Jul 5, 2015 4 min read

Later this month, Ryerson Station State Park will mark the 10th anniversary of the demise of Duke Lake.

On July 28, 2005, the state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources began to drain the water from the 62-acre lake, the centerpiece of the park, when cracks in the lake’s concrete dam developed to a point at which the dam was deemed unsafe.

About a week and a half later, DCNR removed a section of the dam after expressing concerns about the dam’s ability to hold back water should the lake fill during heavy rains. Much has happened since then toward the lake’s restoration: Studies have been completed and plans developed for replacement of the dam, and lengthy litigation over the apparent cause has been resolved.

But unfortunately, we still don’t know how long it might be before a new dam is built and the lake again brims with water.

Immediately after the lake was drained, DCNR hired an engineering firm to begin investigating the cause of the dam’s deterioration. Several years later, in February 2008, the department filed a lawsuit in Allegheny County against Consol Energy, claiming underground mining near the park by the company’s Bailey Mine was responsible for the damage.

The court directed DCNR later that year to file its claim with the state Department of Environmental Protection (under the state’s mine subsidence law, which then required DEP to make a determination on whether subsidence from the mining had caused the damage.

DEP completed its investigation and announced in February 2010 that mine subsidence was responsible for damage to the dam. Consol disagreed with the determination and filed an appeal with the state’s Environmental Hearing Board.

Faced with what could potentially have been years of litigation, the state and Consol settled the case in spring 2013. The settlement was announced at a press conference at the park on April 24, 2013, attended by then-DCNR Secretary Richard J. Allan.

Under the agreement, Consol admitted no liability but agreed to pay $36 million to replace the dam and give 506 acres of land it owned adjacent to the park to DCNR.

In return, Consol would be permitted to drill for natural gas beneath the park, but only from wells outside park boundaries and mine coal it owned in the eastern section of the park, some distance from the lake and dam.

In the last two years since the settlement, work toward restoring the lake has begun. However, many people are still waiting for news about when work will start to rebuild the dam. The last word on that came at the announcement of the Ryerson-Mather plan in August of last year when a DCNR official said the department was shooting for the summer of 2017.

In response to further inquiries, DCNR has only said it is waiting to receive a dam safety permit from DEP before it can proceed with the project. More recently, in May, a DCNR spokesman indicated the department continues to take measurements to determine whether ground in the area of the dam is stable enough to begin construction.

We agree the agency must do all it can to ensure the integrity of the site before it begins building a new dam.

We also believe, however, DCNR could be more forthcoming in explaining to the public what the holdup is and why it is waiting so long to say when it might be in a position to move ahead with construction.

DCNR has remained committed to restoring the lake from the beginning and we commend the department for that commitment and for working out a solution to the problems it has encountered. But we think it’s time to let the public in on the factors that must be taken into account before a new dam can be built, at least so people know a new dam could be in place before another 10 years passes.