Consol receives permits for new panels at Bailey Mine
The state Department of Environmental Protection issued permits Friday to allow Consol Energy to mine three new longwall panels at its Bailey Mine in northwest Greene County.
The permits will allow the company to proceed with mining in the mine’s 6L, 7L and 8L panels, DEP spokeswoman Lauren Fraley said. DEP has not yet acted on a permit modification for the company to continue mining in the 4L panel beneath Polen Run in Richhill Township near Ryerson Station State Park, she said.
The company halted operations in the 4L panel Sept. 1, furloughing 300 workers, after it failed to receive permit modification and approval of its proposed stream remediation plan. The company subsequently recalled the workers after moving the longwall to the already-permitted 5L panel.
Mining beneath Polen Run and other streams was the subject of a recent state Environmental Hearing Board decision that invalidated the use of an extensive streambed liner system for stream remediation employed at another area stream.
In its permit modification application for the 4L panel, the company said it proposed a remediation plan to address the EHB concerns. The method it would employ, should it be needed, involved the application to the streambed of a “polyurethane/polyuria spray material.”
DEP, which received the modification application only a week before the mine halted mining in the 4L panel, as mining neared Polen Run, said it would need more time to review the proposal.
Approval of the modification is still pending, Fraley said Monday. A Consol Energy spokesman could not be reached for comment.
State Rep. Pam Snyder, D-Jefferson, said issuance of the permits Friday will enable operations at the mine to continue for as long as five years.