Thursday, February 28, 2013
The developer can appeal the decision.
The South Fayette Zoning Board unanimously denied a request from Aloe Brothers LLC to allow mineral extraction from the property of the former Mayview State Hospital. About 50 people attended Thursday night's public hearing. Residents from South Fayette, Upper St. Clair and Bridgeville spoke out against the proposed surface coal mining. One Bridgeville woman said she was in favor of what the developers needed to do to develop the property. Irving Firman, an attorney for Upper St. Clair, also attended the hearing. Firman asked Dennis Regan, who is Aloe’s project manager, if he'd consider tabling the application to discuss the plan with Upper St. Clair Township officials. Regan said no. Preston Shimer, president of USC Citizens for Land …
Tuesday, July 17, 2012
A guided tour shows the workings of the passive abandoned mine remediation system at the nearby Upper St. Clair conservation area.
Take a look at Chartiers Creek, and you’ll notice the water isn’t exactly crystal blue. If it appears to be kind of muddy, the brownish color actually is the result of drainage from the many mines that once operated nearby. Efforts to clean the water include a system of ponds and wetlands set up in the northern portion of the Wingfield Pines conservation area in Upper St. Clair. Chartiers Creek flows between Peters Township and Cecil. On Sunday, a tour of the passive abandoned mine remediation system was conducted by the man whose expertise helped guide its construction. Dr. Robert Hedin, president of Hedin Environmental in Mt. Lebanon, said his consulting firm works primarily with issues regarding coal mines. “I’m an ecologist, and so we …
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
Experience a "botanical" tour through nearby Wingfield Pines, learning to identify Queen Anne's lace, hemlock, box elder and poison ivy.
Drive along any country road or state highway and you see lots of vegetation, sometimes masses of green ground cover with purple little flowers and often the white of the Queen Anne’s lace, all swaying as the traffic speeds by. And while they may all seem beautiful, some of these plants are actually invaders or invasive to an environment. I joined a “botanical” tour at the Wingfield Pines reserve, located across from the main entrance to the Community and Recreation Center at Boyce Mayfield Park in Upper St. Clair, so I could learn more about how these “quasi-enemy” plants are impacting the reserve's development. Our guide for the day, intern Max Vietmeier of the Allegheny Land Trust, started us off walking through high grasses towards …
