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Coal Mining Damage Increasing In PA Due To Longwall Mining
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The Citizens Coal Council this week said an independent analysis of the Department of Environmental Protection’s latest review of Act 54 has documented serious failures in the Commonwealth’s ability to protect property owners and the state’s land and water resources from harm.
Citizens Coal Council, a national alliance of grassroots groups based in Bridgeville, Pa, commissioned the analysis by Schmid & Company, an ecological consulting firm based in Media, Pa.
Key among the Schmid & Company findings is the disproportionately large number of damaging impacts from the longwall mining method compared to the room-and-pillar technique. Longwall mining removes far more coal than the room-and-pillar method and causes intentional surface subsidence.
The DEP’s review indicates that 38,256 acres were newly-undermined in Pennsylvania between 2003 and 2008.
But although the longwall and room-and-pillar mining methods each undermined approximately the same number of acres, properties and structures, longwall mining was responsible for almost all of the damage: 100 percent of damage to streams, 95 percent of land damage and 94 percent of damage to homes and other structures.
According to Stephen Kunz, senior ecologist for Schmid & Company, and the report’s author, “The inevitable conclusion from our analysis of the DEP’s five-year review is that longwall mining as currently practiced in Pennsylvania under Act 54 is highly destructive and is not compatible with environmental protection, landowner protection, or taxpayer protection.”
Additionally, the DEP’s own records illustrate that property owners often experienced extended delays in receiving Act 54-mandated compensation, with one in five incidents taking more than 600 days to resolve.
For example, in 2005, longwall subsidence forced the emergency drainage of Duke Lake at Ryerson Station State Park in Greene County, causing the loss of an important regional recreational resource.
This incident, the analysis notes also highlights the inability of the coal industry to accurately predict the location of, and control the damage from longwall mining subsidence.
Other major deficiencies in the DEP’s Act 54 review include:
-- No evaluation of regional and cumulative hydrologic impacts to aquifers
-- No analysis of water quality impacts from mine discharges and streamflow changes
-- No data on impacts to wetlands or Special Protection waters
Historically, Pennsylvania’s 1966 underground mining law prohibited damage to homes and other surface structures. By extension, protection was also implicitly provided to nearby streams, springs, wetlands, aquifers and farmland.
But with the 1994 passage of the coal industry-backed amendments known as Act 54, these protections vanished. In their place, Act 54 mandated compensation to individual property owners on a case-by-case basis, and overall protections for the environment were lost.
Aimee Erickson, Executive Director of the Citizens Coal Council, concluded that, “It is now crystal clear that Act 54 is fundamentally flawed. Pennsylvanians and our environment have endured widespread permanent mining damage under Act 54 for 16 years,” Erickson added, “and it’s time for it to stop.”
CCC contends that Act 54 is in direct conflict with the Pennsylvania Constitution and the Clean Streams Law, and is calling on the governor-appointed 16-member DEP Citizens Advisory Council to take an active role in advising the PA General Assembly on critical and long-overdue legislative amendments to Act 54.
A copy of the Schmid & Company report is available online.
NewsClips: Longwall Mining Destructive Study Says
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4/25/2011 |
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