Update on Longwall Mining Issues
in Western Pennsylvania
The Raymond Proffitt Foundation continues to assess the effects of longwall mining on both the environment and people of Western Pennsylvania.
Longwall mining is a high extraction method of mining in which coal is removed in panels - The older room and pillar method allowed pillars of coal to remain standing as a roof support. Because longwall leaves no supporting pillars, the mine collapses in the wake of the longwall machine. The result is subsidence of the surface above the longwall mine.
In October of 2000 RPF released a study on the impact of longwall mining on wetlands in southwestern Pennsylvania. The study found that wetlands, in the region, are being lost or altered as a result of longwall mining. Subsidence, resulting from the mining, either diverts the feeding water supplies or increases the flow of the water into the wetland, with the resultant drowning of the ecosystem.
The study also found that the state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) - which has the authority to approve mining permits - has been lax in its review of the permits. DEP, apparently, either lacks the staff with the necessary expertise to review the permits, or it has been lax in applying the law to the coal industry.
What is the social effect of longwall mining? What effect does it have on people whose wells have been destroyed or polluted and homes altered as a result of subsidence? Included will be video recordings of the direct impact of a longwall mine on homes.