SHA a Beneficiary of Lehigh Anthracite Golf Outing

On July 12, 2012, Lehigh Anthracite held its first annual benefit golf outing at the beautiful Valley Country Club in Sugarloaf.  The beneficiaries of the outing were Saint Luke’s Miners Memorial Hospital and Schuylkill Headwaters Association.  Lehigh Anthracite hosted the entire affair and reached out to their corporate partners and vendors to become sponsors to make the outing successful.  At the end of the day, Saint Luke’s and Schuylkill Headwaters each received $8,500.

Left to right: Micah Gursky, Saint Luke’s Miners Memorial Hospital; Doug Topkis, Lehigh Anthracite; Bill Reichert, Schuylkill Headwaters

Lehigh Anthracite acquired the Lehigh Coal and Navigation (LC&N) holdings located in the Tamaqua area a couple years ago.  Since the takeover, Lehigh Anthracite has shown to be a class act with a deep interest in being a good neighbor while still operating a profitable business.  The company is still in a start-up mode but even with the challenges of bringing a new business on-line, Lehigh Anthracite is willing to reach out and offer their support to their new neighbors.

Included in the purchase of LC&N are all the responsibilities and problems associated with the Route 309 discharge.  Located along the southern boundary of Tamaqua Borough, this discharge is the largest abandoned mine drainage discharge on the Little Schuylkill River. Lehigh Anthracite immediately sought answers to treating the discharge from its first day of ownership.  Communication between Lehigh, SHA, and the Schuylkill Conservation District has been open and on-going in an effort to do a better job of treating the discharge and cleaning up the river.  Some might say it is a requirement of their permit to operate a coal mining operation, but spend some time with these folks and you will soon understand they are willing to do more than what is required.

The following is an excerpt from Lehigh’s webpage.

Our Pledge To The Environment
We take our stewardship of the land very seriously. This commitment follows the tradition of one of our partners, Robindale Energy Services, the largest refuse coal reclamation company in the United States. Our first Lehigh project involves restoring a mine pit that is 1½ miles long, half a mile wide, and 800 feet deep. We are filling this scar with 10 million cubic yards of soil, then planting and reseeding it to reclaim the site.

SHA is grateful to be the beneficiary of this support from Lehigh Anthracite and we look forward to collaborating with them on future efforts aimed at water quality improvements and mine land reclamation.  Working together we can and will make a difference.