NEWS
U.S.  DEPARTMENT  OF  THE INTERIOR
OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY

For Release Monday, March 11, 1996     Jana Prewitt  (202) 
208-2528

INTERIOR 'S DEPUTY SECRETARY
AND SURFACE MINING DIRECTOR JOIN IN PROMOTING CLEAN STREAMS PROJECT
IN PENNSYLVANIA

Deputy Secretary of the Interior John Garamendi, joined by Office
of Surface Mining Director Robert Uram and other conservation and
water resource officials,  today added his support for a project to
clean up acid-polluted Quemahoning Creek in Somerset County, 
Pennsylvania, near Johnstown.

Garamendi said a project rally will take place in Jenner Township, 
Somerset County,  at 12:30 p.m. on Monday, March 11, 1996.

"coal companies have already paid one billion dollars into the
Treasury that hasn't been used yet for abandoned mine clean-up,"
Garamendi said.   "Last year President Clinton asked Congress to
appropriate $11 million from that billion-dollar fund for the
Appalachian Clean Streams Initiative.   Congress said no. As a
result, money that could be cleaning up 'acid-polluted streams is
just sitting there, unused."

"President Clinton's budget for Fiscal 1997 will include funds that
can be used as seed money to get this project going," Garamendi
said.   "If Congress had said yes last year,  this project could
already have been started."

Garamendi pointed out that Congress's inaction on funding
Appalachian Clean Streams has not been unanimous.   "In fact," he
said,  "Congressman John Murtha of Johnstown has supported
appropriations from the abandoned mine reclamation fund, and is
sending a representative to the Quemahoning Creek clean-up rally."

Interior's Appalachian Clean Streams Initiative was launched last
year by OSM Director Uram to build a federal,  state,  local,
public-private shared commitment to clean up waters polluted by
acid mine drainage  (AMD).   The U.S.  Environmental Protection
Agency has identified AMD as the most pervasive water quality
problem in the region.

"Teamwork,  cooperation, and innovation are what it takes to make
this shared commitment a reality, and to make the Appalachian Clean
Streams Initiative succeed," Uram said. "working individually, 
each of us can make a difference.   But working together, we can
make all the difference."

Quemahoning Creek is a tributary to Stoneycreek River,  the
Conemaugh River, and the Allegheny River.   There are about 14 AMD
sites on Quemahoning Creek degrading its use for fishing,
recreational, and public water uses.   The village of Jennets in
Jenner Township has to buy water from another company because it
lost its water supply due to AMD.

Acid discharges also harm the Quemahoning Reservoir,  causing added
water treatment costs for the City of Johnstown, which uses the
reservoir.   Trout fishing in the headwaters of the creek could be
restored and improved further downstream with cleanup of the AMD
sources.   The Quemahoning Creek project is designed to improve 15
miles of stream.

Funds have also been requested from EPA through its Regional
Geographic Initiative that could be used in partnership with the
Appalachian Clean Streams Initiative for a more comprehensive
treatment proposal.   In addition,  the Western Pennsylvania
Coalition for Abandoned Mine Reclamation has committed $50,000 in
EPA 319  funds to cleanup of the water treatment site,  if other
funds are forthcoming.

Pennsylvania's Department of Environmental Protection is interested
in providing funds for the watershed.   Project supporters include
the Agriculture Department's National Resource Conservation
Service,  the U.S. Geological Survey, Jenner Township, Jenner Water
Authority,  SCRIP  (the Stony Creek-Conemaugh River Improvement
Project), Somerset County Conservation District,  the National Mine
Land Reclamation Center, Southern Alleghenys Resource Conservation
and Development, and other local organizations.

Clean-up of several of the major discharges will restore fishing on
about 15 miles Quemahoning Creek in addition to creating partial
return of the public water supply.   A population of about 50,000
in Jenner Township and the Johnstown area would benefit from the
creation of recreational opportunities and the restoration of safe
water supplies.

-DOI-