Longwall Mining Protests

Outside a long wall Conference in Pittsburgh this morning, concerned protesters wore shirts that read "Coal is Dirty" and told stories of how this kind of mining is ruining lives, going beyond coal pollution. Lone Pine, a small town near Washington, Pennsylvania, has been impacted by longwall mining, a process that lets a mine to collapse after the coal is removed. Sometimes surface water flows are altered as well. Center for Coalfield Justice Board Member Diane Lindley says her elderly parents, after rebuilding a farmhouse in Lone Pine, had their property destroyed after a longwall mining excavation beneath their property in 2001. State law Act 54 allows longwall mining under roads and bridges with little notice to land owners. According to Coalfield Justice Director Raina Rippel, between mine subsidence risks and fewer workers needed, there is nothing good about longwall mining except to help companies make a quick buck.