EHRENFELD, PA – On Thursday, August 4, 2016, U.S. Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell will join federal, state and community leaders in the western Pennsylvania town of Ehrenfeld to break ground on an inaugural coal mine reclamation project to help restore job opportunities for former coal miners, while also eliminating safety hazards and air and stream pollution from abandoned coal mines.
The Ehrenfeld Abandoned Mine Reclamation Project is the first of dozens of similar reclamation initiatives with direct economic benefits that will be carried out in Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Kentucky under the Abandoned Mine Lands Economic Revitalization (AMLER) Pilot Program. The $90 million federally-funded AMLER program brings together federal, state and local partners to develop abandoned mine land reclamation projects while creating jobs and community green space in areas that have long suffered under the burden of dangerous, polluting abandoned coal mines.
The AMLER program was inspired by President Obama’s $1 billion POWER PLUS budget proposal, which called for advancing investments from the federal Abandoned Mine Reclamation Fund to link the clean-up of hazardous abandoned mine lands with assistance to Coal Country communities in an effort to diversify economies, create good jobs in existing or new industries and attract new sources of job-creating investment.
Who:
Sally Jewell, U.S. Secretary of the Interior
Janice Schneider, Assistant Secretary, Land and Minerals Management
Joe Pizarchik, Director, Office of Surface Mining and Reclamation Enforcement
Patrick McDonnell, Acting Secretary, Pennsylvania Department of
Environmental Protection
John Wozniak, Pennsylvania State Senator
Tom Chernisky, President, Cambria County Commission
Ray Plummer, Mayor of Ehrenfeld
Cliff Forest, President, Rosebud Mining Company
John Dawes, Foundation for Pennsylvania Watersheds
Dave Knepper, President, Forest Hills Regional Alliance
Len Lichvar, Stonycreek- Conemaugh River Improvement Project
What:
Groundbreaking event on inaugural coal mine reclamation project
When:
Thursday, August 4, 2016
10:45 a.m. EDT – Media check-in
11:00 a.m. EDT – Remarks begin
12:15 p.m. EDT – Photo opportunity and media availability
Where:
Ehrenfeld Community Park
Mt. Carmel Street
South Fork, PA 15956
Media:
Credentialed members of the media are encouraged to RSVP here.
Source: Department of Interior
