Rustic Ridge Coal Mine Town Hall Set for Nov. 5 in Donegal
Mountain Watershed Association holds a public town hall on the Rustic Ridge coal mine Nov. 5 in Donegal, ahead of a DEP permit hearing on Nov. 10.
Mountain Watershed Association is holding a public town hall on the Rustic Ridge coal mine Wednesday, November 5, at 6 p.m. at St. Raymond of the Mountains Church, 170 School House Lane, Donegal. Dinner will be provided, and the meeting will also be available by Zoom.
The meeting will cover the status of two permits: a renewal for the existing Rustic Ridge I mine and the pending application for a proposed Rustic Ridge II mine nearby. MWA plans to walk residents through its Water and Structure Inventory, offer tips for monitoring private wells and property, and show the most recent mining maps. A separate part of the evening covers how to prepare a public comment ahead of a Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection Informal Public Conference on the Rustic Ridge mining permit renewal, scheduled for November 10.
Rustic Ridge I has been operating in Donegal and Saltlick Townships since 2018. It is run by LCT Energy of Johnstown, a subsidiary of Latrobe based Robindale Energy, which mines metallurgical coal, the kind used to make steel, through room and pillar methods meant to leave support columns in place and keep the ground above from collapsing. The state Department of Environmental Protection has confirmed structural damage to several homes within the mine’s permitted area consistent with that kind of ground subsidence, and the company has purchased a number of the affected properties from their owners. LCT has also proposed a second, 2,300 acre underground mine nearby, Rustic Ridge II, and DEP is reviewing a related permit that would allow the company to discharge treated mine water into tributaries of Jacobs Creek, a stocked trout stream.
Company representatives have said the treated water released from its sites meets DEP water quality standards, and some local voices have argued the mine supplies jobs and steel making coal the region needs. Mountain Watershed Association and other area residents have pushed back for years, arguing continued mining threatens private water supplies, roads and the character of the Laurel Highlands. Earlier this year, DEP agreed to a fuller review of whether part of the area is unsuitable for mining, a step the agency has said it has granted only rarely over the past decade.
Residents with questions can reach Mountain Watershed Association at 724-455-4200 or stacey@mtwatershed.com.