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Luzerne County Awarded Environmental Education Grant

Release Date: 8/14/2002
Contact Information: Bonnie Smith, (215) 814-5543

Bonnie Smith, (215) 814-5543

PHILADELPHIA – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency today announced 20 environmental education grants awarded throughout the mid-Atlantic region. In Shaverstown, Luzerne County, Pa. EPA awarded a $10,000 grant to the Eastern Pennsylvania Coalition for Abandoned Mine Reclamation.

The project, Exploring Pennsylvania’s Anthracite Watersheds Impacted by Abandoned Mine Drainage in Luzerne County, will provide a county-wide teacher training program which will include a full day, hands-on educational workshop on abandoned mine lands, and the impacts of past anthracite mining practices on Luzerne County’s land and water resources.

The training will also include networking with local resource agencies and community groups, abandoned mine reclamation techniques, co-generation and its environmental benefits, abandoned mine drainage and treatment systems. A countywide field tour of several watersheds successfully completed reclamation and remediation projects, plus sites impacted by acid mine drainage in the county are also part of the program. Core teachers will train other teachers and teach students about this important local environmental issue.

“This training program will help students and teachers better understand the environmental challenge of acid mine drainage and the ways that communities are bringing streams back to life,” said mid-Atlantic Regional Administrator Donald S. Welsh.

Since 1992, EPA has provided more than $2 million annually in funding to local organizations and schools and has awarded a total of 1,700 grants. These grass-roots grants fund educational programs in nonprofit organizations, educational institutions, and governmental agencies supporting a wide range of environmental issues for citizens of all ages.

To find out more about EPA’s environmental education grants and online resources for communities, educators, and children, check out EPA’s website at http:www.epa.gov/epahome/students.htm.