Reports of Property Damage Mount as Longwall Mining for Coal Proliferates in Pa.

At issue is a modern, mechanized take on a centuries-old mining technique that shears coal away from underground seams in massive panels that are generally hundreds of feet thick and a mile or so long.

That technique, known as longwall mining, now produces some 40 percent of all coal

from U.S. underground mines, up from 5 percent in 1980, according to federal statistics. In Pennsylvania, longwall produced 38 million tons of the 48 million tons produced by underground mining in 2009, the latest full year for which statistics are available.

But while mechanized longwall mining has been a boon to coal producers, it has been a headache in recent years for many residents of Greene and Washington counties, near the West Virginia line. They say mining being done by rumbling, behemoth machines in recent years has damaged buildings, sucked water from ponds and streams and cracked roads.

"Longwall is worse than an earthquake," said Leigh Shields, owner of Shields Herb and Flower Farm, which is patrolled by peacocks and a pet emu in rural Greene County. A Consol Energy Inc. longwall project a decade ago, he said, led to a subsidence that lowered parts of his property as much as 4 feet, moved trees and cracked his home's basement floor.

Longwall mining, many residents say, caused the rupture of a dam at Greene County's Ryerson Station State Park, whose lake -- once a popular spot for boating and fishing -- remains dry. Whether Consol operations damaged the park is currently being weighed by a state court.

"A lot of locals came down and started grabbing fish and taking them to local ponds," activist Terri Davin said in an interview, discussing what happened when state workers drained the lake after the 2005 breach. "They had garbage cans and they were just throwing dead fish there."

Aimee Erickson, executive director of the watchdog group Citizens Coal Council, said the rumbling of longwall mining under a house jangles nerves as well as cracks foundations. "You could actually put an egg on the counter and watch it just roll off," she said.

A University of Pittsburgh study this year found that from 2003 to 2008 reported land damage from longwall operations increased 86 percent and building damage increased 31 percent over damage reported the previous five-year period.

It took coal companies an average of 207 days to resolve reported structural problems and 246 days for land damage, the report says. Companies took 321 days, on average, to address problems with wells, springs and ponds.

The report was prepared under a 1994 state law, Act 54, which was aimed at addressing problems caused by longwall mining and making sure companies help prevent problems, repair damage or compensate residents. Mining critics here say the law is not strong enough.

"It has been a catastrophic failure," said attorney Michael Nixon, a Citizens Coal Council board member.

State officials and mining industry representatives disagree. They do not deny that longwall mining is causing damage, but they maintain the system is working to ensure repairs or proper compensation.

"Most landowners should be thankful for Act 54," George Ellis, president of the Pennsylvania Coal Association, an industry group, said in an interview. "If we damage it, we take care of it."

As he rebutted claims about longwall mining and Act 54, Ellis raised his voice. The law, he said, represents a compromise between activists and industry.

"There is a lot of misinformation," he said. "The fear mongers are wrong. The sky is not falling."

'If you get a settlement, leave'

Critics of longwall mining say Act 54 is inferior to the 1960s-vintage law that emphasized damage prevention.

Authors: mining - Yahoo! News Search Results