Reid R. Frazier / StateImpact Pennsylvania
The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection is failing to protect streams and property from subsidence from underground “longwall” mining, according to a report released by a Washington County-based environmental group.
The state is allowing dozens of miles of streams in Western Pennsylvania to suffer the loss of flow or have their streambeds disrupted from mine subsidence, because the mines are causing land above them to sink, in spite of state laws designed to protect streams, the report states.
The state’s “failure to protect” the streams above the mines “erodes the public’s trust” in the DEP, according to the report, written by the Citizens Coal Council.