Feb 7, 2018 4 min read

NINEVEH – It’s a classic David-and-Goliath situation, said Greene County Regional police Chief Michael Natale, and one he feels Nineveh is not equipped to fight. A township of 750 people against a corporation.

About two months ago, Consol Energy began mining under Nineveh. Shortly after, Natale said he began to notice cracks at the Morris Township Community Center, where his police station is housed. It’s also a FEMA approved emergency shelter.

Those cracks continued to grow, he said, and residents started to notice changes, too, like doors that were no longer flush with their frames. The cracks spread to the building’s foundation, with the foundation leaning out. Natale was even able to pull a brick out of the wall Tuesday. Cracks are also visible in the basement, and pillars are sinking. Fridges in a kitchen that was just renovated three years ago are no longer level.

Natale said he reached out to the township supervisors, who then told Consol of their concerns.

The state Department of Environmental Protection received the complaint in late December.

“Since then, the operator of the nearest mine, Consol’s Harvey Mine, visited the site and compared the condition of the building with the pre-mine survey and found no evidence of subsidence from mining,” DEP spokeswoman Lauren Fraley wrote in an email.

A letter from the state Department of Environmental Protection states the “company does not feel that the damage is related to mining.”

The township is challenging that determination, and a DEP inspection has been scheduled.

“We’re not here to rake Consol over the coals. We’re not here to vilify them. We just want them to take care of the damage,” Natale said.

Natale said the building is 98 years old and has had no prior problems. Carol Patton owns a home in Nineveh just a few doors down from the community center and remembers attending grade school in the building in her youth.

The home has been in her family for generations and she’s put a significant amount of money into it.

“We’re not talking chump change, we’re talking hundreds, thousands of dollars,” she said. “The foundation is completely cracked.”

There are also cracks in the ceiling, and she fears wallpaper may be covering cracks in the walls, too. But the worst, she said, is not knowing what to do or what could happen. Her neighbor said he can see into Patton’s home through his basement foundation, the damage is so bad.

“You’re at the mercy of the coal company. They’re big. They can do what they want,” Patton said. “Clearly, this is the result of the mining, but what they’ll do about it, I don’t know.”

If the community center is deemed dangerous, Natale said the loss to the area will be huge for the township, with the police station, disaster shelter and fitness center all located there. Natale said it’s one of the only fitness centers in West Greene, The township also rents out the building for receptions and other parties but hasn’t done that since the damage was discovered.

Fraley said DEP is not aware of a safety concern and plans to follow up with an on-site inspection “to determine if damage is subsidence related.”

Consol said they are aware of the issue and are working with DEP and the township over the course of the investigation, Zach Smith company spokesman said.

“We were made aware of the issue in Morris Township and take it seriously, as we do with all concerns from community stakeholders,” Smith said in an email. “We routinely respond to subsidence claims and are currently following our standard operating procedures.”

Morris Township supervisors also issued a one-sentence statement Tuesday in response to the damage and subsidence investigation, saying they were “aware of the recent changes in the structural damage” and “are currently working with DEP and Consol on this matter.”