Dec 16, 2016 3 min read

WAYNESBURG – The state Department of Environmental Protection has issued a permit revision to allow Consol Energy’s Bailey Mine to longwall mine beneath portions of two streams in and adjacent to Ryerson Station State Park.

The permit revision authorizes the company to conduct full extraction mining under Polen Run and Kent Run and includes requirements for the protection and restoration of both streams, DEP spokesman Neil Shader said.

The permit revision was lauded by the company for what it will do to preserve jobs at the mine but was viewed unfavorably by environmental groups that have opposed the plan and the damage they maintain mining has caused to area streams.

Patrick Grenter, executive director of the Center for Coalfield Justice, said Friday that his organization intends to appeal the DEP permit revision and only hopes its challenge doesn’t come too late.

Longwall mining near the park by Consol was blamed for damaging the Duke Lake dam in 2005. With the loss of the lake, the streams are now the only water resources available for recreation within the park, Grenter said.

“They are going to completely de-water these streams, and the park will never be the same,” he said. Sections of Poland Run already have been undermined, “and those sections have run dry,” he said.

The two streams are included in a 3,175-acre area east of and under the park for which Consol received a permit to longwall mine in 2014 as part of its Bailey Lower East Expansion. At the time, however, additional DEP approval was required before mining was allowed under sections of certain streams.

In a prepared statement, Jimmy Brock, chief executive officer of CNX Coal Resources, said 2,000 jobs at the mining complex were at stake in the permitting issue. He gave credit to Gov. Tom Wolf’s office for assistance in the matter.

“We are working with the governor’s office to ensure that the rigorous environmental compliance conditions set forth are honored while also protecting the thousands of family-sustaining jobs which are directly tied to this permit,” Brock said.

“The governor and his team have been instrumental in bringing all the parties together to keep us moving forward on the issue.”

Jeff Sheridan, the governor’s press secretary, said the governor’s office had heard from all parties involved in the permitting issue but did not facilitate a resolution.

“The whole thing went through the normal permitting process,” Sheridan said. It was the agencies involved that made the decisions; the governor’s office only listened to the various concerns, he added.

“We are confident this (the permitted plan) will be done responsibly to ensure the protection of the water and other resources,” Sheridan said.

The Center for Coalfield Justice has filed other legal challenges regarding the impact of mining on streams.

In fact, Grenter said, his organization was surprised DEP would act on the permit revision at this time given a pending decision by the state Environmental Hearing Board on an appeal addressing similar issues involving potential damage to streams in the area of Ryerson.

The center and the Sierra Club appealed an earlier permit issued to Consol that they claim would result in reduced or loss of flow in certain streams in the area. The groups argue the mining activity violates the Clean Streams Law and is counter to DEP’s own mining regulations.

A decision by the board is expected before the end of the year or early next year.