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Residents, environmental groups testify on Act 54 report

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CALIFORNIA – Residents and environmental groups testifying Friday on a report documenting the impacts of mine subsidence urged a state Department of Environmental Protection advisory board to recommend stronger regulations to protect streams and other water resources.

About 18 speakers testified before DEP’s Citizens Advisory Council on a report prepared by the University of Pittsburgh on the impacts of subsidence on surface structures, water supplies and streams.

The report, released in December, is the fourth to be completed under Act 54 legislation passed in 1994, which revised the law on subsidence damage and required assessments be done every five years on subsidence impacts.

One of the main focuses in the most recent assessment, which 2008 – 2013, was on the effects of mine subsidence on streams.

During the assessment period, the study said 39 miles of stream were damaged by subsidence, suffering flow loss or pooling as well as adverse impacts to water quality and aquatic life. Nearly all reported stream impacts resulted from subsidence from longwall mining, the report said.

Some streams damaged by subsidence never recover. Eight stream segments that were reviewed in the previous five-year assessment were found to be “not recoverable,” the report said.

Several testifying Friday asked the council to recommend DEP conduct studies to measure the success of stream restoration to determine whether it’s possible to restore a waterway damaged by subsidence. Others urged the committee to recommend banning all longwall mining beneath streams.

Charles Hunnell, who lives on Oak Forest Road in Center Township, said his 136-acre farm was longwall mined in the late 1980s.

A small spring-fed stream he used to play in as a child, which was filled with aquatic life, is now gone.

“Today, the small stream is grassed over and serves only for run off from the surrounding hillsides after rains,” he said.

Hunnell also lost the spring that was the source of his drinking water, he said.

“My property and my life have been adversely affected by the results of longwall mining.” Many others have suffered the same fate, he said.

Hunnell also talked about the destruction of the dam at Duke Lake at Ryerson Station State Park, which is believed to have been caused by subsidence from longwall mining.

Though the mine will be restored, he said, new mining was permitted under the former lake’s feeder streams, including, most recently, Polen Run.

“Destroy the feeder streams and you eliminate the constant source of water for Duke Lake,” he said.

To protect people, property, water and the environment, “longwall mining needs to be banned in the state of Pennsylvania,” Hunnell said.

Ken Dufalla, president of the the Izaak Walton League, Greene County Chapter, also told the panel he believes Act 54 must be changed to protect streams and surface water.

“The long-range ramifications of longwall mining are too damaging to the environment to be allowed to proceed at status quo,” he said. “When the overburden drops due to longwall mining … the effects on streams, springs and the topography is forever changed,” he said.

Several speakers also criticized DEP for not enforcing the law as it is.

Linda Mirkovich of Franklin Township, Greene County said the report indicated the average time it took for a company to replace a property owner’s water supply with a permanent supply was two years.

It has been three years since Emerald Mine undermined her property resulting in the loss of four springs that provided water to her seven pastures, she said. Attempts by the company to restore the water failed to provide adequate supply.

The company is required by the act to provide temporarily water, but on 471 of 1,071 days, she was without temporary water for her pastures, resulting in the filing of seven violations against the company.

“During each of these violations, DEP could have, but did not, enforce the law. This is unacceptable, “she said.

When the company later said it had no obligation to provide water to an upper pasture, she filed a complaint with the U.S. Office of Surface Mining, which ruled DEP “abused its discretion” in administering the state regulatory program.

Veronica Coptis of Carmichaels spoke of another impact of mining reflected in the declining population in Greene County, as homes are damaged by subsidence and people move , or sell their properties to the coal companies after attempts to restore lost water fail.

The report found the companies purchased more than 100 properties throughout the state due to water or structural damage in the last assessment period, she said. One study indicated Greene County, where the majority of mining takes place, had the seventh highest population loss in the state.

“All of the buyouts, year after year, removes the tightly knit community atmosphere and support that was once so strong in the area by systematically depopulating the region,” she said.

The advisory council plans to develop its own recommendations to DEP based on the report and the public comments, said John Walliser, a member of the council, who is employed by the Pennsylvania Environmental Council.

Asked whether council members believe the council actually makes a difference, or has an impact, the five members present said they believe it does.

“I think we have seen some (impact) though not in all cases,” said Burt Waite, a hydro-geologist who has served on the council for 17 years. “I would not have done this as long as I have if I didn’t think we’ve done some good.”

No one representing the coal industry testified at the hearing.

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