Forward Township property owners speak out against Coronado Coal

By CHRISTINE HAINES
chaines@yourmvi.com

Coronado Coal chief geologist Joe Wickline in a Forward Township Planning Commission hearing this week said the room-and-pillar-mining method his company is proposing to use should prevent surface problems, but members of the public weren’t convinced.
“We are designing this to Pennsylvania standards for a nonsubsidence mine both at the Pittsburgh coal level and at the surface,” Wickline said. “A large portion of the coal is left to support the overlaying stratus.”
The proposed mine, which would be under the Pittsburgh seam of coal, which has already been mined, did not get the approval of the planning commission, which is recommending the Forward Township supervisors deny a requested zoning change. Among the many individuals who provided comment at the Wednesday night hearing was Eric Harder, the Yough Riverkeeper for the Mountain Watershed Association.
“We have personal experience with a new and high tech mine. Three homes in the past year have been affected by subsidence. Two have been declared unlivable and bought by the company. Over a dozen cases of water loss have occurred. They will dig you a new well and if that’s not possible, they’ll put in a large plastic tank,” Harder said.
Turning to the audience and township officials Harder said the Mountain Watershed was there to offer assistance to them.
Melissa Thornton said her home, built in 1850, is located 300 feet from the proposed mine site.
“The depreciation to my property will be immediate,” Thornton said.
She also raised concerns about run-off from holding ponds on the mine site and the possibility of losing the well her family uses for drinking water.
“I know we aren’t the first community to go down to this company and we won’t be the last, but we won’t go quietly,” Thornton said.
Coronado Coal also owns land in Elizabeth and Fallowfield townships, which it also intends to deep mine, though plans reportedly have not yet been submitted for those mines. That didn’t keep residents of those communities from also speaking up about their concerns.
“This area is honeycombed with mines. It’s vast empty spaces supported by pillars,” said Bill Piper of Buena Vista in Elizabeth Township. “What if your blasting causes one of those pillars to collapse, and then another and it’s a domino effect? I’ve been going to the fracking meetings in Elizabeth Township. Two to three months after they got their permits, things came up that they didn’t anticipate.”
Joseph DeChicchis, president of Historic Elizabeth, also had issues with the information presented.
“What I’m not in favor of is making decisions for the good of a community without all the information on the table,” DeChicchis said. “I didn’t see any core samples in your report.”
DeChicchis said the report also lacked archaeological surveys despite the rich history of the area going back not only to some of the earliest European settlers, but the ancient Monongahela Indians as well.
“We have mounds that the Monongahela Indians have left and old home sites. It’s not our job to give your extra land to make your business model work,” DeChicchis said.
The township supervisors will schedule a hearing on the proposed mine in the near future. A date has not yet been set.
Forward Township resident Brandon Richardson said changing conservation land to an industrial site has numerous impacts.
“As a coal miner who has lost jobs to non-union companies, all this mine is going to do is destroy our township. It is not clean and it does not take 900 acres to put a prep plant on. Me and my kids hunt that property. You’re taking food out of our mouths,” Richardson said. “You’re not supporting us with anything and I do believe the township will win.”