Fuck them windmills
JEANESVILLE — The Jeanesville mine fire would have turned into another Centralia if there wasn’t an active mining operation there to discover it six years ago, officials said.
U.S. Rep. Lou Barletta, R-11, Hazleton, state Sen. John Yudichak, D-14, Plymouth Twp., and the Banks Twp. supervisors joined officials of Atlantic Carbon, the coal company mining the site, on Wednesday to celebrate the extinguishment of the 45-year-old fire, which Colleen Connolly, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Environmental Protection, said took 44 million gallons of water and 14 million gallons of foam to fight, and 5 million cubic yards of material excavated and removed from the site.
From the top of a man-made mountain, local officials and the media were able to look down where the mine fire burned. To the right, there was a pit lined with clay where original fire was located. To the left, the other portion where the fire burned as coal was mined.
“Thank goodness Atlantic Carbon was on site to put this mine fire out,” Yudichak said.
“We got lucky that they had an active mine site. Think of that complication, You have an active mine site, coal seams, the confluence of this fire that we do not know how big it is, where it’s going, or where it’s going to end. We’re not sure, we assume it has been burning for 40 years. You can’t overstate the serious nature of this mine fire.”
George Roskos, chief operating officer for Atlantic Carbon, said the fire was hot, and had spread quite a bit before he and the company discovered it in 2012 when Atlantic Carbon’s predecessor, Hazleton Shaft, began mining the site — next to abandoned mine workings where the fire was also burning.
While the government paid to put the fire out in the abandoned area, Roskos’ company put it out in the active mining area, he said to the tune of $6 million to $7 million.
“The fire was in 29 acres, and there is another 30-40 acres we put out,” Roskos said. “It was 200-250 feet deep, and it was 300 degrees on the low side, to up to 2,000 degrees. When you would dig out areas, you would actually have red hot coals you would see burning.”
The fire’s extent was determined by 52 boreholes that were drilled into the area. Their location had been determined by infrared aerial photography that identified hot spots.
If the fire had been left to burn, it would have spread easily, Roskos said.
“Ignored, it would have been just like the Centralia mine fire eventually,” Roskos said. “It would just travel along the coal seams. That’s what was happening here. Fortunately, we started mining the site. We were able to get ahead of it. We did some advanced mining to kind of cut the fire off.”
If the fire had spread further, it would have jeopardized homes the way Centralia did, Roskos said.
“It could have traveled over to Route 309, and into Tresckow, Junedale and Beaver Meadows,” Roskos said, “It would have permeated under houses. The fire probably would not have come up, but you would have had coal gas, which has a lot of carbon monoxide in it, and would have made it unsuitable for human habitation.”
Barletta said when he learned of the fire’s existence, he thought of Centralia, where the federal government bought and razed most of the homes.
“The fire started in an abandoned stripping pit with some garbage sometime in the 1970s, and spread into the coal seams, which made it a safety issue for the entire greater Hazleton area,” Barletta said. “With help from DEP, BAMR (the state Bureau of Abandoned Mine Reclamation) and OSM (the federal Office of Surface Mining) working together with the senator, I’m glad to say we were able to put the fire out.”
Roskos said he believes the fire is out. The state DEP will schedule a news conference later this year to make it official.
“Right now, as far as we can see, all of the hot material has been taken out,” Roskos said. “All indications are that the fire has been extinguished. DEP is requiring a few extra wells to be put in. They’re going to be monitored to make sure there is no rise in temperature.”
When he learned the fire was present, Roskos said he contacted Barletta, Yudichak and state Rep. Tarah Toohil, R-116, Butler Twp., to enlist their help.
“They were instrumental in bringing DEP to the table to get involved in the project,” Roskos said. “It was declared an emergency job. What we ended up doing was bidding on a contract. We were low bidder at $9 million, Other bids were in the range of $14, $15 million.”
Yudichak said teamwork between government officials at all levels caused the fire to be put out at half the cost.
“We were able to assemble a team of not only mining experts, but also DEP and BAMR. to assess the scope of the problem,” Yudichak said. “We knew we had to be aggressive and efficient in putting this out before it got any further into any other community. Because we had an active mine operation, we were able to secure a $9.3 million grant. If we had to go through the normal process, and bring in an outside team that didn’t have the expertise, It would have been $14, $15, $16 million to tackle this problem. This is really a textbook example of a responsive local government, federal and state government getting the experts, and having a private sector partner solving a significant and serious problem here in Northeastern Pennsylvania.”
Banks Twp. Supervisor Joe Clark said he had to deal with the mine fire shortly after taking office.
“It was my second meeting as a supervisor when I was informed there was a mine fire,” Clark said. “It’s almost four years to the day. Senator Yudichak was instrumental in getting the initial boreholes, and Congressman Barletta got the ($9.3 million) grant. We found out it was a lot more than we thought it was. The cooperation among the levels of government was amazing. Just standing here, the change in the landscape is amazing. It’s a great day.”