Smith Township To Receive Mine Reclamation Grant

HARRISBURG – Sen. Camera Bartolotta (R-46) announced on Thursday, that a $193,493 state grant was awarded to Natural Streams Foundation, Inc. to support the initial planning work for an abandoned mine land reclamation project in Smith Township, Washington County.  The grant is part of the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection’s Abandoned Mine Land and Abandoned Mine Drainage Grant Program, which recently awarded funding for 15 environmental restoration projects across the state.  The funding will support engineering design and permitting work needed to begin removing more than 250,000 cubic yards of coal refuse from a nearly five-acre site in the township.  “Projects like this are an important step in restoring land affected by historic mining,” Bartolotta said. “This funding enables essential planning so the site can be reclaimed, improving environmental conditions and supporting safer, more productive land use.”  Pennsylvania has the largest inventory of abandoned coal mines in the nation. Funding for the program comes through Pennsylvania’s federally supported Abandoned Mine Land Reclamation Program.