​SynTerra’s Gardner and Prater support Harlan County updates and renovations.

Posted June 25, 2021

Karen Roberts Prater (right) and Steve Gardner of SynTerra presented to the Harlan County Tourism Commission recently. Attendees included commission member Lucille Sturgill (left) and Deputy County Judge/Court Executive Colby Goss (center).

Vice President Steve Gardner and Project Administrator Karen Roberts Prater of SynTerra recently presented at three events in Harlan County, Kentucky, regarding the Abandoned Mine Lands (AML) Pilot Grant Project. The grant funds updates and renovations to the Portal 31 Exhibition Coal Mine, the Lynch Bath House historical restoration, and the Black Mountain High Point Tower Site. The AML Pilot Grant Program was born as a proof of concept for the RECLAIM act, with its focus on community development and economic growth with correlations to historic, AML-eligible mine sites.

The Harlan County Fiscal Court was awarded the $2.55 million grant in 2018. The primary purposes of the project is to upgrade electronics in the Portal 31 Exhibition Coal Mine attraction, restore the historic miners’ bath house, and develop the observation platform at Black Mountain, the highest point of elevation in Kentucky.

The Portal 31 project was launched in 1996 when Gardner began work on transferring the property from Arch Coal to the county. Dr. Bruce Ayers, then President of Southeast Community College in nearby Cumberland, had been working on the concept of an exhibition mine since 1977. Ayers worked tirelessly to obtain the original funding for opening such an attraction. Gardner led the design and construction management team, with Portal 31 opening to the public in 2009. In 2010, the project won an American Council of Engineering Companies (ACEC) Grand Conceptor Award for engineering design.

Gardner and Prater have spoken at the Harlan County Tourism Monthly Meeting, the Harlan County Fiscal Court Meeting, and a special public meeting held in Lynch at the historic Railroad Depot located near the Portal 31 Exhibition Coal Mine.

SynTerra engineers share knowledge about impoundment lifecycle and dam embankments.

Posted June 2, 2021

A pair of SynTerra Professional Engineers were featured speakers during the Mine Safety and Health Administration’s (MSHA) Annual Dam Safety event last month. Vice President of Special Projects Steve Gardner and Senior Geotechnical/Dam Designer Charlie Bishop presented “The Lifecycle of an impoundment” at the virtual gathering of almost 200 attendees from state and federal agencies. The event is usually held at the MSHA Academy in Beckley, West Virginia, but this year’s event was online only.

Charlie Bishop, P.E.

Steve Gardner, P.E., SME-RM

Bishop and Gardner examined an almost 50-year lifecycle of an impoundment and speculated on the impoundment’s future. Here is a sampling of information from their presentation:

Coal refuse and slurry impoundments many times are longer lived than the mining operations that they serve. Such impoundments also have one of the highest risk profiles in mining. The coal industry has been known for its cyclical nature over the decades, reaching back into the 1800s. Ownership and control of operations has changed frequently over the years, and perhaps the current time has seen the most volatility, with consolidations, bankruptcies, and abandonment of operations.

Unique perspectives from long-time involvement

Gardner and Bishop have the unique perspective of having been involved in one impoundment for almost 50 years combined, and the end-closure is still somewhere in the future. Gardner started work for Beth Elkhorn Corp., a subsidiary of Bethlehem Mines Corp. and Bethlehem Steel, in 1975. Beth’s met coal Mine 29 in Pike County, Kentucky, was just ramping up production in the middle of the 1970s coal boom. (Pike County was featured in National Geographic magazine during that time as having the most millionaires per capita of any place in America.) This was just after the catastrophic collapse of dams at Buffalo Creek — and impoundments were difficult to get approved. So Beth tried combined refuse disposal, which was a failure. Gardner, as a young engineer, was assigned responsibility for overseeing the construction of D’Appolonia’s new design for the starter embankment in Rob Fork for a slurry impoundment.

Fast forward to the 2000s: Charlie Bishop and Bowser-Morner (BM) took over the design function. Charlie has been the responsible engineer for design plans for the past 20 years. In 2019, Gardner’s company, ECSI, merged with SynTerra Corp and acquired BM’s Lexington Geotech office.

Examining slope embankment stability and settlement problems

Charlie Bishop, a geotechnical/dam design expert, also presented on a separate topic, “Dam Embankments on Silt and Clay Soils — Stability, Design and Construction Evaluations.” Silt and clay foundation soils present potential slope embankment stability and settlement problems. During the design phase, slope stability is based on foundation soil conditions derived from drilling, sampling, and laboratory tests. The short-term stability evaluation is based on undrained shear strengths. Embankment properties are based on the anticipated material to be used for construction. Measured and anticipated phreatic surfaces in the embankment and foundation soil are input to the analyses. Construction plans, procedures, and specifications are developed based on results of the analyses. Not considering all design parameters can lead to impoundments literally settling into the foundation soil potentially leading to failures.

Charging into the electric vehicle future

By Judd Mahan, P.G. (Posted March 23, 2021)

Battery electric vehicles (BEVs) are expected to play a key role in reducing GHG emissions, but there will be challenges. For instance, where will the millions of vehicle batteries be charged? Home charging might pose a big part of the solution.

Charging your electric vehicle battery at home is more effective than other charging strategies such as workplace charging or charging at stops along highways. That finding comes from researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Data, Systems and Society Institute. A January 2021 Nature Energy article — Personal vehicle electrification and charging solutions for high-energy days — describes the research and results (Wei et al., 2021).

Businesses, governments, and individuals increasingly focus attention on reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. In the U.S., approximately 30 percent of GHG emissions are attributed to transportation. Battery electric vehicles (BEVs) are expected to play a key role in reducing GHG emissions, but there will be substantial challenges. When most people are driving electric vehicles, where will the vehicle batteries be charged? What infrastructure changes will be necessary to accommodate the way Americans travel?

Those questions are especially pertinent as auto manufacturers are making aggressive marketing claims; Volvo plans to be fully electric by 2030 and GM has committed to 30 new global electric vehicles by 2025.

The aforementioned researchers used detailed longitudinal daily vehicle usage data gathered over the course of a year in the Seattle area. Longitudinal data reflect data gathering over an extended period. GPS tracking devices were used on vehicles to gather data for time spent parked at home, driving, and at work or other public locations. The TripEnergy model was developed and used to calculate the energy used by a vehicle for a given trip. The energy used to propel the vehicle as well as energy used to run auxiliary devices such as heating, cooling, and lights are incorporated into the model. Other factors include vehicle mass, drive efficiency [estimated from U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) corporate average fuel economy (CAFE) results], and ambient temperatures. Heating and cooling are assumed to vary with ambient temperature by geographic region of the United States.

Charging options increase, but challenges and gas-reliance remain

Results of the Seattle study are discussed with respect to usage of different battery charging infrastructure. Vehicle electrification potential (VEP) is used to measure “the fraction of vehicles whose energy requirements can be met by a BEV with a given battery capacity on all vehicle days” (Wei et al., 2021). The study demonstrated that home charging alone resulted in a VEP of 12 percent. However, strategically adding to home charging with options for charging at work, and fast charging availability at highway stops for longer trips, increases VEP to 41 percent. The data distribution of vehicle-day energy requirements results in a “fat tail.” In other words, while most days’ vehicle energy demands are lesser and are within the range of a BEV’s battery capacity, study results indicate that there are a limited number of days with greater vehicle energy demands. This is due in large part to occasional use of vehicles for long trips. To mitigate this challenge, availability of long-range, presumably gasoline-powered, vehicles might be necessary until battery technology improves.

Analytical results of the Seattle data were applied to a short-term (cross-sectional rather than longitudinal) data set for the United States. A different metric, daily adoption potential (DAP), is used to characterize “the daily percentage of vehicle-days in a population whose energy requirements are met by a BEV” (Wei et al., 2021). DAP, which reflects the potential for an electric vehicle to meet a driving day’s energy requirements on a representative day, will generally be greater than VEP.

The study results indicate that DAP throughout the United States under a home-charging scenario is 98 percent. Adding options for at-work charging and fast charging for highway trips results in a DAP of 99 percent. The study looked at a lower-cost Nissan Leaf, which would be sufficient for most personal transportation. The authors also considered the higher-end Tesla Model S, which, due to greater battery capacity, more easily handles the energy demands of longer trips. Still, the data distribution for vehicle energy demand indicates that periodic use of alternative vehicles would be necessary to meet all personal transportation needs. Results of the study demonstrate that BEVs are viable as a key part of reducing GHG emissions and will help in planning new infrastructure as the United States transitions to electric transportation.

Emissions matter to Americans, but dependability and cost still reign 

While GHG emissions are of increasing importance to Americans, dependability and cost still reign as the bottom-line determinants in the gas vs. electric decision.

Range anxiety is the fear we might have about being stranded by a car with no battery power or about being limited in our driving habits by a range that is considerably less than that offered by gasoline-powered vehicles.

As drivers of gasoline-powered automobiles, we are accustomed to thinking of fuel cost in terms of miles per gallon (mpg). The battery power used by a BEV is measured as kilowatt-hours (kWh) per 100 miles. The Nissan Leaf is rated at 30 kWh per 100 miles. To calculate the electricity cost of driving, you have to know the price that you pay for electricity. Check this table to see your state’s average electricity pricing.

As an example, the price of electricity in North Carolina, where I live, was 11.5 cents per kWh in December 2020. So, if I were driving a Nissan Leaf in December 2020 in North Carolina, my power cost for driving 100 miles would be $0.115 x 30 kWh = $3.45. That cost can be compared to about $10.76 to drive 100 miles in a gas-powered automobile, which gets 25 mpg assuming a gas price of $2.69 per gallon.

As individual drivers, we have a lot to consider and weigh in terms of cost, dependability, and the environment. However, the transition to electric vehicles is inevitable, so it’s a great time to learn more.

• Nature Energy article: Personal vehicle electrification and charging solutions for high-energy days

• MIT researchers compare costs and emissions of gas, diesel, hybrid, electric, and fuel cell vehicles.

• Utility company websites that offer electric vehicle and charging information:

◦ Dominion Energy

◦ Southern Company

◦ FirstEnergy

◦ Duke Energy

Heather Smith is the new Chairperson of the SC Aggregates Association Environmental Committee.

Posted March 19, 2021

Heather Smith of SynTerra manages environmental projects for clients in mining, transportation, utility, and municipal sectors.

Heather Smith, Natural Resources Program Manager at SynTerra Corporation, is the new Chairperson of the South Carolina Aggregates Association (SCAA) Environmental Committee. Smith has been a committee member for several years.

“This appointment is exciting for me and SynTerra,” Smith said. “But more importantly, I get to continue promoting the importance of compliance and stewardship. I am proud of SCAA efforts and SynTerra efforts to advance safe and responsible use of aggregates. Our communities and ecosystems come first.”

The SCAA represents the aggregate industry in interactions with government officials and regulators. The organization focuses on evolving regulation of groundwater, reclamation, land use, and natural resources. SCAA members also educate communities about uses and benefits of aggregates. South Carolina’s aggregate industry employs approximately 2,500 men and women.

“The SCAA is always looking for members who are interested in volunteering for service on our committees,” said SCAA President Elliott Botzis, who announced Smith’s appointment. “Committee members strengthen and enrich our association and foster strong cooperation with our stakeholders.”

Smith has performed complex federal- and state-led environmental assessments for more than 20 years. She manages environmental projects for mining, transportation, utility, and municipal clients. Her work includes assessments and remediation activities under the following programs:

• Clean Water Act (CWA)
• National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA)
• Resource Conservation and Recovery (RCRA)
• Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA)
• National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES)

Smith applies her extensive knowledge of environmental frameworks and complex strategies during the permit approval process. Additionally, she performs protected species assessments and wetland and stream delineations.

Smith holds a Bachelor’s degree in Wildlife and Fisheries Biology from Clemson University.

Learn more about Smith’s role at SynTerra.

SynTerra names financial strategist Andrew Rosenfeld to the firm’s Board of Directors.

Posted March 9, 2021

Andrew Rosenfeld has more than 35 years of financial and strategic planning experience in the industrial, chemical, and energy sectors.

GREENVILLE, SC — SynTerra Corporation, a science and engineering firm, has named Andrew Rosenfeld to the firm’s Board of Directors. Rosenfeld, a Principal at C14 Strategy, has more than 35 years of experience in industrial, chemical, and energy sectors specializing in financial and strategic initiatives.

“We are honored that Andrew accepted this position,” said SynTerra President Steve Precourt, also a board member. “He is uniquely skilled at the intricacies of corporate and client business development and market analysis. He blends different and sometimes disparate pieces into diverse and successful partnerships.”

Precourt and others on the SynTerra management team cited Rosenfeld’s expertise in the following areas:

• Development of actionable business plans and strategies
• Financial and operational economic analysis
• Negotiations related to mergers and acquisitions
• Best practices of leadership and relationship building

In addition to his 10 years of leadership at C14 Strategy, Rosenfeld was the Co-Founder, Vice Chairman, and Chief Executive Officer of Fiber Industries and the President of American Sands Energy Corporation. He previously served as Energy Analyst at PioneerPath (a division of Citadel); Managing Director covering energy at Impala Asset Management; and Refining and Chemical Equity Research Analyst at Prudential Securities and Schroders. He also held management, commercial, and technical positions at Koch Industries, Sirius Chemicals, and Marathon Petroleum.

Rosenfeld holds a Master’s of Business Administration degree from the American University ‒ Kogod School of Business. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemical and Petroleum-Refining Engineering from Colorado School of Mines.

In addition to Precourt and Rosenfeld, the other members of the SynTerra Board of Directors are: Kathy Webb, SynTerra Vice President of Sciences; Ruth Albright, SynTerra Vice President of Engineering; and Carlton Owen, Founding President and CEO (retired) of the U.S. Endowment for Forestry and Communities.

Founded in 1993, SynTerra is an employee‐owned firm of engineers, geologists, scientists, and surveyors who help clients meet business objectives and address technical challenges. Clients include manufacturers, mining operations, utilities, pulp and paper companies, developers, and government agencies. SynTerra has offices in Greenville, SC; Birmingham, AL; Cary, NC; Charlotte, NC; Hendersonville, NC; Lexington, KY; Pikeville, KY; Tampa, FL; and Tuscaloosa, AL.

For more information, send an email to communications@synterracorp.com, and a SynTerra representative will contact you promptly.

SynTerra celebrates the vision and leadership of Ruth Albright.

Posted January 15, 2021

Ruth Albright, SynTerra Vice President of Engineering, is known for innovation and her ever-present moral compass.

SynTerra is celebrating 25 years of Ruth Albright’s determination, leadership, and compassion. Considering her attention to detail, it’s fitting to say precisely when she came aboard: January 15, 1996. She started that day as a project engineer and earned leadership roles over the years. Ruth has been SynTerra’s Vice President of Engineering since 2012 and has served as the firm’s Corporate Secretary since 2009.

Ruth reflects on her years so far at SynTerra:

Reaching my 25th anniversary working here at SynTerra and soon to see my 35th anniversary of graduating from Clemson University, it seems appropriate to reflect on the events of these years.

It seems unlikely that I would have left an employer with almost 55,000 employees to go to work for a company with about 10 employees, but that is what I did. Over the years, we’ve done some innovative things, as well as the things that just kept clients, and our business, operating.

• We bought, operated, and then sold a centralized wastewater treatment business.
• We bought out the principal owner of this company and rebranded as SynTerra.
• We sold a significant amount of the company to an Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) Trust to provide a mechanism through which employees could earn retirement income from their employment without investing their own wages.
• We landed a whale of a project and then shot up from about 40 employees to more than 100 in less than two years.
• We acquired other businesses, hoping to grow our business footprint.

All along the way, I believe we’ve been true to our intents, which was to build a business that allowed science and engineering professionals to build their careers based on their interests.

Ultimately, all intents are aspirational in nature. We are never able to fully meet our vision because we each see something slightly different when we describe our wants for the company. Hopefully, the intents shine through, and both our clients and our employees see the opportunity and promise in our collective work.

Not to bring religion in, but a minister I used to know ended each sermon with the words, “Let us go now, into the day. For this is the day we are given. Let us rejoice and be glad in it. May it be so.” My hope for each of you is that you seize each opportunity for personal growth and see the hope and joy in our work.

Accolades and admiration

Ruth’s forward-thinking optimism has been contagious. Words flow when teammates cite her innovative spirit and leadership-by-example. Here’s a sampling:

Mark Taylor, senior consultant and long-time SynTerra teammate: “Ruth is a person with a big heart and a strong sense of right and wrong. She has been a moral compass for the firm, a consistent voice for those who might be overlooked or neglected, and the person who kept things straight. In her role as Corporate Secretary, she has tracked our growth, kept us legal in all the various states and local jurisdictions where we work, and maintained the company records in excellent condition. She deserves much of the credit for shaping SynTerra as it is today.”

Carlton Owen, SynTerra board member: “Ruth’s commitment, along with that of others in the company, to buy out the founder is the foundation on which SynTerra is built. For a quarter of a century, she has continued to give her all to make the venture successful. Servant leadership and all-in actions foretell a bright future for the company and its employee owners.”

SynTerra President Steve Precourt: “While I’ve known Ruth only for a few months, as opposed to the years many at SynTerra have known her, it’s been a real joy. I truly admire her hard work and commitment, and I envy her intellect and memory. I’m very honored to have been able to work with Ruth and congratulate her on this impressive, and nowadays rare, accomplishment.”

SynTerra is uniquely privileged to benefit from Ruth Albright’s expertise, leadership, and faithfulness over 25 years. We thank Ruth for her enduring service and for helping to make SynTerra an organization where doing the right thing matters most.

​Whether it’s a riverbank restoration project or your own backyard, these are the wetland trees we recommend.

By Rich Mogensen, PWS (Posted January 5, 2021)

For those of us who are fortunate to work in the environmental restoration industry, we know the pros and cons of the various species of trees used in stream and wetland restoration projects. The only way to gain this knowledge is to plant tens of thousands of trees and see what happens.

SynTerra scientists have done just that.

Here are SynTerra’s recommendations for the wetland tree species that are ideally suited for ecological restoration projects or for just planting in the wet places in your backyard. (Note: All trees below are native to the southeastern United States.)

Sycamore black willows on a SynTerra site.

Black Willow (Salix nigra) – This species is one of the most common wetland trees in the southeastern U.S. and is a go-to choice for stream restoration projects. The black willow can be planted along stream banks or in any old wet area. The amazing thing about this tree is its ability to reproduce from live stakes, tree branches that can be planted in the soil and which will grow into full trees.

In the case of the black willow, its branches can be cut into live stakes that are 1 inch to 2 inches in diameter, 3 feet to 4 feet long, and stripped of their leaves and jammed into the ground. Most of the time, the stick will turn into a new willow tree. Planting live stakes is particularly handy when stabilizing bare stream banks quickly. At SynTerra, we use black willow live stakes on nearly every stream restoration project.

The only other tree we recommend for live stakes is the silky dogwood (Cornus amomum). Elderberry (Sambucus canadensis) is a shrub that can work from live stakes if treated and installed correctly.

Bald Cypress (Taxodium distichum) – The bald cypress tolerates permanently standing water, but it also does well in your backyard. In fact, you can plant bald cypress trees just about anywhere, as long as you water them in the hot summer months. These are attractive, hardy trees, and they tolerate many environmental conditions. They are also one of the few needle-leaved, deciduous trees, meaning they drop their needles in the winter, hence the name “bald.”

When grown in standing water, this tree species uses anatomical adaptations, including buttressed tree trunks and cypress knees. These little knobby knees allow the trees to get enough oxygen while sitting in permanently standing water or saturated soils.

The bald cypress grows only south of the Mason-Dixon Line, so you can’t use them for wetland restoration projects in the northeastern states.

American Sycamore (Platanus occidentalis) – The majestic American sycamore is easy to identify and easy to find in local nurseries. It’s also hardy.

American sycamores grow up to 100 feet tall and 100 feet wide. This giant lives a long life along the riverbank. They are often found on golf courses and greenways, too. When fully grown, these widely branching trees feature large, prominent leaves and distinctive bark. The bark looks like it is peeling off and is often multicolored. The bark looks almost like it is diseased or sick, which provides a clue to identifying them. The seeds are round, green balls that droop off the branches in the fall.

Although these trees do not propagate from live stakes, they can re-sprout from beavers or axes.

These trees can take a fair amount of abuse during their propagation and planting before they become the statuesque beauties they are destined to be.

River birch on a SynTerra site.

River Birch (Betula nigra) – A favorite of many restoration practitioners, the hardy, attractive river birch often has multiple trunks and sports thin, wispy bark like a paper birch. They can take wet conditions but are often used for landscaping trees in residential neighborhoods.

This is a blessing and a curse. If they are in your neighbor’s yard, they are a blessing. If they are in your yard, they are a curse! The reason: They are pretty trees, but they drop copious amounts of twigs and branches throughout the year. If you have one in your yard, you know what we mean.

When used in restoration projects, the river birch can grow in wet or dry conditions. At SynTerra, we use the river birch in a number of different situations, such as riparian zones, flood plains, and forested wetlands.

The river birch should be a strong choice when considering tree species, especially in wetter environments such as flood plains and streambanks.

Various Oaks (Quercus spp.) – Oak trees are excellent choices for environmental restoration projects, as well as for your backyard. Oak trees — such as the willow oak (Q. phellos), water oak (Q. nigra), southern red oak (Q. falcata), swamp white oak (Q. bicolor), swamp chestnut oak (Q. michauxii), shumard oak (Q. shumardii), overcup oak (Q. pagoda), and laurel oak (Q. laurifolia) — are slow-growing trees with great habitat features, like producing acorns for wildlife and providing ample shade.

The oaks that tolerate wet conditions the best are the swamp white oak, swamp chestnut oak, and willow oak. Oaks are desirable trees, but one must be patient — they can take decades to grow taller than a shrub.

Red Maple (Acer rubrum) vs. Green Ash (Fraxinus pennsylvanica) – Both the red maple and the green ash are two native, hardwood trees that are suited to wetland environments. Both the red maple and the green ash are pioneer species, which means they will often begin growing in an environment without being planted.

At SynTerra, we like the red maple for its variability, hardiness, rapid growth, and pretty colors. Green ash, unfortunately, is subject to a nasty little critter called the emerald ash borer.

Originating in southeast Asia, the emerald ash borer is decimating green ash trees throughout the southeastern U.S. They have infested every county in North Carolina and many counties in Virginia and South Carolina. The emerald ash borer goes after only mature ash trees with trunks greater than 3 inches in diameter. The hopes are that this pest will move on after all the mature green ash trees are dead and that the next generation of ash trees will not be affected by this invasive, destructive, bark-burrowing beetle.

There are so many other selections that we can’t include them all. Others to consider include the American elm (Ulmus americana), sweet bay magnolia (Magnolia virginiana), black gum (Nyssa sylvatica), swamp tupelo (Nyssa aquatica), persimmon (Diospyros virginiana), paw paw (Asimina triloba), musclewood (Carpinus caroliniana), buttonbush (Cephalanthus occidentalis), silky dogwood (Cornus amomum), and the loblolly pine (Pinus teada).

For more information on wetland restorations, contact SynTerra Ecological Restoration Program Manager, Rich Mogensen.

Science and engineering firm SynTerra hires consultant Scott Smith.

Posted November 30, 2020

SynTerra Corporation, a science and engineering firm, has hired environmental consultant Scott Smith. SynTerra cited Smith’s vast experience helping businesses comply with environmental regulations and health and safety regulations. That experience includes working with and for state and federal agencies.

Scott Smith founded Smith Management Group and served as the Chief of Staff of the Kentucky Environmental and Public Protection Cabinet.

​“We welcome Scott Smith to the SynTerra team and our Lexington office. Scott has deep knowledge of regulatory issues in multiple states. His experience in environmental permitting for industrial operations, landfills, and the energy sector will be invaluable for SynTerra and our clients,” said Steve Gardner, SynTerra Vice President of Special Projects.

Among the many accomplishments of Smith’s 40-year career, he founded Smith Management Group and served as the Chief of Staff of the Kentucky Environmental and Public Protection Cabinet. He has developed environmental health and safety management systems, established energy reduction programs, performed compliance audits, and conducted soil and groundwater remediation.

Founded in 1993, SynTerra is an employee‐owned firm of engineers, geologists, scientists, and surveyors who help clients meet business objectives and address technical challenges. Clients include manufacturers, mining operations, utilities, pulp and paper companies, developers, state and local government, and numerous government agencies. SynTerra has offices throughout the Southeast.

SynTerra services include:

• Industrial compliance and support
• Due diligence and property services
• Civil and solid waste engineering
• Mining engineering
• Geotechnical engineering
• Chemical process engineering
• Surveying/Drone capabilities
• Environmental/Ecological sciences
• Hydrogeology
• GIS / CAD / Data management

From coal power to solar power.

By Steve Gardner P.E., SME-RM (Posted November 4, 2020)

Active mountaintop mine site.

I’m a long-time advocate for mining and its importance to society. After all, coal mining helps provide us with many of the raw materials we use in our everyday lives. Coal is used to produce steel, chemicals, and more. It may also prove to be a future source for the rare earth elements that are necessary for the manufacture of high-tech electronics and solar panels

Equally as important, coal has helped fuel our society for decades. Today, coal still plays a vital part in energy generation in the United States, especially Appalachia, and around the world. But we are in a state of energy transition.

Thanks to advances in technology, once mining is complete, mountaintop mine sites offer a valuable byproduct: land that can be converted to solar farms. In my professional engineering opinion, these reclaimed mountaintop mine sites offer some of the best potential locations for large-scale solar facilities. Many mountaintop mine sites are now plateaus, a good landscape for locating solar farms. These solar farms also help support economic development in coal-mining areas.

Not all sites can be adaptable though. There are many factors to consider, like geotechnical, environmental, drainage, vegetation interfaces, and more. Many sites are located where there is already a grid infrastructure because mining was a large consumer of electricity.

Several industrial parks throughout Appalachia could use the boost that an associated solar development could give by attracting companies that want to use alternative energy as part of their overall carbon-reduction strategy.

With a background in Agricultural Engineering, Mining Engineering, and Environmental Systems, I know a little about the earth and stewardship of the environment. I’ve spent much of my career searching for better ways to mine and farm the earth in more responsible ways.

What better use for a reclaimed mountaintop than energy generation? So, I say let’s use this byproduct of the resource that has fueled the country in the past to help fuel the economic development of Eastern Kentucky in the future.

SynTerra has the experts and capabilities to assist with solar energy, surveying, and more. Check out the below drone footage of a mountaintop in Appalachia, by one of SynTerra’s FAA Licensed Drone Pilots, Gabe Shepherd. For more information on how we can partner with your business, please contact Steve Gardner.

Charlie Bishop, P.E. PEM Presentation

Posted November 2, 2020

The 2020 Professional Engineers in Mining (PEM) Seminar was held as a Webinar on September 11, 2020, and SynTerra’s Sr. Geotechnical Engineer Charles Bishop presented Engineering and Geotechnical Considerations.

PEM is a non-profit society for registered professional engineers and other professionals who specialize in the mining, metallurgy, and exploration industries in Kentucky and surrounding states. 

While the PEM conference was virtual this year, make sure to catch Charlie Bishop’s online presentation. During the recorded session he will share insight from his experience in subsurface investigations and foundation design, specializing in the disposal of coarse and fine refuse from coal preparation plants.

If you have any engineering or geotechnical needs, please reach out to Charlie Bishop or Jack Griffin.