The Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development (DCED) recently awarded $487,500 to the Lackawanna Valley Heritage Authority through the Industrial Sites Reuse Program (ISRP) for environmental remediation at the former Railroad Rail Yard in Carbondale Township, Lackawanna County.
The authority will remediate four of the 12 acres it owns at the former Railroad Rail Yard, a mixed-use site. Environmental site assessments determined that 3,500 tons of soil contain heavy metals, including lead.
Funding will be used for the excavation and off-site disposal of the impacted soils and will support limited site characterization. When excavation and removal are completed, an attainment sampling will be performed before backfilling the area.
A developer purchased the 12-acre parcel and leased it to Sheetz.
“The investments we make today to support revitalization efforts will ultimately bring new life and jobs to the region for years to come,” DCED Secretary Dennis Davin said. “Our continued support through ISRP will ensure that Pennsylvania remains the best place to live, work, and play.”
The ISRP was designed to bring blighted land into productive reuse by fostering the cleanup of environmental contamination at industrial sites. It provides loans and grants for environmental assessments and remediation to eligible applicants who did not cause or contribute to the contamination.