Electricity from the Centralia Mine Fire?

Steam rises from the burn zone in Centralia, Pennsylvania. Credit: Flickr/Sadrzy

You may also like...

7 Responses

  1. Steph Ilgenfritz says:

    It’s a legend for us that live here in PA. Everyone I know is fascinated about it and went to see it. I never did and now I heard you can’t go there. I would Love to see it. I hope to get to see it before I die. It’s so cool and erie.God Love them if there is still people living there.

  2. George says:

    Steph, you can go there. PA Routes 51 and 42 intersect in the center of town. There really isn’t much to see anymore. There are about six houses standing and about 10 people live there. The Ukrainian Catholic church north of town still has weekly services. There are still three cemeteries in town. Most of the other buildings are gone. It’s not a ghost town with abandoned buildings. It’s mostly a bunch of roads that are no longer maintained so they’re run over with trees and weeds. Graffiti highway was covered with dirt because people trespassed and it got to be a safety hazard. Anyway, if you’d like to visit here’s a map: https://www.google.com/maps/place/Centralia,+PA/@40.8037677,-76.3520981,15z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m5!3m4!1s0x89c58cbefe94c4cf:0xf7be64e7f786ec3!8m2!3d40.8042541!4d-76.3405035 Just be respectful of private party and don’t stare at the citizens like it’s some kind of zoo.

  3. Bart says:

    What a pity that all that smoldering coal can’t be used to generate electricity. I guess one can’t always make lemonade from lemons.

  4. Greg bigger says:

    It seems to me with all the technology we have there should be some way to harness that fire and as you draw out all the energy the fire will dissipate as you use it all up but the way I understand it if something isn’t done it will continue 2 keep on burning potentially 4 miles we can go to Mars but we can’t utilize this tremendous amount of energy burning Underground

  5. Jim says:

    The author is a pessimist

  6. Mark says:

    It’s only moving at 75 feet per year. Think about that. It could be stopped, and at this point in time it is a huge waste of resources.

  7. Jaspercomp says:

    With the current pipes coming out of the ground, it seems like instead of burying cold water pipes, just use the steam coming off of those to spin turbines. It’s already being discharged into the air, might as well have it spin an impeller on its way out.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *