Welcome to the AMD&ART Project in Vintondale, Pennsylvania

This is the web site for The AMD&ART Project: 1994–2005. Here, you will find a discussion of AMD&ART's approach to reclaiming land and water damaged by acid mine drainage, an extensive tour of the AMD&ART reclamation site and treatment process, text copies of the grants we obtained to make each part of the site possible, and a collection of newsletters, articles, and other information.

News • Updated 5/8/2012

News

Allan Comp speaks at Saint Francis University commencement, awarded honorary Doctorate
Dr. Comp was the Commencement speaker at St Francis University in Loretto, PA, this past weekend, where he was awarded an honorary Doctorate in Humane Letters by St. Francis University for "[Bringing] people to nature in a communal experience that explores history, art, literature and a greater appreciation for the role that the environment plays in our human development … Dr. Comp understands the importance of all life and helps us all to converse with the world around us, the natural world through conservation that is both for the environment and the human race." Read about the Saint Francis University commencement exercises.

For perspectives on T Allan Comp and AMD&ART

See the profile on Allan by Eric Reece in Orion Magazine: Reclaiming a Toxic Legacy Through Art and Science
For a more technical approach, see Manufactured Soil Field Demonstration for Constructing Wetlands to Treat Acid Mine Drainage on Abandoned Mine Lands
U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC) teamed with AMD&ART to restore an abandoned acid mine drainage site at Vintondale, PA into a recreational park and passive remediation facility
T Allan Comp was named a Civic Ventures Purpose Prize Fellow
AMD&ART featured in EPA Watershed Academy Webcast Seminars
Encore Magazine: Helping Heal Coal Country

Recent Publications by Dr. Comp

City of Kent, Washington: AMD&ART: Earthworks to Waterworks with a Community Base: A Short Homage to Herbert Bayer and "Earthworks"
See chapter entitled
Science, Art and Environmental Reclamation: Three Projects and a Few Thoughts
in Designing the Reclaimed Landscape, edited by Alan Berger

Current activity that grew out of AMD&ART

AMD&ART, The Project: 1994–2005

Southwestern Pennsylvania, indeed the entire Appalachian Region, is an area of remarkable beauty. Unfortunately, residents and visitors alike can often miss this natural beauty, blinded by the devastated environments, crippled economies and abandoned peoples that are the overshadowing regional legacy of pre-regulatory coal mining. Acid mine drainage (AMD) is the most widespread water quality problem, as well as a significant economic and social constraint. Seeping or surging from abandoned coal mines, AMD is the metals-laden water, often acidic, that coats stream beds with orange sediment, killing the bottom of the food chain. Often desolating entire watersheds, these rust colored streams are the consequence of a proud past filled with hard work and dedication in an era that paid little attention to environmental consequences. Today, AMD is a painful reminder of the poverty and economic abandonment that still exists in coal country, the emblematic orange silent signature of dying communities.

The AMD&ART Park in Vintondale, Pennsylvania

Photo credit: AMD&ART Photo Archive

AMD&ART is one effort to confront this legacy in a way that honors a past of hard work and significant accomplishment while opening windows to broader participation and deeper engagement. We worked with many disciplines to destabilize the typical negative expectations of this region with a large-scale, artful public place that directly addresses the problems of AMD and much more. Beginning our work in Vintondale, Pennsylvania, in 1994, we've established a model of holistic renewal that brings the perspective of history to mix with the discipline of science, the delight of innovative design, and the energy of community engagement. For me as Founding Director, each of these perspectives or disciplines is necessary — but none is sufficient. Our strength is in our interdisciplinary approach and in our determination to give art-full form to community aspirations.

— T Allan Comp, Ph.D., Founder/Director

AMD&ART is the recipient of the following awards:

AMD&ART wins the 2005 EPA Phoenix Award (the first national EPA Brownfields award presented for community impact on mine-scarred lands): Once Coal and Coke, Now Softball and Soccer, the AMD & Art Story
2005 Western Pennsylvania Environmental Award for Green Design (Presented by Pennsylvania Environmental Council (PEC) and Dominion, recognizing projects within the state of Pennsylvania.)
2002 Wetlands Award (Presented by the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation and the Pennsylvania Partnership for Highway Quality)
2001 Five Star Restoration Site (Presented by the Wildlife Habitat Council and US Environmental Protection Agency)
2001 Governor's Award for Watershed Stewardship, Partnerships Category (Presented by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP)

Vintondale & Coal Country »