Forum Index > Trip Reports > Centralia Coal Mine (WA) - future hike scouting trip
 Reply to topic
Previous :: Next Topic
Author Message
NacMacFeegle
Member
Member


Joined: 16 Jan 2014
Posts: 2653 | TRs | Pics
Location: United States
NacMacFeegle
Member
PostThu Mar 04, 2021 12:00 pm 
I decided to visit the old Transalta coal mine near Centralia a few weeks ago after I learned it was proposed as a WDFW wildlife area. The reclamation process is surprisingly advanced, and the mine is now a 9,800 acre patchwork of prairies and forests sprinkled with large lakes. Right now there's not much to see from the road, and public access to the area is heavily restricted. In fact, the county road through the area is lined with gigantic menacing no trespassing signs, and you're not even allowed to stop as I found out when I pulled over to take a photo of a bald eagle and was quickly warned to move on by a security guard who showed up out of nowhere! He was very polite though, and gave me directions to a nearby location where he knew birds of prey to be common. It was actually surprising how much security a reclaimed coal mine apparently needs, as I passed multiple different private security vehicles patrolling the county road. It might be because they've had problems with poaching in the past - the area is home to enormous herds of elk. Anyway, I did manage to find a place to get a drone into the air and get a tantalizing glimpse of the reclaimed mine - the area is truly vast, and it's really exciting to imagine all the hiking trails that could be there one day. I've spent some time doodling in Google Earth, and I've roughly estimated that at least 30 miles of trail could be built just accessing and looping around the various lakes. It'd be an absolutely marvelous year-round accessible hiking destination, and I can only imagine what the spring bloom must look like in those huge meadows.
If you want to know more about this and other WDFW land acquisition projects this year, here's their web page: https://wdfw.wa.gov/about/wdfw-lands/land-acquisitions The comment period is closed, but it couldn't hurt to send a message of support!

Read my hiking related stories and more at http://illuminationsfromtheattic.blogspot.com/
Back to top Reply to topic Reply with quote Send private message
Dick B
Member
Member


Joined: 06 Jun 2013
Posts: 336 | TRs | Pics
Location: Redmond, Or
Dick B
Member
PostThu Mar 04, 2021 4:16 pm 
I assume this was mined to supply coal for the power plant. Is it still there or has it been decommissioned? Looks like it was strip mined, and they did a good job of rehabing.

Back to top Reply to topic Reply with quote Send private message
Malachai Constant
Member
Member


Joined: 13 Jan 2002
Posts: 16088 | TRs | Pics
Location: Back Again Like A Bad Penny
Malachai Constant
Member
PostThu Mar 04, 2021 5:04 pm 
It was a strip mine for coal initially but I believe it converted to natural gas more recently. In my senior year at UW I participated in an enviorental study which was a joint effort of engineering, chemistry, and geology departments. It was an amazing thing to watch when the draglines and rotary excavators were all in operation. At that time it look like the area would resemble Mars forever. It looks like they did a far better job than places I have seen in West Virginia.

"You do not laugh when you look at the mountains, or when you look at the sea." Lafcadio Hearn
Back to top Reply to topic Reply with quote Send private message
Hutch
Member
Member


Joined: 18 Jun 2009
Posts: 638 | TRs | Pics
Hutch
Member
PostThu Mar 04, 2021 5:14 pm 
Unit 1 retired late last year, Unit 2 will be retired by 2025. Thus far it's been replaced mostly with (far cheaper) wind and market purchases (mostly hydro and excess solar from CA), and it has not been converted to NG. https://nwlaborpress.org/2020/12/transalta-shuts-first-of-two-coal-fired-power-plants-in-centralia/#:~:text=The%20first%20of%20two%20670,31.&text=The%20second%20coal%20plant%20will%20close%20in%202025.

Back to top Reply to topic Reply with quote Send private message
NacMacFeegle
Member
Member


Joined: 16 Jan 2014
Posts: 2653 | TRs | Pics
Location: United States
NacMacFeegle
Member
PostThu Mar 04, 2021 6:48 pm 
There's also been some wind power installed to the West of the power plant up in the hills - there's definitely some symbolism in the the view approaching the plant from the West with the windmills in the background!

Read my hiking related stories and more at http://illuminationsfromtheattic.blogspot.com/
Back to top Reply to topic Reply with quote Send private message
Mikey
Member
Member


Joined: 04 Sep 2003
Posts: 737 | TRs | Pics
Location: SW Washington
Mikey
Member
PostSun Mar 07, 2021 10:45 am 
UW engineering graduate students (civil engineering dept) and I conducted research projects on air pollutant emissions (particles and sulfur dioxide) years ago. Pacific Power & Light had this coal fired power plant designed and constructed as the cleanest coal-fired power plant in the US at that time (design started in around 1968, before the EPA was established). I wish a Pacific Power & Light engineer who worked at the plant would have written a book about this plant. Lots of interesting stories. One story is I got a call from an engineer who designed the electrostatic precipitators and he asked me why an U of Washington helicopter crashed into the coal pile east of the plant. I called Professor Peter Hobbs of U of W Atmospheric Science Dept. and asked him if he knew anything about this helicopter crash (Hobbs had an aircraft for conducting atmospheric research, they measured the water droplet emissions from the PGE nuclear power plant near Rainier Oregon and showed that the water emissions correlated with increased rainfall downwind of that nuclear power plant). It turned out that it was a Wash. State U. Helicopter measuring the air pollutants in the coal fired power plant plume but the helicopter pilot did not realize that there was decreased oxygen in the plume and the helicopter engine quit so the helicopter fell into the coal pile (no one in the helicopter was hurt but the helicopter was damaged; the pilot used the rotors to slow the descent). We had instruments measuring the in-stack smoke opacity and in-stack sulfur dioxide concentrations at the time (research funded by the EPA). Hutch implied that the electricity generated at the Centralia Coal Fire Power Plant was much more expensive than other electrical power. As I recall, when Pacific Power & Light owned this power plant and the coal used was from the nearby strip mine, the electrical power was not all that expensive and it went into the BPA grid. When the local coal mine shut down, more expensive coal from Wyoming was imported which increased the price of the electricity. Note that the expensive price of the electrical power from the Washington Public Power Supply System (WPSS) nuclear power plant near Hanford Wash goes to the BPA and this expensive power causes the electrical power of all BPA customers to be affected. Nuclear power plants were desired by electric power companies because the price of the electricity the power companies could charge the customers was based on the capital cost and nuclear power plants have the most expensive capital cost. Nuclear power plants leak radioactivity (the Oregon PGE nuclear power plant leaked). How do we know? Because nuclear power plants use an instrument we developed at the U of W and nuclear power plant people phoned me to ask questions about our instrument. I had an EPA employee in my engineering class and he (a GS-14) was assigned to monitor radioactive emissions from the Three-Mile Island nuclear power plant melt down. He would spend 8 hrs/day in a helicopter with instruments to measure the radioactivity in the power plant plume. I think he was a graduate student in the UW Dept of Environmental Health. Sorry for going a bit off-topic.

Back to top Reply to topic Reply with quote Send private message
Damian
Member
Member


Joined: 18 Dec 2001
Posts: 3260 | TRs | Pics
Damian
Member
PostSun Mar 07, 2021 9:33 pm 
During college I worked as an engineering intern for Pacific Power & Light at the Centralia Steam plant. It was the summer of 1978. I climbed all over that complex, including to the top of one of the 500' stacks after hours one day. It was a fantastic job and the stories are endless. I designed a major modification for the overhead travelling crane that served the massive machine shop. The most awesome summer job I ever had.

Back to top Reply to topic Reply with quote Send private message
Malachai Constant
Member
Member


Joined: 13 Jan 2002
Posts: 16088 | TRs | Pics
Location: Back Again Like A Bad Penny
Malachai Constant
Member
PostSun Mar 07, 2021 10:05 pm 
Coal plants can produce more radioactivity than nuclear plants due to natural radioactivity in the coal. The SO2 in the plume is also very effective in blocking the suns rays as it changes to (NH4)2 SO4 in the atmosphere.

"You do not laugh when you look at the mountains, or when you look at the sea." Lafcadio Hearn
Back to top Reply to topic Reply with quote Send private message
   All times are GMT - 8 Hours
 Reply to topic
Forum Index > Trip Reports > Centralia Coal Mine (WA) - future hike scouting trip
  Happy Birthday speyguy, Bandanabraids!
Jump to:   
Search this topic:

You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum