Seeking justice for Duke Lake
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The Center for Coalfield Justice has worked tirelessly since 1994 to improve human health and the environment across Southwestern Pennsylvania. Much of our effort has been centered on the restoration of Duke Lake, the jewel of Ryerson Station State Park, in western Greene County.
In summer 2005, subsidence damage from Consol Energy’s Bailey Mine forced the state to draw down Duke Lake and remove the dam. We are approaching eight summers without Duke Lake. Eight summers without an environmentally friendly economic driver for the region. Eight summers without a place where the community can gather to enjoy the outdoors. Eight summers in which Consol has delayed and dragged its feet in taking any semblance of responsibility for its actions. Eight summers in which injustices have been allowed to stand.
The Center for Coalfield Justice has been fighting for Duke Lake in front of the state’s Environmental Hearing Board since 2011. How much longer must we wait for Duke Lake to be restored?
A responsible company fixes what it breaks. It publicly admits its faults, which serves to develop trust and goodwill in the communities in which it operates. This case is about more than just money; it is about environmental justice.
There are a number of important lessons that must be learned from the experience we’ve shared at Duke Lake. Pennsylvania officials must insist that coal mining activities be undertaken with all available measures to protect human health and the environment. Additionally, the Center for Coalfield Justice hopes that legislators and regulators take the time to examine the Pennsylvania law governing subsidence damage, Act 54, in light of the fate of the Duke Lake case. If Act 54 better accounted for the realistic and predictable harms resulting from underground longwall mining, the fight for places like Ryerson would not be a fight at all, and certainly would not take the better part of a decade to resolve. We would have had Duke Lake back years ago.
The Center for Coalfield Justice is preparing for a trial scheduled for May before the Environmental Hearing Board. From now until the moment Duke Lake is reopened to the public, we will continue this fight for what is right and just.
Patrick Grenter
Washington
Grenter is the executive director of the Center for Coalfield Justice.