Sierra Club joins appeal of permit
The Sierra Club announced Monday it has joined the Center for Coalfield Justice in appealing the issuance of a mining permit that allows Consol Energy’s Bailey Mine to longwall mine in an area that includes feeder streams to the now-dry Duke Lake at Ryerson Station State Park.
The center earlier filed the appeal with the state Environmental Hearing Board on a permit revision issued to Consol May 1 by the state Department of Environmental Protection. The permit allows the company to longwall mine 3,175 acres as part of its Bailey Lower East Expansion.
The permit will allow coal mining below 14 streams, with possible flow loss or flow reduction in at least three streams that flow through Ryerson park, the Sierra Club said in a release announcing it has joined the appeal.
The permit application predicted stream damage so severe that “flow loss would most likely reduce, if not eliminate fishing opportunities within the affected stream reaches,” it said.
“The rivers and streams that flow through our communities must be protected from destructive and unlawful coal extraction. Our families depend on theses streams for fishing and swimming,” said Joanne Kilgour, director of the Pennsylvania Chapter of the Sierra Club. “Even though there are less destructive methods available, CONSOL is choosing to sacrifice a state park so it can squeeze out more profits.”
Streams nearby with similar characteristics to those at risk in this permit area have still not recovered from harm caused by longwall mining at the Bailey Mine, despite Consol’s repeated attempts to restore stream flow, the release said. Even though the state acknowledged the risk, it issued a permit that fails to protect the streams in what is Greene County’s only state park.