BEAVER, WV – Six Clearfield County residents traveled to the National Mining Academy in Beaver, West Virginia, June 1 – 3, where they completed an environmental training course.
The event was hosted by the Eastern Coal Regional Roundtable (ECRR) and was funded by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to address abandoned mine drainage and other water quality issues in the Appalachian coal region. The event drew 80 attendees from Ohio, Maryland, West Virginia, Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee and Pennsylvania.
“The purpose of the training was to address environmental issues which have left thousands of miles of streams from Ohio to Alabama too polluted for swimming, fishing or drinking. ECRR hopes that by helping individuals find ways to restore local streams, citizens will bring business and recreation opportunities to their communities and improve residents’ quality of life,” said ECRR coordinator, Kelsey Fischer.
Attending from the Clearfield area were Terry O’Connor and Clarence
“Buddy” Thomas of the Anderson Creek Watershed Association. Representing The Friends of Bilger Run were Lori Dotts, Jamie O’Connor, Brandon Logan and Gary Tucker. Representing Trout Unlimited’s West Branch Susquehanna Restoration Initiative were Rebecca Dunlap and Aaron Furgiuele.
Dunlap led an informational session on the economic benefits of cleaning up pollution from abandoned coal mines. Dunlap said that real estate values are reduced significantly for properties within 200 feet of polluted waterways, according to research.
Participants attended sessions on making use of funding opportunities for watersheds, understanding federal regulations, working with the media and working with legislative representatives. Various state and federal agencies and non-profit organizations led these sessions.
“The Eastern Coal Region training has been comprehensive and is a wonderful source of information. We can bring this material home to our remediation efforts in the West Branch watershed,” Terry O’Connor said.
Future training is planned for July 2009 in Wyoming County, West Virginia. Training is free to qualifying individuals and organizations in Alabama, Kentucky, Maryland, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia. To attend training, contact Kelsey Fischer at (304) 294-1005 or info@easterncoal.org.
The Anderson Creek Watershed Association and Friends of Bilger Run are citizens’ groups that work to remediate pollution caused by historic mining activity in Clearfield County. For information on these groups, contact Terry O’Connor at (814) 592-7310.
The national Trout Unlimited office in Lock Haven targets abandoned mine drainage in the West Branch Susquehanna River. For information, contact Rebecca Dunlap at (570) 748-4901.
Eastern Coal Regional Roundtable is a non-profit organization based in Wyoming County, WV. Its mission is to affect economic and social change in the Eastern Coal Region through advocacy and capacity-building of grassroots watershed organizations.
