The battle over whether Schuylkill County should sell two parcels of land in Tremont and Porter townships to the Nature Conservancy Pennsylvania for $1.37 million picked up Wednesday where it left off last week.

Commissioners did not respond to the comments other than to thank the speakers.

Commissioners are split 2-1 in favor of selling the parcels - one is 744 acres, near the Lebanon Reservoir, and the other is 232 acres - to the Conservancy, which would the turn them over to the state Game Commission.

The Conservancy is waiting on a grant through the state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources to buy the land. The agreement of sale is still being crafted, and will be presented to commissioners for a final vote at some point.

Commissioners Chairman Barron L. Hetherington and Commissioner Gary J. Hess on March 8 agreed to sell the land to the Conservancy, while Commissioner George F. Halcovage Jr. would rather see it sold or leased to coal interests.

Hess and Hetherington have said selling the parcels to the Conservancy would keep the land open to the public for hunting and recreation in addition to bringing $1.37 million into county coffers.

Halcovage has said the county traditionally sells land for no less than $2,000 an acre. Also, he has said, the county could make money by leasing the land to coal interests, and when the coal is depleted, then sell it to the Conservancy.

Both parcels have been mined for coal in the past, but the larger parcel can’t be mined because it’s too close to the reservoir.

Several of the same people who spoke last week either for or against the proposed sale voiced their opinions again at Wednesday’s public meeting.

Mining engineer Dave Williams of Hegins Township wants a local coal company to be able to buy or lease the smaller parcel, which he says still has plenty of coal.

The most recent surface mining permit for the parcel expired less than five years ago, he said.

He also said the Game Commission now owns 25 percent of the land in Tremont Township.

“With the sale of both of these properties, the Game Commission will own 33 percent of all the land in Tremont Township,” he said.

The population of Tremont Township was 280 during the 2020 Census, Williams said.

“No wonder the Tremont Township supervisors are opposed to this sale. Their tax base is being eroded,” he said.

Further, he said, he obtained information from DCNR through a Right To Know request that, contrary to what Conservancy Land Protection Manager Nicole Wooten has said, the grant to buy the land would not be endangered or delayed if the parcels were sold separately.

The grant, Williams said DCNR staff told him, would not be reviewed until September or later.

Zachary Reinoehl, president of Anthracite Upland Pointing Dog Association, which also owns the land adjacent to the smaller parcel, again adamantly opposed the sale to the Conservancy for the Game Commission.

He said his group has cleaned up land owned by the Game Commission, and wants to keep it that way.

Wendy Maidenford of Porter Township, returned to again say she favors selling the parcels to the Conservancy.

She said the coal industry would wreak environment havoc, along with heavy truck traffic and the import of toxic materials to fill stripping pits.

Tammy Saltzman of Porter Township, favors selling the land to the Conservancy to keep it in its natural state for future generations.