WESTOVER – It was a “Tale of Two Companies,” according to J. Scott Roberts, deputy secretary for mineral resources management for the Department of Environmental Protection, that brought a Governor’s Award for Environmental Excellence to a Venango County business operating in Clearfield County Thursday.
Scrubgrass Generating Co. was one of 12 companies that earned the award for 2005 out of 78 applicants. That award came for work done to reclaim a mine site in Westover.
The area was the former Benjamin Coal Co. No. 6 mine site, abandoned in the 1980s.
“We had Benjamin Coal Company up here, which sort of represents a different day in age of mineral resource extraction in this country, and Benjamin was not a particularly good steward of the environment, nor a particularly good neighbor to the communities that they were in,” Roberts said.
“When hard times came for Benjamin, they walked away.”
When Benjamin Coal Co. left, the site became a barren coal refuse dump created during nearly 40 years of mining in the area. At the time of its abandonment, the site contained an estimated 640,000 tons of coal refuse material and was a blight on the local landscape.
“Fortunately for us, there is a new type of company …” Roberts said, speaking of Scrubgrass Generating Co.
Today, thanks to the work of that company, the site looks as many areas in Central Pennsylvania do, full of short grasses and other vegetation. But, according to Gary Swartz Sr., fuel site supervisor, that was not always the case.
“It looked like the moon,” he said, “the surface of the moon.”
Officials from Cogentrix, Scrubgrass’ parent company, gave all of the credit to Swartz and his crew that worked on the site in often harsh conditions.
“When I say they worked under tough conditions, no running water, outhouses, it’s two o’clock in the morning and you’re loading trucks in a snowstorm, and they never complained,” said Peter Rigney, Cogentrix general manager.
In addition to clearing out waste coal that was used in the production of energy, the area now supports many species including some in a nearby stream along state Route 36.
“Removing more than 400,000 tons of coal refuse has improved water quality, decreased metal loading and halted erosion and sedimentation runoff,” Roberts said.
The Benjamin No. 6 mine site was abandoned in the 1980s by the Benjamin Coal Co.
The reclamation project began in 1993 and was completed in May 2005. About 445,000 tons of coal refuse was removed and taken to the Scrubgrass cogeneration plant in Kennerdell, Venango County.
Through the entire project, no lost-time accidents happened, according to Jeff Melat, safety coordinator.
The entire 59-acre site has been reclaimed and re-vegetated, improving the quality of water that enters Chest Creek, decreasing metals loading, and halting erosion and sedimentation runoff.
It is estimated the project saved taxpayers about $1.18 million in reclamation costs.
“Scrubgrass Generating Co. has very successfully demonstrated through this project how innovative thinking by private industry can help to properly restore the commonwealth’s environment,” Roberts said.
DEP estimates that $1.8 million in taxpayer dollars were saved through the reclamation project.
The Governor’s Award for Environmental Excellence honors Pennsylvania businesses and organizations that put in place projects that take on environmental problems in ways that build new businesses, enhance the bottom line and engage residents in a renewed commitment to investing in their communities.
