THE COSTS OF COAL IN PENNSYLVANIA

Editor Note -- The latest PU was prepared by Stephen Kunz, a senior ecologist of Schmid and Company, Inc. It methodically lays out the problems with the regulation of longwall coal mining–or should we say, the lack of regulation of longwall coal mining. Apologists for the mining industry say that more data and studies are needed, and that groups like RPF should produce information if we say that mining is causing problems. The problem with that is, DEP is supposed to require permit applicants (coal companies) to characterize the resources they might damage through mining. And the problem with that is, DEP doesn’t do its job. Even Act 54, the law that gives practically free rein to the coal companies, required DEP to do a study of water resources. This year, six years after the law was signed, DEP finally gets around to contracting for the study.  None of this is a problem if you are a coal company or DEP. You can simply fail to map the streams and document the wetlands, then it’s so easy to blame any number of things (such as drought) when the natural resources are damaged. Coal continues to get a free ride in southwestern Pennsylvania, as DEP refuses to enforce laws protecting our streams and wetlands.

The current power shortages in California have generated increased awareness of how the nation's electricity is produced. As a result, there has been a renewed focus on coal as a cheap and plentiful source of electrical power. While acknowledging that there are some adverse environmental effects associated with coal's production and use, many analysts generally give the impression that its lower cost (about one-third that of natural gas currently) gives it a big advantage over other power sources in the nation's energy future.

Pennsylvania is a leading producer of high-BTU bituminous coal. One of the factors that typically is overlooked when comparing coal with alternative sources of energy is that the market price of coal produced in Pennsylvania does not reflect ALL of the costs associated with its production. In particular, many of the environmental costs related to longwall mining are being borne not by the mining industry, but by the residents of the coal fields, by the taxpayers, and by the citizens of the Commonwealth whose environment is being sacrificed without the proper attention of the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection.

I am a consulting ecologist with over 20 years experience assessing the environmental impacts of development in Pennsylvania and nearby states. During the past 3 years I have been investigating some of the impacts of longwall coal mining in Pennsylvania. The results of my investigation are laid out in a report I co-authored entitled "Wetlands and Longwall Mining - Regulatory Failure in Southwestern Pennsylvania", which had been commissioned, and was published last year by the Raymond Proffitt Foundation. The entire report is available online at http://www.rayproffitt.org .

The R.P.F. report identifies an environmental regulatory problem, one consequence of which is that the environmental costs of coal production in Pennsylvania are not fully taken into account. Longwall coal mining causes natural resource destruction that is not adequately recognized, analyzed, minimized, or compensated -- despite an existing regulatory process that is supposed to protect the environment. The regulation of mining in Pennsylvania has not kept up with high-extraction mining technology. The report focuses on a regulatory problem as it relates to wetlands, but like the "canary in the coal mine", the situation with wetlands is but an indicator of other serious problems associated with longwall mining.

Other consequences of longwall mining include:

** the physical and mental anguish homeowners are forced to endure when living through a man-made earthquake, including: - cracks in the walls and foundations of their homes - springs and wells that are polluted or permanently dried up - invasions of privacy from coal company representatives - interminable disputes with coal companies over the adequacy of repairs or compensation,

** the inequity of a mineral owner's right to extract coal by any method taking precedence over a surface owner's right to the peaceful enjoyment of his life and property,

** the damages to historic resources, when buildings that are officially listed on the National Register of Historic Places are "delisted" by the coal companies until after the longwall operation passes beneath them,

** the unmitigated, and oftentimes unacknowledged, impacts to surface environmental resources: a stream that is dried up or turned into a series of pools, a wetland that is destroyed, groundwater that is contaminated by methane or radon, aquifers that are disrupted by cracks and fissures,

** a state legislature that caters to the desires of the coal industry (In 1994, Act 54 was passed, making a subtle but profound change in Pennsylvania's underground mining laws. Where previously subsidence damage was "prohibited", Act 54 allows subsidence provided certain types of "restoration" are performed. But Act 54 only requires repairs limited to houses, wells, and certain other residential structures. Other property damages, including to ponds, streams, farm fields, and wetlands, are not covered by the Act.),

** a state regulatory agency known as DEP - the Department of Environmental Protection - which acts more like a Department of Energy Production when it ignores existing laws and regulations and provides the mining industry a de facto exemption from the same environmental protection requirements other industries must comply with,

** the inequities whereby the costs to extract coal are passed along to the coalfield residents, to the environment, and to the taxpayers, thereby inflating the private profits of mine operators and distorting coal's market advantage over competing energy resources.

Background on the Problem

Bituminous coal has been mined in Pennsylvania since 1760. Pennsylvania currently ranks fourth in terms of the total amount of coal produced annually in the US (behind Wyoming, West Virginia, and Kentucky). As a result of over 200 years of coal mining, more miles of streams currently are degraded by acid mine drainage than by all other sources of pollution combined. Mines today must treat their acid water before it is discharged to streams. However, damage to wetlands and waters continues, although the nature of the damage has changed with changing technology.

Until about 15-20 years ago, most Pennsylvania coal was mined underground by the room-and-pillar method, whereby pillars of coal are left in place to prevent collapse (subsidence) of overlying rock layers into the void created by the mined-out coal. Where localized subsidence of the land surface occurred, it generally was unintentional, the result of improper design or secondary robbing of pillars.

A relatively new technology, longwall mining, has been the method of choice for Pennsylvania underground coal production in recent years, in large part because the labor requirements are very low and the production efficiency is extremely high. The "full-extraction" longwall technology makes possible the removal of essentially the entire 5- to 6-foot thick coal seam beneath tens of thousands of acres of land. Unfortunately, subsidence is an integral part of longwall mining. And therein lies the problem.

In contrast to surface mines, the typical longwall mine operator owns only a small proportion of the surface land it disturbs above the coal deposits. Economic and political power is perceived as resting with the conglomerates that run these huge longwall mines, as opposed to the owners of homes, farms, and businesses on the land surface.

Except in a magic show, it is not likely that a tablecloth can be whisked off a table, leaving intact the food, crockery, and flatware that rested upon it. So, too, with underground layers of coal. In longwall mines the rock layers above the coal seam collapse as the temporary support protecting miners is advanced, causing cracks and rock movement that may reach hundreds of feet up to the land surface. Surface subsidence of up to 4 feet is common and immediate as the working face passes beneath a given location. Buildings, roads, wells, streams, ponds, and wetlands often are affected by the uneven movement of underlying soils and rocks. The precise extent and location of the subsidence are related to local site conditions and are difficult to forecast with precision.

Wetlands and streams are formally acknowledged as important resources in federal and state laws, and regulations have been adopted to afford them protection. Environmental laws enacted to protect wetlands and streams in Pennsylvania are meant to apply equally to coal mining as to other kinds of industrial activities. But they are administered very differently for coal mines than for other kinds of activities. Information routinely produced for applications for housing, shopping centers, highways, utilities, and other kinds of construction or development is not being required during the review of coal mine applications. The DEP Bureau of Mining and Reclamation thus provides a de facto exemption to mine applicants by not requiring proper inventories of resources, assessments of impacts, and implementation of appropriate monitoring and mitigations as their regulations stipulate they should.

Public awareness of environmental impacts is frustrated by the lack of agency attention to environmental problems associated with mining. Coalfield residents feel powerless to affect the bureaucratic system that fails to protect their lives from disruption as a result of mining far underground. There is widespread concern among residents of the coal fields and in the environmental community that mining regulation is not effectively protecting public resources and privately owned surface resources when coal is removed and prepared for market.

There are many problems (social, economic, and environmental) related to longwall mining of coal, each with its associated hidden costs. The lack of enforcement of wetland regulations in Pennsylvania is but the tip of the iceberg. Until these considerations are factored into the equation, the price of coal will remain artificially low. Unless all of these costs are taken into account, an accurate comparison of coal with alternative energy sources cannot be made.

Prepared by: Stephen P. Kunz, Senior Ecologist, Schmid & Company, Inc. Certified Professional Wetland Scientist (Society of Wetland Scientists) Certified Senior Ecologist (Ecological Society of America) http://www.schmidco.com 

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