The state has approved an $11 million contract for a massive mine cleanup project designed to improve the West Branch Susquehanna Watershed.
The project, to be completed by June 2011, will reclaim 11.3 acres of abandoned mine lands and build a passive mine drainage treatment system for the discharge of 7.5 million gallons per day from the abandoned Lancashire No. 15 mine in Barr Township.
Also announced by the state Department of Environmental Protection are two cleanup projects in Somerset County: A $13,429 drainage treatment system to restore trout habitat in Elk Lick Township, and a $512,009 project at the abandoned Lion Mine in Jenner Township.
The contracts were unveiled as part of a nine-project plan for five counties. Cleaning up abandoned mines has been a DEP priority. The projects are funded mainly by the federal Abandoned Mine Lands Fund. Pennsylvania received $30 million from the fund this year and is projected to receive $1.1 billion by 2022.
The West Branch Susquehanna contract is considered especially important because its waters eventually empty into Chesapeake Bay, and the federal government has mandated improved water quality for the entire three-state Susquehanna Basin.
