Western Pennsylvania Coalition for Abandoned Mine Reclamation Community |
Abandoned Mines and PovertyAlmost all of the counties in the WPCAMR service are have witnessed intensive coal mining for over a century while they fueled Pittsburgh's blast furnaces through the Industrial Revolution and two World Wars. The legacy of that era lives on with scarred landscapes and acid and metals polluted streams and rivers and an economy that has yet to fully recover from the collapse of that industry.
Sections of WPCAMR's service area have been mined for generations, and many residents are unware of the environmental problems left behind. Other impacts, such as agriculture and urban expansion, have threatened the region's unique biodiversity while attributing to a decline in aquatic health in the region's streams. The severity of these problems are magnified when paired with the community's lack of knowledge or complete understanding about them. The poverty levels in this region of PA range from a low of 8.2 percent in Elk County to a high of 15.9 percent in Fayette County, as compared to the state average of 10.6 percent and the national average of 12.5 percent:
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PO Box 295 Luxor, Pennsylvania 15662 © Western Pennsylvania Coalition for Abandoned Mine Reclamation |