Pennsylvania Protects Stream

The Pennsylvania Environmental Hearing Board confirmed on Aug. 15 that Pennsylvania’s Clean Streams Law and the Pennsylvania Constitution do not allow mining permits to be granted if irreversible damages will be made to a stream.

This precedent was set when the hearing board recently rejected a revised 2015 permit issued by the state’s Department of Environmental Protection to Consol Pennsylvania Coal Company for underground longwall mining that was causing Polen Run to run dry despite high water levels in surrounding areas. — Otto Solberg