On January 5 Consol, the Department of Environmental Protection and the Center for Coalfield Justice entered into a stipulation of settlement that prohibits coal mining under Kent Run Stream in Ryerson Station State Park in Greene County as part of the Bailey Mine.
Sarah Winner from the Center noted in a January 15 blog post, “...if Consol ever wants to return to the 3L panel and longwall mine beneath Kent Run, it will be required to go through the permit application process again” and the action would again be appealable to the Environmental Hearing Board.
On January 9, 2018, Consol discontinued its appeal of the EHB’s decision Commonwealth Court. That decision, which sets forth important guidance for evaluating longwall mining applications in the future and provides stronger protection for Pennsylvania streams, cannot be overturned.
Reid Frazier from StateImpact reported Friday Consol had argued not being able to mine under that section would cause it to lose $15.3 million by leaving 360,000 tons of coal in the ground.
In November DEP issued permits to mine several new sections at the Bailey Mine.
Last May, Consol and the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources agreed the company would not mine within 100 feet of Kent Run in order to retain permission to mine beneath the state park.
The controversy was at the center of successful legislative efforts last year to rollback protections for streams from underground coal mining when Gov. Wolf allowed Senate Bill 624 (Scarnati-R-Jefferson) to become law.
(Photo: Kent Run at Ryerson Station State Park, Center for Coalfield Justice.)
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