HARRISBURG – Environmental Protection Secretary Kathleen A. McGinty today said unannounced inspections at Pennsylvania’s two mine sites where retreat mining is taking place show the operations are being conducted safely.
At the direction of Gov. Edward G. Rendell, McGinty ordered the inspections following the collapse of the Crandall Canyon Mine in Utah, trapping six miners where retreat mining is also being used.
“Governor Rendell has made the safety of Pennsylvania miners a priority,” McGinty said. “These unannounced inspections provide an added measure of assurance that retreat mining is being conducted safely.
“To ensure that Pennsylvania’s mine safety laws are being followed and our miners are working in a safe environment, our aggressive inspection process places a premium on safety. All Pennsylvania bituminous mines are inspected quarterly and all underground anthracite mines are inspected every two months.”
Retreat mining is a practice where the support pillars of an underground mine are removed sequentially and the roof is collapsed to allow for full resource extraction.
The unannounced Monday inspections were conducted at Dana Mining Company’s Titus Mine in Dunkard Township, Greene County, a bituminous coal mine; and UAE Company’s Harmony Mine in Coyngham Township, Columbia County, an anthracite coal mine.
A critical component of the retreat mining inspections is to see that the mines are operating according to the approved roof control plan, which makes sure the roof is stable until the coal is extracted and miners are well out of the area before the roof is allowed to collapse.
Longwall mining is also a form of retreat mining and is currently being used at several bituminous mine sites in Pennsylvania. However, longwall mining uses an entirely different process for extracting coal than the two mines covered in these inspections.
“Retreat mining in Pennsylvania has declined in recent years due to environmental and economic issues,” said McGinty. “Retreat mining can lead to problems such as surface subsidence and other mining methods, such as longwall mining, have proven to be more profitable. However, while some amount of danger is inherent in all underground mining, when proper safety procedures are followed, retreat mining is not inherently unsafe.”
McGinty added that Rendell has made stronger mine safety legislation a priority for the fall legislative session, and that the administration would continue working with the General Assembly and interested parties to enact the recommendations made following the 2002 Quecreek Mine accident.
Since taking office, Governor Rendell has implemented a series of changes to enhance mine safety in Pennsylvania, including revised mine permitting and inspection procedures, more stringent requirements for verification of underground mine maps and improved training protocols for mine safety personnel.
Pennsylvania has not had any fatalities related to retreat mining since the Pitt Gas mine incident in Greene County in 1990.