Both contracts were awarded on a competitive basis and are being funded by a grant from the federal Office of Surface Mining.

The federal fund is supported by a fee on the coal industry and is distributed to states as annual grants to reclaim minesites that were abandoned prior to passage of the federal Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977.

DEP active and abandoned mine operations office deputy secretary John Stefanko said the two projects were excellent examples of how DEP’s aggressive mine reclamation program was successfully reclaiming abandoned minesites and eliminating harmful acid mine drainage.

The Beauty Camp Far West project will reclaim 53 acres of abandoned mine land, which includes an illegal waste dump.

The reclamation work will include removing 20 short tons of solid waste along with grading, drain installation, seeding and the planting of 5600 trees.

The rural site is located within State Game Lands 100 and has heavy site visitation for hunting and other recreational purposes.

The Owens Cemetery project will collect acid mine drainage entering residences along Fifth Street in Clearfield Borough in order to abate the hazard of a landslide.

In conjunction with this project, a residence, garage, shed and retaining wall will be removed and backfilled with stone aggregate.

A subsurface drain also will be installed.

There are seven homes inside of or within 50 feet of the Owens Cemetery project work area and a total of 225 homes within 500 linear feet of the project.

The Beauty Camp Far West reclamation work will be done by Morgan’s Excavating of Mount Union and will be completed by spring 2015.

The Owens Cemetery reclamation work will be done by H&R Excavating of State College and will be completed by the end of 2014.