Mining Mostly Impacts S.W. Pa.

Washington PA Observer Reporter
5 January 2011
By Bob Niedbala, Staff writer
niedbala@observer-reporter.com

Most of the impacts of mine subsidence to surface structures and land reported during a five-year period ending in 2008 occurred in Greene and Washington counties, said a report issued Tuesday by the state Department of Environmental Protection.

The report, required by Act 54 of 1994 and prepared by DEP and the University of Pittsburgh, documents the effects of mining in 10 counties from August 2003 through August 2008.

It details the number of structures, water supplies and streams undermined during the five-year period and provides an overview of the types of damage to surface and surface structures as well as how long it took to resolve those impacts.

The report also assesses the effectiveness of measures designed to minimize subsidence damage.

"While coal companies have made advances to reduce underground mining's impact on the surface, this report gives us a chance to better understand how those incidents occur, where they're occurring and how we can prevent them or address them more timely," DEP Secretary John Hanger said.

According to the report, 50 underground coal mines were active during the study period. In that time, 1,247 incidents regarding the effects of subsidence were reported to DEP by its staff, coal companies or landowners.

Greene and Washington counties had the highest number of reported incidents because of the longwall mining that is conducted there, said Jamie Legenos, DEP spokeswoman.

"Subsidence happens more often in longwall mining," she said. This is because large areas of coal are removed in the mining process and because of the thickness of the coal seam that is mined, she said.

Of the 38,256 acres undermined during the study period, 24,607 acres, or 64.3 percent, were mined by longwall mining, the report said. All eight of the longwall mines in operation during the study period were in Greene and Washington counties.

Longwall mines in the two counties accounted for nearly 94 percent of the incidents involving structures and 89 percent of the impacts to land, the study said.

Longwall mines operating in Greene County include Consol Energy's Bailey and Blacksville No. 2 mines and Alpha Natural Resources' Emerald and Cumberland mines.

In Washington County, only Consol Energy's Enlow Fork Mine remains in operation.

The study also included Consol's Eighty Four Mine and UMCO's High Quality Mine, both of which have since closed. Consol's Shoemaker Mine also was included though only a small section of it operates in Washington County.

Act 54 requires reports detailing the impacts of mining to be prepared every five years. The two previous reports covered 1993 through 2003.

The total number of reported incidents in the new study represents a 14 percent increase from the prevous five-year period.

DEP said it is reviewing incident reports to determine what may have contributed to the increase.

Other findings of the report include:

Of the 3,735 structures inventoried in the 10 counties, 456 or 12 percent, were impacted by mining, while 108 of the 3,587 properties, 3 percent, inventoried were impacted;
Nearly 2,800 wells, springs and ponds were undermined with 683, or 24.5 percent, reporting some impact. At the end of the assessment period, 449 of those cases had been resolved.
The average time to resolve impacts to structures, land and water supplies was 207 days, 246 days and 321 days, respectively.

Act 54 held deep mine operators legally responsible for surface damages caused by their mining operations for the first time.

Before 1994, underground coal mines had no legal obligation to protect or restore surface structures or water supplies.

Michael Nixon, mining issues committee chairman for the Sierra Club's Pennsylvania Chapter, said his committee will review the document but he believes it should be compared with findings of a study released in July by Citizens Coal Council.

That study was presented to DEP to review in connection with its Act 54 report. "Our analysis is not the rosy picture DEP paints in the cute press release issued today," Nixon said.

The Act 54 report can be viewed on DEP's website at http://www.depweb.state.pa.us