skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Tuesday, March 19, 2024

Public News Service Logo
facebook instagram linkedin reddit youtube twitter
view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

SD public defense duties shift from counties to state; SCOTUS appears skeptical of restricting government communications with social media companies; Trump lawyers say he can't make bond; new scholarships aim to connect class of 2024 to high-demand jobs.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

The SCOTUS weighs government influence on social media, and who groups like the NRA can do business with. Biden signs an executive order to advance women's health research and the White House tells Israel it's responsible for the Gaza humanitarian crisis.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Midwest regenerative farmers are rethinking chicken production, Medicare Advantage is squeezing the finances of rural hospitals and California's extreme swing from floods to drought has some thinking it's time to turn rural farm parcels into floodplains.

Groups Appeal Mine Permit Threatening State Park

play audio
Play

Friday, December 23, 2016   

GREENE COUNTY, Pa. - Environmental groups say coal mining threatens to damage two streams in Ryerson Station State Park, and they want it stopped while the mining permit is reviewed.

On Wednesday, the Sierra Club and the Center for Coalfield Justice filed an appeal of a permit revision given to Consol Pennsylvania Coal Co., allowing longwall mining directly under the streams. According to Tom Schuster, senior campaign representative for the Sierra Club, those streams are among the few remaining water features in the park, and the permit revision was granted despite the company's acknowledgement that damage will occur.

"Their application predicts that some of these streams will see water loss because of subsidence from full-extraction mining," Schuster said.

The coal company has said 2,000 mining jobs are at stake, and it is working with Gov. Tom Wolf's office to ensure that environmental compliance conditions are met. However, Schuster pointed out that, 10 years ago, the same company was responsible for destroying a lake in the same park. He said attempts to restore waterways often fail.

"There are a number of streams that have been impacted in other portions of this mine outside the park that, years later, have never returned to their pre-mining condition," he said.

Ryerson Station Park also is in a section of Greene County that is a state-designated environmental justice area, and is the only state park easily accessible to the local community.

Schuster said he believes the permit revisions may violate state law, and added that mining must stop while the appeal is in progress. The environmental groups have challenged similar revisions to the mining permit for areas outside the park; he said that decision is due early in the new year.

"If the Environmental Hearing Board does agree with us that this type of damage is illegal," he said, "the DEP will have allowed additional damage to occur, and this time within a state park."

Schuster said the predicted loss of water in the streams would destroy wildlife habitat as well as recreational opportunities for area residents.

The appeal is online at ehb.courtapps.com.


get more stories like this via email

more stories
Iowa families can apply for up to $7,600 a year for private school costs. (Adobe Stock)

Social Issues

play sound

An ethics committee in the Republican-led Iowa House has dismissed a complaint filed by a group of community activists against a state lawmaker for hi…


play sound

Each spring, hundreds of thousands of California high school seniors have to figure out if they can afford to go to college in the fall - and two new …

Health and Wellness

play sound

A health care workforce shortage in New Hampshire is leaving Alzheimer's patients and their families with few options for treatment. Patients facing …


South Dakota ranks 49th in the country for its contribution to indigent legal defense costs, according to a 2023 report from the Indigent Legal Services Task Force. (Adobe Stock)

Social Issues

play sound

South Dakota is creating an Office of Indigent Legal Services after House Bill 1057 passed the Legislature with nearly unanimous support this month…

Environment

play sound

A Knoxville-based environmental group is voicing concerns over what it sees as an increasing financial strain imposed on taxpayers by nuclear weapons …

Environment

play sound

A bipartisan law set to take effect this summer prohibits foreign adversaries from buying Hoosier farmland. The signature of Gov. Eric Holcomb was …

Social Issues

play sound

Today, people across Arizona are voting in the Presidential Preference Election, a chance for registered Democrats and Republicans to choose their …

 

Phone: 303.448.9105 Toll Free: 888.891.9416 Fax: 208.247.1830 Your trusted member- and audience-supported news source since 1996 Copyright © 2021