Pa.: Stay clear of mine areas

NEWPORT TWP. – As peaceful and placid as the white birches and turquoise water looked among the wooded old coal lands, representatives from the state weren’t there on Wednesday to extol the wonders of nature.

They came to preempt the unwise decision-making of late-night wilderness enthusiasts, six of whom in the past decade had met their deaths in the water pit.

Before remediation began at the site, trails encircled the pit, making getting around it treacherous. Five people died in a 1998 New Year’s Day incident in which a Jeep drove onto the ice-covered water. In April 2004, Nanticoke native James Bertrand died when a Jeep vehicle in which he was a passenger drove off a trail and sank in the waterhole. The female driver escaped.

“You could see the draw to an area like this. It is beautiful,” state police Trooper Marty Connors said. “But it is dangerous.”

DEP Secretary John Hanger said he has been made aware whenever such incidents occur on lands under his department’s oversight, and “it’s a call I’d much prefer not to get.”

That’s why the state sets aside money each year to raise awareness through its “Stay Out – Stay Alive” campaign of the dangers present at abandoned mining sites. DEP spokesman Mark Carmon said $90,000 was allocated this year for public-service announcements targeting Schuylkill, Luzerne and Northumberland counties.

DEP’s Wilkes-Barre and Pottsville offices each have education teams that offer awareness programs for schools, said Michael Korb, an environmental program manager with the department’s Bureau of Abandoned Mine Reclamation.

But the teams make only about 12 presentations throughout the year, he said. “I think it’s just a lack of knowledge that people don’t utilize it,” he said.

Bloomsburg-based Knorr Contracting won the contract to reclaim the deadly site, known as Newport North, for $717,080 and began work in October. The company is regrading the 36-acre site, filtering the pool water, discharging it and filling in the 20- to 30-foot-deep pit once it’s empty, said John Curley, DEP design engineer.

The land, owned by the Earth Conservancy, is open as state game lands, said conservancy Executive Director Mike Dziak, meaning it’s accessible at any time, but motorized vehicles are prohibited.

Connors said getting caught riding on the site will result in a $300 fine. Not getting caught, however, could be more costly. “The price you could pay is with your life,” he said.

It’s a matter of dollars and sense, he said. The state has found the dollars to fix the problem. “What we need to do is the public needs to put up the sense to stay away,” he said.