11/25/24 - 156 New Stories - REAL Environmental & Conservation Leadership In PA: http://tinyurl.com/54ukts8z
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Construction Begins On $1.7 Million Luzerne County Mine Reclamation Project
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The Department of Environmental Protection announced this week a 168-acre, $1.7 million abandoned mine reclamation project to restore the Cranberry West mine site near the intersection of I-81 and Route 924 began. "This site, formerly a dangerous wasteland, has long been a problem and an eye-sore in the Hazleton area," said Sen. Ray Musto (D-Luzerne), Minority Chair of the Senate Environmental Resources and Energy Committee, said. "Once the reclamation work is completed, this site has excellent potential for commercial development which will provide new economic opportunities and jobs for Hazle Township and area residents."
The site was deep-mined from the turn of the last century until after World War II, then surface mined. It was subsequently abandoned. It now contains large pits with nearly one mile of dangerous highwalls, unguarded openings into the former underground mine workings, waste piles, and abandoned mining structures.
“Few places in America bear the scars of our industrial legacy as deeply as Pennsylvania’s anthracite coal fields, where entire communities struggle to overcome the damage caused by the unregulated mining practices of the past,” said DEP Secretary John Hanger. “This is the latest in a series of reclamation projects in the Hazleton area that are turning these dangerous and unsightly places into opportunities for economic growth and improving the quality of life for residents of the entire region.”
Sen. Musto said the reclamation work, expected to be completed by March 2012, will include demolishing and removing abandoned structures and using 1.3 million cubic yards of on-site material to backfill and grade highwalls, waste piles and mine openings.
Sen. Musto worked to secure the funding from Pennsylvania's share of the federal Abandoned Mine Lands fund. Pennsylvania is due to receive nearly $44 million from the fund in 2010.
In Pennsylvania, DEP administers the Abandoned Mine Reclamation fund and, in 2009, issued contracts to reclaim 750 acres of dangerous abandoned mine lands and construct facilities to treat more than 10 million gallons per day of mine drainage. Since Gov. Rendell took office in 2003, the department has committed more than $172 million to 279 abandoned mine reclamation projects, reclaiming nearly 7,000 acres.
Pennsylvania has the nation’s largest abandoned mine problem, with approximately 180,000 acres of cliffs, spoil piles and other dangerous features dating back to when coal mining began in Pennsylvania in the 1700s. More than two billion tons of waste coal sit in piles across the state and an estimated 5,500 miles of rivers and streams are degraded by mine drainage.
NewsClips: Mine Site Reclamation Starts In Luzerne
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4/5/2010 |
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