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DRYerson Festival to highlight stream preservation at Ryerson

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WIND RIDGE – The Center for Coalfield Justice will host its 11th annual DRYerson Festival Saturday as it continues to look toward a new vision for Ryerson Station State Park in Greene County.

This yearly picnic, which will run from 1 to 4 p.m. at Pavilion No. 1, will harken back to the fun families enjoyed at the 1,164-acre state park before Duke Lake was drained in 2005 after undermining near the area damaged the lake’s concrete dam.

The park opened in 1960, with the lake being an integral attraction, CCJ executive director Veronica Coptis said, but now the group is working to save the remaining springs and streams from further damage from longwall mining.

Coptis said the group is raising concerns about Senate Bill 624, which would give coal-mining companies more leeway before undermining streams near the park. She said CCJ’s goal is to demonstrate to elected officials that they will “not let our park be destroyed for private profit anymore.”

“Our community has been coming together for more than 10 years, and it’s becoming clear that we are winning,” Coptis said.

In 2005, subsidence from Consol Energy mining caused Duke Lake’s concrete dam to crack, according to the state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources. Within days, the water was drawn down for safety reasons.

In 2015, with plans already underway to restore the lake using a $36 million settlement Consol paid to the DCNR in 2013, it was discovered that the ground near the dam was still unstable and plans for that new lake were scrapped. The “Re-Vision Ryerson” task force of citizen advisers and local and state officials was formed, and the park is now on track to upgrade and expand the pool, remediate the original stream to support ponds, wetlands and other water features.

But all these plans depend on water, Coptis said.

A lawsuit filed by CCJ last year to protect a portion of Kent Run, one of the streams that helps keep the Iron Bridge on Bristoria Road a great place to fish, was “a major accomplishment,” but the battle to save other streams is still ongoing, Coptis said. Earlier this year, a state Environmental Hearing Board judge temporarily halted mining under a section of Kent Run, and the litigation is still pending.

Meanwhile, the state Senate bill would exempt the underground mining industry from the Clean Streams Law, Coptis said.

At the event Saturday, there will be free food, live music and a chance to learn about the proposed mining permits that could threaten the waters around Ryerson.

“While organizing DRYerson 2017, it has been so inspiring to see not only how many people care about Ryerson, but how many businesses in the area support the park by donating prizes,” CCJ community organizer Sarah Martik said.

There will be various prizes available, including two tickets donated by the Pittsburgh Pirates.

“I grew up at Ryerson, learning how to fish from my dad, hiking with friends and appreciating the outdoors. I want my daughter and other children in the community to have those same opportunities,” Coptis said. “This park has the potential to drive economic tourism in western Greene County. We need to protect that.”

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