Pennsylvania's environmental secretary to visit Mercer County

SHARON, Pa. -- Kathleen A. McGinty, secretary of the state Department of Environmental Protection, was to be in Mercer County today to tout alternative energy programs and brownfield reclamation.
McGinty was scheduled to visit the Three Sisters Farm, a producer of organic produce, in Mill Creek Township at 10:30 a.m. to talk about the state's Energy Harvest Fund, a grant program designed to support development or use of alternative energy sources.
Three Sisters has been using a standard electric pump to run water from a pond on its property into a large solar greenhouse to irrigate crops.
Co-owner Darrell Frey said Three Sisters secured a $6,100 Energy Harvest grant to replace that pump with a solar-powered 12-volt pump, making use of the sun's energy to power the irrigation system.
The new system isn't on line yet as the solar panel needed to power it hasn't arrived, Frey said.
McGinty was scheduled to visit Winner Steel Services on Sharpsville Avenue at noon and the William Taylor Estate waste site in Wheatland at 3:30 p.m. to talk about brownfield reclamation.
Winner started up operations in part of the former Westinghouse Electric Corp. plant while the Taylor site, once a dumping ground for local industry, has been reclaimed and is destined to become a passive recreation area along the Shenango River.