Cleanup of a waste coal dump at the border of North Fayette and McDonald could be financed through the removal and sale of the coal.

The proposal could lead to cleaner water and a safer site, but the township first has to address concerns about truck noise, property access and other issues, North Fayette Manager Bob Grimm said recently.

"We have things we are going to be looking out for, yet we see the benefits," he said.

On Tuesday night, supervisors continued a public hearing on the reclamation effort until a date to be announced so lawyers could hash out matters of property access.

The hearing began in November and was extended to December for the same reason.

The project would be on formerly deep- and strip-mined property owned by the Aloe Family Limited Partnership, a landholding group which includes Joseph Aloe and his brother, Andrew Aloe. Members of the Aloe family, historically in the coal mining business, own Imperial Land Corp.

Joseph Aloe is president of Quality Aggregates, of Neville Island, a member company of Environmentally Innovative Solutions LLC, a five-member consortium which is proposing the reclamation project.

Mr. Aloe, in a phone interview last week, said the project could be a win-win outcome because "This is a project that the economics are good, and the resulting environmental impact is good."

Moving the plan off the drawing board won't be hurdle-free.

To haul coal from the Aloe property, Environmentally Innovative Solutions had hoped to use privately owned Alexander Drive, off Noblestown Road, just outside McDonald.

But neighbors said Tuesday they would not grant permanent access to their road and would not want trucks hauling coal past their homes.

"Privacy is the main thing. That's what it comes down to," said Mike Leonard Jr., whose father owns land next to the Aloe property.

Township attorney Vincent Tucceri planned to meet with the applicant's attorney to discuss where trucks could legally enter and exit the land.

Joe Rehak, a McDonald councilman, attended the hearing on behalf of Roarke Street and Miller Street residents, who could be affected by the work.

Miller Street, in McDonald, would not be used for coal hauling, according to Robert Dolence, owner of Dolence Consulting LLC, of Moon, a member company of Environmentally Innovative Solutions.

Mr. Dolence said work could start as soon as February, depending on weather and approvals, and take about six months to finish.

Beneath the Aloe land are about 1,000 acres of interconnected mines, including the 1930s-era Nickel Plate Mine, Mr. Dolence said.

The reclamation project is related to the blowout of Nickel Plate in McDonald in January which sent 8,000 to 10,000 gallons of acidic mine water per minute gushing onto Liberty Street and North McDonald Street.

Initially, sandbag dikes and temporary pipes contained the flow and sent the polluted water into Robinson Run, a tributary of Chartiers Creek. In February, the state Bureau of Abandoned Mine Reclamation issued a $400,000 emergency contract to Environmentally Innovative Solutions to correct the problem.

Within three months, the group built a deep mine gravity drain system on the Aloe property to control the underground pool of mine water, contaminated with acid, iron and other toxins.

More than 1,000 gallons per minute of water continue to drain from Nickel Plate, Mr. Aloe said. The reclamation project would build a second drain farther uphill, where mine water could be intercepted sooner to reduce pollution.

Moving the drain also would set the stage to later build limestone-based ponds and wetlands which would naturally clean the water before discharging it into Robinson Run, he said.

"Ultimately, you'd love to see that part of Robinson Run like a trout stream," Mr. Aloe said.

Mr. Aloe said his group would seek state and federal money to build further treatment systems.

The work being proposed in North Fayette would be under a Government Financed Construction Contract, a no-cost agreement between a mining contractor, in this case Environmentally Innovative Solutions, and the state Department of Environmental Protection.

The agreement would specify what work has to be done and allow Environmentally Innovative Solutions to remove coal for less expense than usual in order to help reclaim the abandoned mine lands.