OSM NEWS
U. S. Department of the Interior           
Office of Surface Mining

For Release: July 26, 2000              Jerry Childress (202) 208-2719
                                   jchildre@osmre.gov
     
       OSM FUNDS INDIANA APPALACHIAN CLEAN STREAMS PROJECT
          UNDER WATERSHED COOPERATIVE AGREEMENT PROGRAM

     Kathrine L. Henry, Acting Director of the Interior Department's Office of Surface Mining
Reclamation and Enforcement (OSM), has approved $72,280 in funding for an  Appalachian
Clean Streams Initiative project in the Patoka River Watershed in Indiana.  The project is funded
under OSM's Watershed Cooperative Agreement Program.

     Henry announced that the Four Rivers Resource Conservation Development Area will
receive $72,280  in funding for the Thompson Run project.  

     "Funding for local watershed groups like the Four Rivers group, through the Appalachian
Clean Streams Initiative, is a top priority for OSM," Henry said.  "Local groups are doing
tremendous work to clean up acid mine drainage problems in their own communities.  This year
Congress provided us increased funding to assist local clean water initiatives like this project."     
     

     The Thompson Run project will remediate acid mine drainage (AMD) from a sub-
watershed of the South Fork of the Patoka River.  The AMD has a pH of 3 or below, and
contributes high concentrations of metals to the main stream of the Patoka.  The source of the
acidity comes from mining spoils abandoned during the 1920's.  Remediation centers around
creating access and installation of Concentrated Alkaline Recharge Pools (CARPs).  

     The South Fork of the Patoka River Watershed is the most heavily impacted coal mine
watershed in Indiana, and has been the focus of extensive clean up efforts, both AMD and non-
AMD projects, led by the watershed association, Patoka South Fork Watershed Steering
Committee. 

     As part of OSM's fiscal year 2000 Appalachian Clean Streams Initiative, $1,750,000 is
available to fund cooperative agreements between OSM and 
not-for-profit groups, especially small watershed organizations, for local acid mine drainage
projects.  Eligible applicants are not-for-profit, established organizations with IRS 501(c)(3)
status.  Applicants must have other partners, contributing either funding or in-kind services.  The
partners must provide a substantial portion of the total resources needed to complete the project.

     For this year, proposed  projects from the following Appalachian Clean Streams states are
eligible: Alabama, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Maryland, Missouri, Ohio, Oklahoma,
Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia.

                              -OSM-