PA Environment Digest Blog: Guest Essay: Remembering Ryerson Station State Park's Duke Lake, Lost To Damage Caused By Underground Coal Mining In Greene County 20 Years Ago

Monday, June 30, 2025

Guest Essay: Remembering Ryerson Station State Park's Duke Lake, Lost To Damage Caused By Underground Coal Mining In Greene County 20 Years Ago

By Sarah Sweeney, Center for Coalfield Justice

This article was first posted on the Center For Coalfield Justice Blog June 3, 2025. It recalls the 62-acre Duke Lake At Ryerson Station State Park in Greene County that had to be drained in July 2005 after inspections of the dam found cracks and water seepage.

DCNR filed a lawsuit against CONSOL Energy that claimed the dam was damaged by underground coal mining. CONSOl never admitted responsibility, but agreed to a $36 million settlement in 2013.

Sarah Sweeney's article follows--

Growing up in Greene County in the 90’s, there was one place that was central to so much of my life: Ryerson Station State Park.

When I think of Duke Lake, my brain floods with all the memories I have there.

As a child, I spent many summer days with my family on the shores of Duke Lake catching bluegill and sipping on Pepsi in short little glass bottles.

We would load up my dads pickup with fishing rods, tackle boxes, and snacks and head over for the day.

When we arrived we would hurriedly try to secure our fishing spot because the park was ALWAYS packed with our friends, family, and neighbors.

The lake was BEAUTIFUL.

I can not stress that enough. It truly was a picture-esque area and we were all thankful to have it.

Fishing and boating weren’t the only activities happening around this gorgeous 62-acre lake.

It wasn’t uncommon to pull in for a day of fishing and see families celebrating graduations, birthdays, and even weddings in the pavilions that dotted the grassy areas around the park.

Later, when I was in high school, I attended an event called Environthon at the park where students from various surrounding area schools took part in soil judging competitions, identifying bird sounds, and other environmental activities.

I even once attended a Halloween event at the park.

There was a haunted hay ride and I was working on the hill in fully witchy attire stirring my cauldron and reciting a Halloween poem as wagons full of squirmy, excited children went by.

Old photographs of people skating and ice fishing on the frozen lake during winters in the 1970s have also been shared with me!

To put it simply, Ryerson and Duke Lake was a community hub for those of us here in Greene County.

Gas stations, small restaurants around the park, and general stores thrived off the people coming to and from Ryerson. The lake was the place to be and it was always buzzing with activity on a nice day.

That all changed 20 years ago in July of 2005, when structural damage to the dam due to nearby mining operations caused the PA Department of Conservation and Natural Resources to make the difficult decision to remove the dam and drain the lake.

I remember that time well; everyone was talking about it. People in the community were in utter disbelief that the lake would be drained.

I remember people going down to the dam, where the released water was draining, with pickup trucks lined with plastic and filled with water to recover the fish coming out of the spillway and attempting to transport them to other water bodies to save them.

It wasn’t just the people of Greene county who lost Duke Lake; it was the animals’ loss too.

Thanks to the work of Center for Coalfield Justice and the determination of the Greene County community, a settlement was reached for then Consol Energy to cover the cost of rebuilding the dam, but unfortunately the engineers studying it determined there was too much ground movement and it could never be rebuilt.

This loss to the community was heart-breaking but we continue to look towards the future and our dreams for what Ryerson Station State Park can be.

Click Here for the original article.

[Visit DCNR’s Re-Vision Ryerson Station webpage for more background.]

(Photos: Damaged Duke Lake Dam after lake was drained; Fishing on Duke Lake.)

Resource Links:

-- DCNR, CONSOL Agreement To Repair Mining Damage To Ryerson Station State Park [PaEN]

-- Ryerson State Park Plans For Restoration In Greene County [PaEN]

-- CONSOL Longwall Coal Mining Damage Settlement Funds New Swimming Pool Complex At Ryerson Station State Park [PaEN]

-- DCNR Dedicates New Pool Complex, Solar Energy Arrays At Ryerson Station State Park, Greene County [PaEN]

-- Observer-Reporter: Consol Agrees Not To Mine Near Kent Run, Ryerson Station State Park [PaEN]