The Problem Acid drainage flowing from abandoned coal mines has caused pollution so severe that plant and animal life in streams cannot survive. The Environmental Protection Agency has singled out drainage from abandoned coal mines as the number one quality problem in Appalachia.
Acid drainage is water containing acidity, iron, manganese, aluminum, and other metals.
If produced in sufficient quantity, iron hydroxide and sulfuric acid, a result of chemical and biological reaction, may contaminate surface and ground water. President Carter signed the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act in 1977. One of the main reasons the new law was needed was to prevent future coal mining from creating acid drainage problems. Another was to clean up abandoned mine land problems from past mining. Today, thousands of miles of streams are so badly polluted with acid drainage that all plant and animal life has been destroyed.