Our blogs are written by the staff of the Center for Coalfield Justice, with an occasional guest post. The most recent post appears on top, and others show up below in order of publishing date. You can receive the blogs in your inbox by signing up for our mailing list. Once per month we publish a newsletter, which contains most of the blog posts.
PA DEP Environmental Justice Listening Tour: A Guide to Current EJ Rules and Potential Changes
by Kirk Jalbert, Manager of Community-Based Research & Engagement, Fractracker Alliance
and Veronica Coptis, Executive Director
The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) will be hosting a nine-stop “listening tour” to hear residents’ perspectives on environmental justice (EJ). These sessions begin in the western part of the state on April 12th and 13th. The dates and locations of these meetings can be found here. The DEP will also be accepting written comments, which can be either mailed or emailed to DEP-OEJ@pa.gov.
The EJ listening tour follows on the heels of events in May 2016, when environmental advocacy groups questioned the well pad siting practices oil and gas drilling company Range Resources, causing the DEP to announce it would revisit its EJ policies. Such changes would include reassessing how EJ zones are designated and what kinds of development triggers additional scrutiny by the DEP’s Office of Environmental Justice. We wrote about this story, and detailed how present EJ rules fail to account for oil and gas development in June 2016.
Environmental Hearing Board Protects Kent Run in Ryerson Station State Park
Today, the Environmental Hearing Board issued CCJ and Sierra Club’s petition for supersedeas to protect Kent Run in Ryerson Station State Park from mining. Read our press statement below: Community Groups Praise Environmental Hearing Board for Protecting Ryerson Station State Park The Pennsylvania Environmental Hearing Board (EHB) has forbidden Consol Pennsylvania Coal Company (Consol) from…
We Had a Court Hearing on Mining in Ryerson: Here’s What Happened
Chances are if you’re reading this message, you already know that the Center for Coalfield Justice and the Sierra Club have been fighting for Ryerson Station State Park in front of the Environmental Hearing Board for many years now. After with the loss of Duke Lake in 2005, we have taken action time and time again to prevent Consol from destroying Ryerson.
We’re Back in Court to Defend Ryerson
For years, we have been fighting side by side with the Sierra Club against Consol’s plans to illegally mine coal from underneath Ryerson Station State Park. There was a three week trial over the summer about this issue; ultimately deciding whether the state-permitted plan to destroy streams and “rebuild” them later was consistent with the…
Case Update on our Fight for Ryerson Station State Park
Starting in 2014, we partnered with the Sierra Club to bring an appeal to a permit that authorized longwall coal mining that predicted severe stream impacts in and around Ryerson Station State Park in Greene County. At the heart of the appeal is whether Consol’s right to longwall mine trumps the protections set forth in the Clean Streams Law, the Department’s mining regulations, and Article 1, Section 27 of the Pennsylvania Constitution.
Today is the Day We Start our Trial to Protect Streams.
Dear Supporters,
As we begin our long-awaited trial before the Environmental Hearing Board, I’d like to take a moment to say thank you. Thank you to all of our members who have attended DRYerson Festivals for the past ten years. Thank you to all those who have donated your precious time and resources to support our organization’s fight for environmental justice. Thank you to all those who have shared our message with family, friends, neighbors and colleagues. We could not do this work without you, and for that, I thank you.
Join the Clean Energy March Revolution July 24th
CCJ member, Keith Fullerton is attending the Clean Energy March on July 24th in Philadelphia and explains what it means to participate in these large national gatherings below:
I’ve always felt separated. In my “hometown” of Aleppo Township, Greene County, there aren’t many opportunities for a young environmentalist, such as myself, to express themselves and get support from other like-minded folks.
10th Annual DRYerson Festival
The Center for Coalfield Justice held the 10th Annual DRYerson Festival on June 25th at Ryerson Station State Park. The theme of this year’s Festival was: Our Park, Our Streams, Our Future. We were joined by more than 60 long-time members and volunteers from around southwestern Pennsylvania. This year, we shared the loss of Duke…
Longwall Mining Damage to Polen Run Near Ryerson Station State Park
The video above shows subsidence from the Bailey Mine’s longwall mining which has dewatered a section of Polen Run just outside Ryerson Station State Park. There is also footage of the great disruption caused by the company’s attempts to mitigate the damage.