June 14, 2007
 
Contract Awarded by DEP to Clean Up Nicholas County Mine
 
By HNN Staff
 
Summersville, WV (HNN) – More than $460,000 will be spent on water treatment and land reclamation at an abandoned surface mine in Nicholas County.
 
The West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection has awarded the cleanup contract to Collins Building & Contracting of Flatwoods. It will complete the reclamation of the 130-acre project near Summersville over the next 12 months.
 
M & T Mining Co. abandoned the site and forfeited its bond in 1994.
 
The contractor will construct ditches and spillways, upgrade a pond and wetland area, and establish a passive water treatment facility to treat water for low pH, and high iron, aluminum and manganese. As a result of the water treatment, water quality will improve in Fockler Branch in the Gauley watershed.
 
The project is made possible through the Special Reclamation Fund, which gets its money from forfeited bond collections, civil penalties, and the special reclamation tax on mined coal.