News

August 2, 2008

Grant slated for Espy Run cleanup

Wetland area part of watershed contaminated with acid mine drainage.

By Bill O'Boyle boboyle@timesleader.com
Times Leader Staff Writer
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U.S. Rep. Paul E. Kanjorski, D-Nanticoke, and Mike Dziak, executive director of Earth Conservancy, will announce a $178,524 grant for a federal brownfields cleanup project.

A press conference is scheduled for 11 a.m. Monday at the Franklin Bank project site, West Liberty Street, Hanover Township, to announce the Environmental Protection Agency grant. A brownfield is industrial or commercial property that is abandoned or underused and often environmentally contaminated, especially one considered as a potential site for redevelopment.

The Earth Conservancy grant, according to EPA, is for the cleanup of hazardous materials in the Espy Run section of Hanover Township. Espy Run and its associated wetlands are part of the Nanticoke Creek Watershed and are contaminated with acid mine drainage from former anthracite coal mining operations in the area, according to EPA. The funds will be used to install an aerobic wetlands treatment system to reduce iron concentrations in the watershed.

EPA said the Espy Run Wetlands Treatment Area was the site of former coal strip mining operations that led to acid mine drainage in the area. The site was untouched for nearly two decades until the Earth Conservancy purchased the land from the Blue Coal Corp. in 1994.

Cleanup of Espy Run and its associated wetlands is expected to reduce environmental and health hazards in the area and open surrounding lands for reclamation and development, EPA said. The Earth Conservancy owns adjacent land that it plans to convert into mixed-use and industrial sites. Plans call for these parcels to be divided by a highway that is expected to improve transportation and spur economic opportunities in the area.

Bill O’Boyle, a Times Leader staff writer, can be reached at 829-7218.

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