WPCAMR

WPCAMR Business Meeting:

Meeting chaired by Greg Phillips and called to order at 10:50am.

Introductions of all present.

Secretary’s Report (Greg Phillips for Jim Panaro):

Review of past meeting minutes. Motion (Smith / Vatter) to accept the minutes. Passed.

Treasurer’s Report (Greg Phillips):

Greg read the treasurer’s report. Bruce gave explanations of various accounts and programs for those who were new.

Motion (Smith/Vatter) to accept the treasurers report. Passed.

Presentation (Dave Hamilton):

Appalachian Regional Reforestation Initiative (ARRI). Dave, the ARRI OSM representative for Pennsylvania, gave a power point presentation about the ARRI initiative. Contact Dave Hamilton if you have any questions or need more information about the initiative.

Also, see www.arri.osmre.gov for more info.

Regional Coordinator’s report (Bruce. Golden):

See report for details.

Watershed Coordinator’s report (Andy McAllister):

See report for details.

OSM/VISTA report (Stefanie Chitester):

See report for details.

Break for Lunch provided by Beaver CD at 12:25

Conservation District/Agency/Watershed Association reports (All present):

Those in attendance reported on current and future activities within their respective organizations.

DEP Dep. Sec. Scott Roberts talked about the previous PA DEP Title IV roundtables and that the Department was listening to what the public had to say. Some of the things heard by the Department were that groups were frustrated with the grant system and that there was an administrative burden on the groups who administered the grants.

Focus groups will be next after the last two roundtables coming up in September and one of the things to determine will be to figure out how much to use for the AMD set aside program, and of that, how much to devote to OM&R funding. Scott also mentioned that there also seems to be some forward traction with regard to resource recovery, and sin gled out Bob Hedin’s next step in commercialization of iron oxide and resulting potential incomes to watershed groups. With regard to a Title IV oversight committee, Scott mentioned that the MRAB has some advantageous strengths, some of which are that it is legislatively mandated and that it includes members from the state house and senate. Scott offered WPCAMR and EPCAMR an opportunity to sit down with the Department and MRAB to see if there’s something that can be done to address WPCAMR’s concerns about MRAB’s abilities to address Title IV.

Scott also mentioned that OSM may potentially provide training courses for technical training for watershed groups and that DEP/WPCAMR/EPCAMR/OSM are working on this potential opportunity.

Additionally, Scott mentioned a court case going on now (PA Federation of Sportsmen VS OSM/DEP) and suggested that people educate themselves on this case. Depending on the court’s decision, DEP may be forced to prioritize about 42 AMD/AMR sites ahead of all the rest in the state.

NEW BUSINESS

“An opportunity to blow our own horn” (Greg Phillips)

Greg talked about the upcoming Pittsburgh’s 250^th birthday celebration next year and about an initiative to find projects in the Pittsburgh area to showcase for next year’s celebration. There are three projects already that will be showcased: Point State Park, Allegheny passage, and Forbes Road. Greg said that it would be a good idea to showcase the best work of all the surrounding counties. WPCAMR could be involved in that given its work with many of the surrounding counties. Greg also talked about the county meetings called “community connections” and that during these meetings, it had been announced that there is about $1million to give out as grants to worthy projects. Pam talked about what Armstrong County will be applying for. Greg said that the Westmoreland Conservation District intends to submit a grant application in mid September that would provide funding to showcase the substantial and too often overlooked accomplishments of the conservation/environmental community in the regions history. Greg invited suggestions and participation.

“Future Directions of SMCRA Title IV” (Bruce Golden)

Bruce talked about the current status of the Title IV program and the importance of WPCAMR to remain actively involved in the process as the Commonwealth develops its gameplan for Title IV. He emphasized using a DEP developed document called Pennsylvania's Comprehensive Plan for Abandoned Mine Reclamation (last updated perhaps 10 years ago) as a great starting place in developing an updated strategy.

Motion to adjourn (Vatter). Meeting adjourned at 14:12