Apr 11, 2023 5 min read

Hi Karen,

Yes, in June 2022, Tunnel Ridge applied to convert 1,155.75 acres from development to longwall mining. This application is under technical review and DEP does not have an estimated timeframe for making a decision on the permit. I’ve pasted a drawing below that shows the area where Tunnel Ridge’s proposed mining intersects with I-70. The operator must have a State Mining Commission agreement or an approved Contingency Plan from the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) and provide notice to the DEP six months prior to performing longwall mining underneath any state road or highway.

Lauren (Fraley) Camarda | Community Relations Coordinator | Office of Communications

Department of Environmental Protection | Southwest Regional Office

400 Waterfront Drive | Pittsburgh, PA 15222

Office: 412.442.4203 | Mobile: 412.327.1478

Thank you for your patience as I gathered the following in response to your inquiry regarding the Tunnel Ridge Project.

We know that applications have been submitted and work is expected to take place within 2 years in west Washington County in the Claysville area.

Currently, we don’t have any additional specifics to provide.

We appreciate you reaching out. Have a lovely day!

Toni R. Hartley, MBA | Community Relations Coordinator

she/her/hers

PA Department of Transportation | Engineering District 12-0

825 North Gallatin Ave. Ext. | Uniontown, PA 15401

Office: 724.425.3018 | Cell: 724.579.3201

there still will be generally west of Claysville, there’s not undermining proposed for Claysville proper. They’ve asked for it to go to a long wall permit, at this point there is the state Mining Commission made up of five or six folks they determine basically they set a plan for the mining and they’re the ones who OK the mining under the state road…if they can mine under a public road, so the state Mining Commission, the president judge of Washington county is on it, it’s a member of the PUC, there’s an engineer that works for Tunnel Ridge, and a PennDOT representative. We released a petition recently, there was a petition we were asking folks to sign the petition in an effort to have the state mining commission to hold a public meeting to take input from residents and we recommended an e-file where they could raise complaints online, we think there should be some public participation involved when they’re making these decisions, they’re generally kind of there’s Never been an public participation …they had to go through…most of the mining so far on I-70 has been on the west viringina side, only a little bit has been done in PA, there’s no mechanism for public participation in that decision, it’s just that mining commission. 

DEP has to review the permit, but it’s not their decision, the state Mining Commission forms out of a necessity, because they’re mining under a state road, the Mining commission has to make a decision. 

DEP says you have to coordinate with the state mining commission……

they have three development permits out there, the new permit asks for it would go under I-70, multiple different panels, it goes through, the panels are about 1,500 feet wide, they go at an angle under I-70, in this new appciaiton, most of the mining happening under I-70, I think they set it up so it goes under I-70 three or four times, that could happen, so we’re talking about three or four more cycles of construction work, if they get this permit approved, roughly within the next three to six years. It could be sooner if they get this permit quickly,  depends on how fast they can get the permit…they may get to this stuff sooner than they previously anticipated. General time frame would happen in the next three years or so….Usualy subsidence from long wall happens within a couple of weeks, within weeks for months, won’t…

There was also some good information , they had mined under 79, CONSOL did, in the early 2000s, there’s data regarding mining assememnt from university of PGH and Carnegie-Mellon, found it cost taxpayers about $15 million…..taxpayers were footing the bill ….

The new permit I’d say it will go under a couple different panels, there will be cycles of construction that follow each other closely, potential they could om 1,155 acres is 5 panels, three of them will go under I-70, each panel takes about a year…..

Pending permits are closer to 6,000 acres, they’ve mined a couple thousand acres…..

the biggest point we’ve made around mining under I-70 is that there is no public participation for people to raise their concerns, there are concerns, I don’t have data to say there’s been an uptick in crashes but general speaking when there’s construction there’s an increase in crashes, there are a lot of large trucks.

Main concern is no public input, around 100 people have signed the petition in past couple months that just want to see the state mining commission have a meeting of some sort or have people efile.  Christopher Hood,