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Northeastern Pennsylvania Scranton, Wilkes-Barre, Pocono area
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Old 07-15-2013, 08:03 PM
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by bloominscranton View Post
Lol, about the fans and keeping us transplants out! Both my sons have asthma and they have not had any ill effects from living here. Both of these homes I mentioned are in N. Scranton. Like I said, I have no idea what the "fine soot " is, maybe you are right about coal breaker dust...I mean there were mines all over here, right?.
No active ones I'm aware of.
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Old 07-15-2013, 08:06 PM
 
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Originally Posted by fisheye View Post
That was all that was burning fifty or sixty years ago? I used to remember the strong smell of sulfur in the air. But I forget if that was in Scranton or going to Eynon?
I believe there was a fire there, not sure when they put it out but it's out. I think undergroundminers.com has some pictures of it. As I recall that was that near 81 so that makes sense. These things get started now a then usually from kids partying but they get right on them and put them out.
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Old 07-15-2013, 08:28 PM
 
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Originally Posted by jimazee View Post
There were coal breakers (see if we can guess why they were called that...) throughout the valley. The were next to piles of coal mining waste called culm dumps...some of which literally burned continuously. Some of both still remain, but are many fewer than years ago. Here is one link ...Googling will get lots more.

Breakers
The common name is breaker but that is actually just a small part of the operation. The bigger part is the separation and sizing operations. There is not a lot of dust involved once it enters the plant becsue they use a lot of water to keep it down. Once it leaves the breaker or crusher it's actually fully immersed in water in the separation plant. They add magnetite to the water into slurry increasing it's specific gravity, the rock sinks and the coal will float off the top. This is actually a drawing of one of 8 in the Huber breaker.




There is only two active plants that I'm aware of. One is Hudson Anthracite in Inkerman which is near Pittston and the other Casey's just down the road from Hudson in Laflin. You might see these plants pop up occasionally where the banks are but those are just temporary, for example they had that one near the eighth street bridge in Wyoming for few years processing that bank and then they moved it to near the Cross Valley. Not sure where it went afterward.

Quote:
No active ones I'm aware of.
I should clarify this. There is two major anthracite fields. There is the northern field which extends from South of Nanticoke to Carbondale and the southern field centered on the Pottsville area. There is very little activity in the nothern filed but a lot of activity in the southern field both mining operations and breakers.
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Old 07-15-2013, 09:13 PM
 
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Originally Posted by fisheye View Post
The air is a little more stagnant in the valleys than it is in the elevations. But the elevations usually get more snow - so it's a tradeoff.

As far as pollen: Yes; we have different vegetation that releases it's pollen at different times. Sometimes our large white pines can look like they are smoking from the amount of pollen released. Dandelion will make it look as if it is snowing outside - it all depends on the wind and how many are close to your home. Popular trees also release great amounts of pollen. Then we have our ragweed and goldenrod - but these are only a few of the problems.

You also have man made contamination from construction sites, fireplaces/wood burners/furnaces, motor vehicles and ATV's and small engines.

Does Scranton have any active coal mining? I know that when I would run through Charleston, WV that everything looked like it had a gray/black coating of soot.
you are so right --was in poconos today--easier to breathe up there even in this heat---tonight in the valley the air seems stifling
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Old 07-15-2013, 09:15 PM
 
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i see that fine soot on my car after it rains--thought it may be in air at times--found out this week there is also a small active breaker near plymout/larksville----also found out at today's recent hospital visit that this area leads the state in lung cancer
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Old 07-15-2013, 10:18 PM
 
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I did look up breakers and now know they break up the coal and take out other rocks. I knew this area leads the state in lung cancer, but honestly thought it was due to all the smoking. The soot seems to be a big mystery and I am so surprised to hear that only two of us have seen/dealt with it. I swear I am not making it up, my one window screen was disgusting, and required scrubbing with a brush and soap and water. When I ran my fingers over it, ewwwwwwwwwww. It was only the one window screen which was equally interesting.
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Old 07-15-2013, 10:22 PM
 
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Originally Posted by auntieannie68 View Post
i see that fine soot on my car after it rains--thought it may be in air at times--found out this week there is also a small active breaker near plymout/larksville----also found out at today's recent hospital visit that this area leads the state in lung cancer
NEPA also has a lot of smokers ... supposedly about 25% of adults (!! seems high but that is the stat) ...well above national (and probably state) averages. Radon is also potentially high (as is much of the state).

Air quality may have little to do with the high incidence.

Last edited by jimazee; 07-15-2013 at 11:31 PM..
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Old 07-15-2013, 11:29 PM
 
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Originally Posted by auntieannie68 View Post
--found out this week there is also a small active breaker near plymout/larksville----also found out at today's recent hospital visit that this area leads the state in lung cancer
I'm not aware of any and if there is it's going to be a reclamation operation. If you're trying to make some kind of connection between coal and lung cancer think again....




Note the pie graph is older, and the average exposure due to medical procedures has increased substantially. Coal and coal ash falls under "other".
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Old 07-16-2013, 06:55 AM
 
Location: Swiftwater, PA
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jimazee View Post
NEPA also has a lot of smokers ... supposedly about 25% of adults (!! seems high but that is the stat) ...well above national (and probably state) averages. Radon is also potentially high (as is much of the state).

Air quality may have little to do with the high incidence.

Even though the figures show that we have a lot of smokers; I do not think they smoke as much as they did years ago. It is too expensive today and there are fewer and fewer places for people to smoke.

When I work at the one company part-time; they allow no smoking. The smokers simply have to leave on their lunch hour to satisfy their craving - break time is not long enough to leave and come back.

Years ago people would take a few puffs, before they would go into a store, and then throw most of the cigarette away. Now you see people saving and unfinished butt or not lighting one until they come out of a store.

I just think that the figure is deceiving.
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Old 07-16-2013, 02:33 PM
 
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Originally Posted by thecoalman View Post
I'm not aware of any and if there is it's going to be a reclamation operation. If you're trying to make some kind of connection between coal and lung cancer think again....




Note the pie graph is older, and the average exposure due to medical procedures has increased substantially. Coal and coal ash falls under "other".
am not--trying to make a connection between air quality and lung disease and the quote about lung cancer came last week from an oncologist in philly---father was miner,cousin operated one
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