Photo Credit: Reid Frazier/State Impact Pennsylvania
By REID FRAZIER | STATEIMPACT PA • JAN 19, 201
Consol Energy has agreed not to conduct longwall mining beneath a section of a southwestern Pennsylvania stream, as part of a settlement it reached with environmental groups.
In addition, the company discontinued an appeal of a court decision that blocked it from mining beneath another nearby stream with longwall mining, a method of coal removal that shears off long sections of rock. The technique can cause the ground above it to fall in, or subside, which can cause problems for buildings and waterways on the surface.
As part of the settlement, Consol Energy will not conduct longwall mining beneath the “3L” section of Kent Run, a small stream that runs through Ryerson Station State Park in Greene County. The Center for Coalfield Justice and the Sierra Club had argued that longwall mining could crack the stream bed, causing damage to water flow and aquatic life.
