HARRISBURG – State Rep. Camille “Bud” George, D-74 of Houtzdale, said a Clearfield mining company was awarded contracts for the reclamation of two Woodland-area mines abandoned more than 60 years ago.
Swisher Contracting Inc. will restore the two sites – remediating almost 20 acres of mine land, 5.4 acres of deep mine and 2,500 feet of highwall – at no cost to the Commonwealth. In return for the work, valued at more than $187,000, the firm will recover about 40,000 tons of coal.
The mines are situated about one-half mile north of Woodland off of Shiloh Road in the Clearfield Creek and West Branch of the Susquehanna River watershed.
The Moshannon District Office of the state Department of Environmental Protection, which awarded the contract, said the sites were mined and later abandoned by Tascar and Earl Mayhew in the late 1940s.
Blasting is permitted as part of the reclamation but reprocessing of coal refuse at the sites is prohibited. Almost 17,000 tons of lime will be applied to counter acidic conditions at the mines, which will be graded close to original contours.