Sep 18, 2017 3 min read

Consol Energy said Monday it will begin mining in a new longwall panel at its Bailey Mine as it waits to receive a permit from the state Department of Environmental Protection to continue mining a section that runs beneath Polen Run near Ryerson Station State Park.

The company was forced to halt longwall mining in its 4L longwall panel Sept. 1 because of a delay in receiving a permit modification to mine beneath the stream. More than 300 miners were laid off Sept. 11.

The company began recalling some of the employees Monday as it moved forward with an alternate plan to keep the longwall in operations.

DEP is expected to require more time to evaluate the permit for the 4L panel, the company said in a news release. In order to continue production, the mine will move its longwall to the new 5L panel, for which it has a permit.

The mine began recalling employees Monday as the longwall move began, company spokesman Brian Aiello said in an email.

“That process will continue as the longwall move goes forward and as we prepare to get this particular longwall back into production,” he said.

The longwall move is expected to take four weeks. During that time, the company will implement measures to mitigate production impacts from the delay, including working additional unscheduled shifts at the mine complex’s other four longwalls. The operating change will allow the mine to meet its customers’ needs, the company said.

The company halted production in the 4L panel after applying for a permit modification to address a decision issued Aug. 15 by the state Environmental Hearing Board.

That decision invalidated some methods of stream remediation that were included in prior longwall mining permits. The board ruled DEP had been wrong in allowing Bailey to mine beneath another section of Polen Run, finding the method used to repair stream damage, the installation of a synthetic liner, essentially resulted in the stream being destroyed and rebuilt.

In the same decision, the EHB ruled DEP correctly allowed the company to mine beneath a dozen other streams in the area impacted by subsidence to a lesser degree and requiring less invasive remediation work.

Following the recent EHB ruling, Consol submitted a permit revision that includes a stream mediation plan it said it believes complies with the EHB decision. The company also said there is a less than 1 percent chance it will have to employ the proposed remediation method which, DEP said, involves the application of a “polyurethane/polyuria spray material.”

DEP said it is reviewing the modification application, which it had received from the company Aug. 25, a week before the mine had to halt operations in the 4L panel because it was nearing Polen Run.

Consol said it is working with DEP and necessary agencies to obtain the permit to continue mining in the 4L panel.

In a news release issued Friday, state Rep. Pam Snyder, D-Jefferson, said she has been working with the company and DEP to help “cut through the bureaucratic red tape” to keep the mine in operation.

“Providing long term operational certainty for the Bailey Mine through the issuance of permits that allow mining to continue unencumbered is critical so that coal can continue to be our economic engine,” Snyder said.