DEP Secretary E. Christopher Abruzzo along with Deputy Secretary for Water Management Kelly Heffner recently visited the Saint Vincent College campus in Latrobe to tour the Monastery Run Abandoned Mine Drainage Cleanup Site.

The Monastery Run Project consists of five separate projects completed through the cooperative efforts of all members of the Loyalhanna Mine Drainage Coalition. 

Members of the group include the Westmoreland County Conservation District, the Loyalhanna Creek Watershed Association, and the Katherine Mabis McKenna Foundation, as well as local businesses, and Saint Vincent College, which owned much of the land where the AMD surfaced.

DEP's Bureau of Abandoned Mine Reclamation, Bureau of Watershed Conservation and the Greensburg District Mining Office provided assistance and funding for the project with support from federal agencies, including the former Bureau of mines (now under the Department of Energy), the Natural Resources Conservation Service and the Office of Surface Mining.

Before the field trip and tour, Secretary Abruzzo attended the Westmoreland County Conservation District’s monthly public board meeting in Greensburg to hear how the district’s innovative stormwater program has benefited local communicates in the area.  Staff also described the partnerships their stormwater program has cultivated over the years and its short and long-term goals.

(Reprinted from June 12 DEP Newsletter.  To sign up to get your own copy, Click Here.)

6/16/2014