PITTSBURGH — A company's plans to operate a strip mine near a recreation trail has raised concerns about its impact on the land and water.

Some conservation and recreation groups are opposed to the plan by Amerikohl Mining Inc. to operate the Fayette County strip mine. The company said it is environmentally conscious and would mine reclaim the land responsibly.

Amerikohl proposes mining on 280 acres of a 588-acre tract near a northern boundary of Ohiopyle State Park, according to the state Department of Environmental Protection.

That's also near the Allegheny Highland Trail, which is part of the Great Allegheny Passage route from Pittsburgh to Cumberland, Md. The trail runs along the Youghiogheny River.

"Having this kind of potential degradation ... is a significant concern and very disturbing," said Linda McKenna Boxx, president of the Allegheny Trail Alliance.

Krissy Kasserman, who heads the Youghiogheny Riverkeeper organization, said, "The Youghiogheny has just been designated the state's River of the Year. Given the setting, we are absolutely opposed to the mining."

People coming into the park's entrance and people on the river probably wouldn't be able to see the mining, DEP spokeswoman Helen Humphreys said. "But it will be visible and will be heard from the bike path in the winter and spring before the leaves are out, and maybe all year."

Amerikohl president John Stilley said he didn't believe mining would be visible from the trail.

"It would be on top of a steep slope and behind it so the line of sight would not allow those on the trail to see into it," he said.

"We mine and reclaim our mine sites better than anybody, and we are more environmentally conscious than the average citizen of this state," Stilley said.

The company anticipates removing coal in 21 months, rather than in five years, which is the standard state permit application.

It plans to remove coal from two seams that each range from 24 to 40 inches thick. The seams are separated by 50 to 70 feet of rock and soil that would be removed to allow mining of the lower seam.

An estimated 200,000 to 250,000 tons of coal would be removed from an area about the size of 105 football fields. Mine-drainage settling and treatment ponds and facilities would occupy the rest of the 280-acre area.

The DEP has scheduled a public meeting on the permit application on Wednesday in Dunbar Township.