Mar 23, 2018 4 min read

Two environmental groups appealed a recently-issued permit allowing Consol Energy’s Bailey Mine to mine beneath another segment of Polen Run, a segment within Ryerson Station State Park.

The appeal, filed Wednesday with the state Environmental Hearing Board by Center for Coalfield Justice and Sierra Club, claims subsidence will significantly damage the stream. The proposed remediation plan, the groups also maintain, will be ineffective as a means of stream restoration.

“Consol has already destroyed much of Polen Run outside of the park with previous mining activity,” said Veronica Coptis, Center for Coalfield Justice’s executive director. “We are asking the Environmental Hearing Board to prevent that same damage inside Ryerson Station State Park.”

The appeal involves a permit issued March 7 by the state Department of Environmental Protection allowing the company to mine beneath Polen Run in the mine’s 5-L panel. The groups maintain subsidence will reduce water flow, impacting the stream’s aquatic life and recreational uses. Stream bed grouting, called for in the company’s remediation plan, has not been effective in restoring other streams in the area, they said.

Consol spokesman Zachery Smith said the company does not expect any damage to the stream as a result of its mining activities. However, if there were any impacts, Smith said, it would be addressed by stream bed grouting, which has been used by the company to restore other streams and has a “high success rate.”

Smith also noted remediation work the company completed on previously-mined portions of Polen Run actually left those sections in better condition than they were prior to mining.

DEP previously has not allowed the company to longwall mine in the 5-L panel beneath this segment of stream, Coptis said. In a permit issued earlier, DEP prohibited mining under Polen Run in the 5-L panel because it concluded the stream could not be successfully remediated, she said.

“They believed damage to the stream would be too severe,” she said. “Now, they are predicting there will not be any damage … but nothing (since the time of DEP initial finding) has changed.”

Because this portion of the stream is in a state park, Coptis said, DEP has a responsibility under the state constitution to protect it for public use.

The state has to be able to ensure there will be no damage to the stream as a result of mining, she said.

“They can’t just gamble that damage might or might not happen,” she said.

Terry Brady, a spokesman for the state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, said the department views Polen Run as an important amenity to the park and has worked closely with DEP to ensure its protection.

“We have been in regular communication with regard to the (coal company’s) planned mitigation techniques for Polen Run in the 5-L panel and are confident in DEP’s ability to uphold the permit conditions,” he said.

This is the fourth time the two environmental groups have appealed DEP permits related to the company’s mining beneath streams near the state park.

“The permit issued by the DEP meets all necessary criteria, falls well within the construct of recent court decisions and ensures that these resources are produced safely and responsibly,” said a company statement released by Smith.

Consol previously mined beneath Polen Run in three other panels. In a decision issued in August, EHB issued a ruling invalidating a method of stream restoration used by the company on one segment of the stream.

The board concluded DEP was wrong to allow the company to mine beneath that section of Polen Run while anticipating the damage would be so extensive that the only method to restore the stream would involve rebuilding the stream bed. The remediation work had involved installation of a synthetic liner.

In the same decision, EHB said DEP correctly allowed the company to mine beneath other streams impacted by subsidence to a lesser degree, requiring less invasive remediation methods such as grouting.

Coptis said the two groups have asked the EHB to issue a motion prohibiting the company from mining beneath the stream until the appeal can be heard.

DEP spokeswoman Lauren Fraley said the department would not comment on issues under litigation.