TIPS and State Partners Win Special
Achievement in GIS Award
Jack Dangermond, the President and founder of ESRI, quotes: "in 2008 one-quarter million organizations used ArcGIS in their work." From this lot, ESRI staff submits more than 100,000 user sites worldwide. Dangermond then personally reviews and selects 150 organizations for their outstanding achievement and honors them with the SAG award or Special Achievement in GIS Award. This year TIPS along with West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection and the State of Virginia Department of Mines, Minerals and Energy are proud recipients of the high honor.
http://www.tips.osmre.gov/esri2008/award.htm
WYO Pilot Project
The Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality, Land Quality Division (LQD), Powder River Coal Company (PRCC) and the Office of Surface Mining (OSM) – Denver embarked on a project to develop a bond release tracking system with the use of both Global Positioning System (GPS) and Geographical Information System (GIS).
Final Report ( PDF)
In 2001-2002, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (PA DEP) and the U.S. Office of Surface Mining (OSM) cooperated on a project to assist in the implementation of Pennsylvania’s Conventional Bonding system for coal mines by volumetrically modeling large open-pit anthracite mines. The new conventional bonding system is based on actual cost estimates to reclaim abandoned and forfeited mine sites. 3-D Modeling of Pit Mining Operations Paper (PDF)
The conference facilitated an exchange of geospatial solutions between users of advanced geospatial techniques related to SMCRA related applications. The conference included topical sessions related to GIS, GPS, Remote Sensing, Electronic Permitting, and Mobile Computing as applied to mining and reclamation issues. A bilateral approach was used whereby high level demonstration projects solving SMCRA issues were presented by end users. The second function involved incorporation of the main TIPS software vendors (ESRI, AutoDesk, Trimble, ERDAS, Carlson) demonstrating the latest trends affecting the geospatial community as applied to mining and reclamation. For more information, please see: http://www.tips.osmre.gov/GeoSpatial/Geospatial
Conference2004.htm
This project integrated a Geographic Information Systems (GIS), GPS, and satellite imagery to provide geospatial and geophysical data and analysis for engineering mapping and operations monitoring. The project will implement a GIS-based system to track and verify mining operations, on-site reclamation, and bond release status. This would demonstrate the use of GIS, GPS, and remote sensing technologies in the tracking and verification of operational constraints, including environmental constraints like erosion and sedimentation controls or wildlife structures, monitoring of permit boundaries, verification of topsoil redistribution and other post-mining characteristics such as surface hydrology, vegetation, wildlife habitat, and post-mining land use. For more information, contact Lois Uranowski (412.937.2805, luranowski@osmre.gov).
Oklahoma Conservation Commission AML Program engineers in cooperation with MCR technical staff are employing TIPS software, AquaChem, AutoDesk Map 5, and SurvCADD software to design passive treatment facilities. The project will include a unique vertically -oriented anoxic limestone drain (ALD) constructed in an abandoned mine shaft, currently discharging highly mineralized AMD. Additional passive treatment stages such as vertical flow wetlands and aerobic wetlands will be used to further neutralize acidity and precipitate pollutant metals. For more information, contact Paul Behum (618.463.6463, ext 122 or pbehum@osmre.gov).
The WR designed a stream channel project at a bond forfeiture site in collaboration with the State of Colorado in a challenging high-altitude environment. Mobile computers and GPS were used together to: 1) provide local project surveying control, 2) locate the conceptual design on the ground and, 3) monitor progress in channel earthmoving and construction. The project resulted in a hydrologically stable channel that both improved the environment and the safety of Redstone, Colorado, located downstream of the dangerously eroding concrete sluiceway at the abandoned mine site. For more information, contact Al Wilhelm (303.844.1400, ext. 1457, or awilhelm@osmre.gov)
TIPS has successfully tested CE/Pocket PC mobile computing by prototyping ArcPAD Version 5 Geographic Information System (GIS) field software to verify AOC on a northern New Mexico mine site. OSM Albuquerque Field Office inspectors now load jurisdictional boundary maps on a mobile Fujitsu computer that receives live GPS position updates accurate to 2 feet to precisely locate features on reclaimed lands. The inspectors are now cognizant of their location relative to lands with different status and corresponding reclamation standards. This knowledge prevents misapplication of inappropriate inspection standards to pre- and interim status lands. Hydrologic structures and slopes are mapped, measured, and recorded with the mobile systems in support of contemporaneous reclamation tracking in the WR region. For more information contact Bob Welsh (303.844.1400, ext. 1478 or rwelsh@osmre.gov)
TIPS software was used in support of acid mine drainage (AMD) abatement activity conducted by the Oklahoma Conservation Commission AML Program. State engineers in cooperation with OSM-MCR technical staff are using AquaChem, AutoDesk Map 5 and SurvCADD software to design passive treatment facilities that will include an anoxic limestone drain (ALD) and an aerobic wetlands to neutralize acidity and precipitate pollutant metals in the mine drainage. A Real Time Kinematics (RTK) GPS unit and Carlson Tsunami/SurvCADD software on a ruggedized mobile computer (Fujitsu 3500R) will be used to survey and conceptually design portions of this project. For more information on this project, contact Len Meier (618.463.6463, ext 109 or lmeier@osmre.gov).
For more information on utilizing TIPS professional and technical services, contact your State Service Manager listed under the “Contact Us” section.
