Once deemed a "dead" river due to pollution from unregulated coal mining, the West Branch of the Susquehanna River in Pennsylvania has undergone a major revival through intensive reclamation and treatment projects. Credit: Charlie Nick/Chesapeake Bay Program Kevin Zedack grew up in the heart of Pennsylvania’s coal country: Barr Township in Cambria County. His grandfather was a coal miner who suffered from black lung, and his dad spent some time mining too. As a boy, Zedack, now in his thirties, would play with his friends on gob piles, climbing up and down the large mounds of dark, rocky waste material pulled from coal mines.  Abandoned mines abound in his 2,000-person town. Nearby, thousands of gallons of water from the Lancashire No. 15 mine would gush into the west branch of the Susquehanna River. Meanwhile, acid drainage from the mine would turn the water the color of orange juice and kill all types of aquatic life.…