Area Mines Receive Energy, Decarbonization Grants

Two coal mines in Greene County are among the recipients of $267 million in state funding for energy and decarbonization projects in the state.

Gov. Josh Shapiro and the state Department of Environmental Protection recently announced the grants to 31 manufacturing projects across the state through the Reducing Industrial Sector Emissions in Pennsylvania, or RISE PA, program.

The largest award was $31.5 million given to CNX Green Ventures to fund the installation of gob ventilation boreholes to capture mine methane at the Enlow Fork mine owned by Core Natural Resources. Gob is low-quality coal and rock refuse that remains after processing and is often stored in large piles. A pipeline system will also be installed to capture the methane and transport it off-site, where it will be processed. The methane can then be sold as remediated mine gas. CNX was split off from Core predecessor Consol Energy to handle natural gas operations.

Iron Senergy, which operates the Cumberland Mine in Greene County, also received $4.8 million to install a regenerative thermal oxidizer, which will capture mine methane and burn it through flaring, which is less harmful to the environment than simply releasing methane into the atmosphere.

Methane is a greenhouse gas that is naturally released during mining, and it is also the main component of natural gas. It traps at least 25 times as much heat as carbon dioxide, and methane emissions are responsible for about one-third of global warming.

The industrial sector is responsible for the highest amount of greenhouse gas emissions statewide at more than 30%. The RISE PA grants are focused on lowering greenhouse gas emissions, lowering energy costs, and improving energy efficiency in the state’s industrial sector, while also creating good-paying jobs. The state in 2024 received $396 million from federal Environmental Protection Agency for under the Climate Pollution Reduction Grant program.

A release from the governor’s office said the RISE PA projects will save state businesses more than $3.1 billion in annual energy costs and reduce more than 1.3 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent, the same as removing 320,614 cars from the road for a year.

Other Western Pennsylvania projects receiving RISE PA funding include:

• ·       Eurovia Atlantic Coast LLC in Allegheny County, $2.3 million to install a .44 MW solar system with battery storage and replace HVAC equipment at an asphalt plant.

• ·       Elliott Company, in Westmoreland County, almost $2 million to replace test gas to a lower-emitting type in a compressor manufacturing facility.

• ·       Corda LLC, Westmoreland County, $897,000 to install a combined heat and power system and heat recovery steam system that will generate power for the ATI steel mill.