Water buffalo providing an alternative water supply for farming. The farmer lost water from underground mining.
While our legislators are making efforts to help those in need during this COVID-19 pandemic, some areas of our health and safety are being overlooked. While most businesses in the Commonwealth have been ordered to shut down, others have been allowed to operate. We understand that coal mining operations have been deemed “essential” during this pandemic and thus can operate at this moment in time.
An issue with this decision is that coal mine operators are continuing to perform pre-mining (and potentially post-mining) surveys of residents’ homes despite warnings from public health officials. These surveys require employees and contractors of the mine operator to physically occupy private property and even enter one’s home. Our state laws require that these surveys take place to assess any damage that a private landowner may have occurred from underground mining. These surveys are important because if a landowner denies such a survey to take place, the coal mine operator is not required to compensate a landowner for any damage that underground mining caused to their property, including the loss of drinking water.
Generally speaking, coal mine operators conduct pre-mining surveys many months or years before undermining. These pre-mining surveys can be and should be conducted in a manner that better balances the protection of public health and the protection of coalfield residents’ homes and water supplies. All of these surveyors should be required to follow the public health officials’ recommendations by limiting contact with others at this time and only conducting surveys that must happen in the immediate future. In the instance that a landowner must be surveyed in the next six months, then the coal mine operators should be required to wear gloves, masks, and ensure that they are symptom free for the last two weeks before meeting with any landowner. These simple precautions are not only smart, but also recommended by our public health officials to protect everyone’s health.
Read more details at Mountain Watershed Association’s Blog here.
Send a letter to the Department of Environmental Protection explaining to them why safety measures need to be taken now in order to protect everyone’s health in these uncertain times:
