|
|
When longwall mining comes to your town |
|
Longwall Mining links |
|
Georges River Macarthur |
General longwall mining |
|
|
| The
hidden costs of clean coal - The environmental and human disaster
of longwall mining - Multimedia from The Center for Public Integrity Washington DC. Video filmed in the mine and the effects above ground. |
|
When longwall mining comes to your town, your home is in the hands of the mining company |
The personal side of longwall mining told through newspapers in Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvania. A state with a 200 year history of coal mining which now
uses longwall mining exensively with seemingly little consideration for
the population. A familiar story in Macarthur and NSW. |
| 1. Effort
to halt mining damage crawls: Subsidence caused by longwall coal mining in southwestern Pennsylvania can happen in a matter of days, if not hours, as nine homeowners in Washington County found out last week. But changes to the state laws and regulations that allow high-extraction mining operations to cause subsidence that damages homes, historic structures, water supplies and wetlands are occurring at a more glacial pace. By Don Hopey, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette |
| 2. Mining documentary debuts to packed house with promise
of activism: A documentary film showing the damage inflicted on surface property owners, communities, streams and watersheds by subsidence from longwall mining debuted Tuesday in the heart of the southwestern Pennsylvania coal fields. A standing-room-only crowd of nearly 400 people packed the Waynesburg Theatre for the premier of "Subsided Ground ... Fallen Futures." Another 50 people were turned away. By Don Hopey, Post-Gazette Staff Writer |
| 3. My Home is My Castle: Pittsburgh City Paper - When longwall mining comes to your town, your home is in the hands of the mining company -- and the law is on their side. "It was almost as if you put popcorn in the microwave. You could hear [the house] go POP! CRACK! POP! " writer: RICH LORD Pittsburgh City Paper.com |
|
| 4. Sinking
History: Longwall mines put holes in the past. Brick by brick, stone by stone, log by log, pieces of south western Pennsylvania's rich history are being erased by subsidence from longwall coal mining that has damaged or destroyed many architecturally unique and historically significant properties By Don Hopey, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. By Don Hopey, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette |
|
| 5. Longwall Mining In Pennsylvania
Ray Proffitt Foundation The surface damage from subsidence that occurs to houses, barns, highways, streets, railways, springs, wells, pipelines, streams, wetlands, farm fields, forests, and other surface features often is not evident to the casual observer. The undulating surface imposed by subsidence cuts across the more imposing topography of hills, valleys, and streams on the surface landscape. Typically, the most obvious sign that an area has experienced subsidence is the appearance of "water buffaloes" (drinking water replacement tanks) in homeowners' yards. Scaffolding and bracing around homes and businesses may help to reduce structural damage during the most active period of subsidence. In general, the thicker the coal seam that is removed and the closer it lies to the surface, the greater the resulting surface subsidence. |
|
| 6. That Sinking Feeling
- Sierra Club Subsidence creates damage in a variety of ways. It can damage homes and buildings ranging from cosmetic cracks to collapse. A building can tilt; be pulled off its foundation; have wall, floor and ceiling joints separate; and basement walls and foundations can be cracked.The building frame can be stressed and pulled to the point it tears apart. Doors and windows can fail to close, floors can tilt, windows shatter, and chimneys fall.Water and gas pipes can rupture and electric and phone lines can be broken. Ground shifting has cracked wells, cisterns, and septic tanks. It has burst water and oil pipelines, torn down utility lines, and dropped and cracked roads, streets, and rail lines.Trees have died when their root systems were pulled apart. Orchards and woodlots have been damaged. Subsidence damage to farmland ranges from small sinkholes to more than two-acre water traps. Large widespread troughs over mined out panels have severely disrupted surface drainage patterns making fields too wet to farm. Farm ponds and major impoundments have had banks and shorelines disrupted and have even been drained. Cracks and deep fissures pose hazards to livestock, farm equipment, and vehicles on damaged roadways. Subsidence is also creating the loss of ground and surface water. Fracturing and cracking of the rock strata is draining aquifers, springs, and wells. Streams are being drained or are pooled. In areas such as Greene and Washington Counties in Pennsylvania where longwall mines affect thousands of acres, entire watersheds are being disrupted. |
Many thanks to the journalists and organisations quoted on this page. May we Australians learn from your experiences. Thanks to my friends Ed and Linda Cushman of Ohio for researching these links and your interest in our cause. (Web Master) |
| home | contact | links | sitemap | news |
| Previous
page Absolutely Stylish Website Design Macarthur Bushwalkers |