To Whom It May Concern
We write to you today as concerned residents of the Laurel Highlands region. The Laurel Highlands has been home to natural resource extraction activities since the late 1800s, and such activities have taken a toll on not only the natural environment of our locality, but the health and wellbeing of our communities as well. We ask you to please carefully and thoughtfully consider our request to stop permitting coal mining activities in the Laurel Highlands region, and take the first step by banning such activities in the Indian Creek Valley Watershed, the heart of the region itself.
1. Unique Ecology and Eco-Dependent Tourism Industry of Region Could Be Destroyed if Further Mining Is Permitted
Value of the Laurel Highlands
The Laurel Highlands has been a popular travel destination for decades, with tourism levels increasing in recent years, even more so after the covid-19 pandemic. Tourism is a booming industry in the region for a variety of reasons. The region is home to a plethora of unique attractions and experiences that are widely bolstered by the incredible natural resources found in this area. These include expansive flora, mountain streams and famous rivers, fresh air, and a wholesome community feeling that is widely celebrated. Visitors and residents enjoy such experiences in the region’s myriad of well-known state parks, caverns, and nature reserves. Further, the region is home to a UNESCO World Heritage Site, Frank Lloyd Wright’s Fallingwater, located within the Youghiogheny River Watershed and just miles from the Indian Creek Valley.
While there are many lures to the area with respect to tourism, it is fair to say that natural beauty and outdoor recreation of the area is one of the biggest draws for visitors, young families, and people seeking to retire in peaceful rural communities. For the last three years, the Laurel Highlands has been voted among the top ten most beautiful places in the United States to view fall foliage. It is clear that tourism is far more integral to the region than extractive industry. In 2022, over $1.9 billion in spending related to tourism was reported just within this three-county area, and over 15,000 jobs are attributed to tourism. These figures are far higher than extractive industries can ever provide for the Laurel Highlands.
The majority of this tourism economy and regional quality of life is reliant and largely inspired by six thousand miles of streams and rivers that meander through the forests and towns of the Allegheny Mountains. These streams provide the foundation for $3.7 billion in ecosystem service benefits. Included within the total ecosystem service benefits is $897 million in flood/extreme event protection, $592 million in recreational value, and $587 million in aesthetic value.
Few regions of the United States can lay claim to such abundant and high-quality natural resources that translate into such economic impact.
Coal Mining Impacts in Region
Within the Indian Creek Valley, which is considered the heart of the Laurel Highlands, historic mines have flooded homes with orange sludge, destroyed creeks, and permanently damaged some aquifers. Since that devastation began, Mountain Watershed Association has invested over $9 million dollars for multiple abandoned mine treatment systems to restore the health and value of our streams and community.
In December of 2016, Rustic Ridge No. 1 Deep Mine was permitted. Just a few years later that same mine has caused significant damage including: structural subsidence damage, impacts to water quantity and quality, damage to once scenic roadways, air quality deterioration, dangerous truck traffic, serious noise pollution, and decreased property values. It has invaded the very sanctity of our community and has made this area less desirable and our community more divided. All of this threatens the rising opportunities for growth in the region. The area is widely considered resort living but may not be viewed as such for much longer if mining continues to be permitted at this rate.
Beyond the Rustic Ridge No. 1 Deep Mine, its operating company, LCT Energy LP, has applied for a 5,000 acre exploration that covers the headwater areas of three watersheds: Indian Creek, Jacobs Creek, and Loyalhanna. Within that exploration area they have applied for a major amendment modification to expand the Rustic Ridge No. 1 permit, adding 1,400 acres. More recently, LCT has submitted a pre-application for a Rustic Ridge No. II mine that would include a new mine surface area and over 2,600 acres of mining boundary. If that isn’t enough for an ecologically delicate 4 mile radius, LCT has also filed for an additional exploration just a mile from the Rustic Ridge I and II boundary areas. This high concentration of mining is too much for one area to handle as we work to maintain the sanctity of our community, our access to clean water, the safety of our roads, and the integrity of our very homes.
2. Mining Regulations Fail to Protect Residents & DEP's Response to Community Has Been Insufficient
Lack of Accountability to Residents Who Are Doing Everything They Are Supposed To
To our knowledge, the Pennsylvania DEP has not outright rejected a permit for a coal mine in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania since 1994. Local residents feel especially frustrated by the regulatory framework surrounding coal mining activities in the state. After experiencing substantial damage to their homes and sources of water, many residents are still left without a remedy given the lax regulations coal mines operate under. When expressing their concerns to the DEP, residents are often told “nothing can be done on the part of the DEP” or they are told to follow a series of steps to seek remedies or mitigation of the issues. These steps can include things such as filing formal complaints and contacting the operators of the mines. What is particularly frustrating for residents, however, is even when they do everything they are told to do by DEP, their issues remain unresolved. Many residents feel as though the DEP tends to cater to operators in industry, rather than the people of the Commonwealth themselves. While this may not always be the case, it is disappointing that Pennsylvanians do feel this way.
DEP’s Communication With The Community Has Been Insufficient
On January 26, 2022, residents participated in an Informal Public Conference in which they shared questions and concerns with DEP. Community members asked about the possibility of seeing continued problems like damage from subsidence and water supply loss, should Rustic Ridge’s 5-year renewal permits be approved. The DEP was communicative and helpful in planning and hosting the conference, but afterwards, follow-up communication was severely lacking.
DEP’s own guidance recommends that after such a conference, attendees should receive a response within 60 days. The policy says that if 60 days is not feasible, then DEP should share a message within 60 days, explaining what the anticipated timeline for response will be. Instead, participants received no response within 60 days and no communication whatsoever until a response document was shared 210 days later. Then, when the response document was finally shared, it failed to follow policy guidelines for proper organization and formatting, resulting in several participants not knowing whether their comments were addressed. It is possible and even understandable, that such problems were caused by a lack of resources at the DEP. If that is the case however, it is deeply troubling to imagine that the agency continues to accept and process new permits and allow the subsequent increase in mining when it is not even resourced enough to follow its own policies for communications with the public. Similar issues were present in the response document issued by the DEP for the second conference held on May 25, 2022; the response to that conference was not received until 341 days later.
Final Request for Relief and Direct Communication with DEP Central Offices
Residents of the Laurel Highlands have few mechanisms in place to protect themselves and the region they love from the negative impacts of resource extraction. The regulatory framework of the state has continuously been altered and adapted to fit the needs of industry, rather than what is in the best interest of Pennsylvania residents. For all the reasons provided above, we urge you to take a stand on behalf of residents of the Laurel Highlands, one of the most valuable regions of the state, and end the practice of permitting new coal mines in our area. Sending this petition of our concerns to your organization is the only avenue we have available to us to express our concerns. As an organization dedicated to the people and natural environment of the Commonwealth, we sincerely hope you take the steps necessary to protect our lives, our lands, and our region from the devastation caused by resource extraction. We appreciate your time and thoughtful consideration of our request to end the permitting of mines in the Indian Creek Valley Watershed at once, because there is no time to waste when it comes to the lives and wellbeing of Pennsylvania residents.
In addition to your review and consideration of this letter, we are requesting an in person meeting with the Acting Secretary, Department of Environmental Protection, and Deputy Secretary, Office of Active and Abandoned Mine Operations.
In closing, DEP is not adhering to or upholding their mission ‘to protect Pennsylvania's air, land and water from pollution and to provide for the health and safety of its citizens through a cleaner environment.’ As residents of a coalfield community where industry has long impacted our natural resources and quality of life, it has become evident that through DEP’s consideration of permit applications and their communications with residents, they cater more to industry than the people of Pennsylvania. DEP, now is the time to do better.
We look forward to receiving a response from your offices upon receipt of this letter.
Sincerely -
Concerned Residents of the Laurel Highlands
Supported by the Mountain Watershed Association
