The state Department of Environmental Protection has announced $25 million in funding for abandoned mine reclamation and economic development projects, with one project along the Ghost Town Trail.
The funding for the 2019 Abandoned Mine Location program was authorized by Congress under the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2019. The funds are to be used to speed up the remediation of abandoned mine sites with plans for those sites to be used for economic and community development. One of the projects to receive funding this year is connected with the Ghost Town Trail, as a project there is looking to reclaim an 11-acre coal refuse area and improve the water quality in a 22-mile area of Black Lick Creek. The project will also include the construction of 900 feet of trailhead and a gravel parking lot. Indiana County Parks and Trails and the Indiana County Conservation district are among the partners for this project.
IUP has also been named as a partner is a project in Westmoreland County that will also receive funds. That project will focus on the Powdermill Nature Reserve and includes the rehabilitation of two passive acid mine drainage treatment systems that treat 60 gallons a minute. This will help improve a 1.5 mile section of Laurel Run. The project also includes educational trail construction and more than a mile of new and rehabilitated trails with three viewing platforms and trail signage.
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