HARRISBURG — The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection announced funding for 16 environmental restoration projects on abandoned mine lands, including ones in McKean and Elk counties.

These projects, which are being funded as a result of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, primarily focus on the reclamation of abandoned mine land (AML), abatement of acid mine drainage (AMD) through reclamation, and/or treatment of AMD through the construction, operation, and/or maintenance of an AMD treatment facility.

The DEP Bureau of Abandoned Mine Reclamation is able to announce the following projects:

In McKean County, at West Scaffold Lick, the project will fund an updated assessment and implementation/restoration plan by McKean County Conservation District of up to 520 acres of abandoned mine land and abandoned mine drainage features that will be the basis for future reclamation and water treatment projects for over 16 miles of affected watershed and a cumulative 1,800 linear feet of existing dangerous highwalls in Norwich Township.

In Elk County, at Porcupine Hollow I (Lime Dosers), the project includes three years of continued operation and maintenance of two lime silos treating two acid mine drainage discharges impacting Dents Run. The operation of the silos has helped restore six miles of Dents Run from Porcupine Hollow to the Bennett Branch Sinnemahoning Creek.

Dents Run is now labeled a Stocked Trout Water and the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission has been stocking the stream since 2019. Discontinuing operation and maintenance of the silos will result in losing the environmental improvements to Dents Run and a loss of $280,620 per year in recreational use as reported by the PFBC.

An additional 5 projects from the 2022 Round of the AML/AMD Grant Program have been recommended for funding from the Abandoned Mine Land Economic Revitalization Program but cannot yet be announced due to additional vetting required by the Federal Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement.