Local News - Saturday Feb. 17

Interstate Still Shut Down

As a result of the Valentine's Day storm that dumped from 6 to 15 inches of snow and ice throughout Schuylkill County the Interstates in the surrounding areas remain closed, hotels are booked solid, and shelters continue to operate. Roads are still covered with snow and ice in some areas as temperatures overnight hindered the clearing process. Also complicating the issue is the volume of traffic taking alternate routes to avoid the Interstate system. WPPA News continues to urge motorists to use caution when traveling and we will pass on road information as soon it is available.

Fall Victim Dies

The man who fell 40 feet through a skylight at Leed Foundry in St. Clair on Thursday evening died as a result of the fall and has been identified as Wayne "Butch" Garraway of Frackville. Schuylkill County Coroner David J. Dutcavich, said an autopsy is scheduled for this morning at Lehigh Valley Forensic Pathologists on the body of Garraway, 40, was taken to Pottsville Hospital after falling through one of the bubble skylights on the building. Officials said Garraway climbed onto the roof to check a conveyor belt for sand. The Coroner has referred the investigation to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration as he has ruled the cause of death as a work related accident. Garraway suffered severe head trauma and went into cardiac arrest after the fall Thursday. Initially, Columbia Hose Company No. 2, Saint Clair, was dispatched to set up a landing zone for a University MedEvac helicopter at the parking lot of Coal Creek Commerce Center, but instead the patient was rushed to Pottsville Hospital when he went into cardiac arrest.

Coal to Oil Plant will keep loan

The loan to help fund a coal-to-fuel plant is back on the table. According to the Pottsville Republican and Herald, the decision was announced Friday in a joint statement issued by U.S. Senators Arlen Specter and Bob Casey and U.S. Rep. T. Timothy Holden. The lawmakers on Feb. 5 were surprised to see a line buried in President Bush's proposed budget that would take away a loan in the amount of $100 million promised in 2003 to the backers of WMPI Pty LLC for a coal-to-oil project in Mahanoy Township. John W. Rich Jr., president of WMPI, has been working on the $800 million coal project for 13 years. A coal-gasifier would turn anthracite culm waste to a zero-sulfur diesel fuel and home heating oil. Without the loan, Rich had only two other government incentives backing his project - $47 million in tax credits the state offered him in 1999 and a $7.7 million competitive cost-share investment from the U.S. Department of Energy that Rich won in 2000. The proposed facility is slated to be built next to the State Correctional Institution/Mahanoy. A study said it would burn 1.7 million tons of anthracite coal waste per year, creating a clear, zero-sulfur product called syngas to formulate diesel fuel, jet fuel and naphtha, a fuel and solvent.