On July 24, 2002 coal miners broke through into an abandoned, water-filled mine flooding the Quecreek Mine with over 150 million gallons of water. Nine miners scrambled to safety, but nine were trapped in a pocket of air in the dark, cold, water filled mine. They were rescued four days later through the combined efforts of state and federal mine rescue agencies and hundreds of workers and volunteers.
This video was produced by the Commonwealth Media Services, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, in 2003 to document the decisions made step-by-step during the rescue effort.
This year marks the 10th Anniversary of the successful Quecreek Mine Rescue.
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I served as Secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection from 2001 to 2003, Executive Deputy at DEP from 1995 to 2001, as staff to the PA Senate Environmental Committee and various positions in the former Department of Environmental Resources, working on environmental issues for over 40 years.