The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection has announced that over $101 million in grants for environmental restoration projects have been awarded, and some of that money will come to Indiana County.
The money will go to sixteen projects across the state as part of the Abandoned Mine Lands and Acid Mine Drainage Grant Program, with the money coming from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, also known as the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. The department said that the grant program “prioritizes serious human health and safety problems that are a result of abandoned coal mines and treating acid mine drainage to continue restoration effort under the acid mine drainage Set-Aside Program.
Two projects in Indiana County will receive funding through this program. The Clean Streams Foundation will receive $24,194,380 for Ernest-Fulton Run/Crooked Creek project, which includes construction of an active acid mine drainage treatment system to treat the Fulton Run Shaft and Ernest 2 and 3 discharges. The other project is through the Indiana County Conservation District, which will receive $195,283 for the Bear Run South project, which includes designing, permitting and engineering for two passive acid mine drainage treatment systems to replace two ineffective silo systems.
