Pennsylvania exports more than $20 billion a year to import energy fuels—that's nearly as much as our entire state budget. Yet, indigenous energy development has a multiplier effect in the economy that may generate as much as 1.6 times more revenue than from imports. Keeping energy dollars in state clearly is an important step in retaining and generating more jobs in Pennsylvania.

Because of the unique advantages that our Commonwealth enjoys from its rich and diverse supply of indigenous resources, including waste coal, Governor Edward G. Rendell proposed an Advanced Energy Portfolio Standard. The portfolio standard will ensure that in 10 years, 10 percent of all of the energy generated in the Commonwealth will come from clean, efficient sources, including renewable sources such as wind, solar and biomass as well as other advanced sources such as waste coal and coal bed methane.

This proposal not only will help to restore Pennsylvania's environment by ensuring that more electricity generation comes from environmentally beneficial resources, but it also will promote economic development by encouraging investments in clean technologies and fostering the local development and deployment of indigenous energy resources.

By including waste coal in Pennsylvania's Advanced Energy Portfolio Standard, we are ensuring a cleaner future for the Commonwealth. Waste coal piles that blight our landscape can be reused beneficially for electricity. Our waterways will be cleaner. And every resident will share the dividends from the jobs that we will create by making Pennsylvania an innovative, cutting-edge place to do business.

Kathleen A. McGinty was appointed Secretary of the Department of Environmental Protection by Gov. Edward G. Rendell in January 2003. She can be reached at 717-787-2815 or by e-mail at kmcginty@state.pa.us.