Consol continues Ryerson longwall mining

Predicts no damage in digging under stream

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

RICHHILL TOWNSHIP, Pa. — Consol Energy repeatedly predicted in permit applications that its Bailey longwall coal mine would impact streams in and around Ryerson Station, Greene County’s only state park.

But it said the damage — caused by massive machines chewing through miles of underground coal seams — would not be permanent. The company outlined mitigation plans, promising full restoration of impacted streams over the six years it sought permission to mine in the area.

In its latest application, though, Consol predicted no damage would result from mining beneath Polen Run, which flows along Ryerson Station’s northeastern edge.

The change in tune came after the EnvironmentalHearing Board ruled last August — on an appeal by nonprofits — that the Department of Environmental Protection illegally allowed Consol to mine under two sectionsof Polen Run.

Since 2014, Sierra Club and the Center for Coalfield Justice have jointly appealed four DEP permit revisions that authorized mining under 14 Greene County streams. Agreeing with their arguments for one of those appeals, the EHB for the first time decided that promising to mitigate damage is not sufficient to get a permit.

“When … the only way to ‘fix’ the anticipated damage to the stream is to essentially destroy the existing stream channel and streambanks and rebuild it from scratch … to issue [the permit revision] is unreasonable and contrary to the law,” Judge Steven C. Beckman of the Pennsylvania Environmental Hearing Board wrote in an Aug. 15 opinion.

Following the decision, DEP tightened regulations, effectively barring Consol — now Consol Pennsylvania Coal Co., a spinoff from the parent energy company