Nov 25, 2002 By Steve Ostrosky 9 min read

Editor’s note: This story is the second in a three-part series examining the effects of the Dilworth mine shutdown and the future of the mining industry in Greene County.For 15 years, Don Chappel worked in the coal mines of Greene County, 10 of them at Consol Energy’s Bailey Mine as a roof bolter. He remembers those years and the men he worked with every day for more than a decade.

He knew, and still knows, the challenges miners face both underground and above ground.

And as many of those miners today face an uncertain future in an industry in which the work stops when the resource runs out, Chappel faces a challenge of his own: to attract companies and create jobs for the county’s work force, including some of the people with whom he once worked.

It’s his job to ensure that the Greene County economy, based on coal mining and its support services, changes as the coal industry grinds to a halt.

Chappel now works as the executive director of the Greene County Industrial Development Authority, but he credits the years he spent in the coal mines as an invaluable tool in the work he holds today.

He is constantly answering questions from developers and others inside and outside the county about the inner-workings of longwall mining, and fielding inquiries about whether prospective development sites have coal under them or that they have been already undermined.

Chappel is also trying to entice companies to look at Greene County – not as the largest producer of coal in the nation, but as a home for high-tech companies, distribution centers and other large businesses that may be interested in relocating.

“Working in a coal mine, we always knew it would end at some point,” he said. “The adjustment will be easier for some and tougher for others.”

He said miners have long been stereotyped as lesser in intelligence than other workers, but Chappel said he holds the men he worked with in high regard. Many miners, based on their skill levels, are able to move quickly into new fields of work or start a business of their own, he added.

But in Greene County, the options are few, forcing many to look elsewhere for employment.

New opportunities

Chappel and the authority are working to create new opportunities in an area where new ideas have been lacking for some time. While two industrial parks – Paisley in the eastern part of the county and Meadow Ridge Business Park near the Mount Morris exit of Interstate 79 – are focusing on manufacturing and industrial development, a third park has caught the attention of a different kind of industry.

EverGreene Technology Park, to be located on 200 acres in Franklin Township known as the former Lantz Farm, is the centerpiece of the GCIDA plan for the Greene County of the future. The park will connect via fiber-optic cable to supercomputers in Pittsburgh and energy laboratories in West Virginia.

While the project is still in its infancy, as many as 750 jobs could be created in five years, and the GCIDA is working to develop a work force to meet the needs, according to board Chairman Dr. Charles Rembold. He looks at EverGreene as the third piece of a triangle of locations that will appeal to industries of any kind.

“Meadow Ridge has the capacity for traditional and high-tech industry, Paisley is suitable for traditional industry, and EverGreene will be a high-tech facility,” he said. “This creates a possible location for any company that would be interested.”

Rembold, the superintendent of the Jefferson-Morgan School District, said teachers throughout the county are bring retrained and are learning how to integrate technology into every curriculum in every school district. At three high schools in the county, technology classes are being offered for adults who want to learn about computers or add more skills to their computer literacy.

He said having as many people in the county technology literate as soon as possible will provide any future employer with people who will have the basics of computers under their belts and will need only specialized training based on a particular company’s needs.

With infrastructure development the first step at EverGreene and curriculum change moving forward, Rembold said officials are beginning work to create efficient, technology-ready workers who will not have to be imported from other counties, other states or other countries to fill employee needs.

EverGreene’s development is a year behind work-force development, but Rembold is confident that the timing has been staggered to ensure that the first companies on board at EverGreene will be ready to welcome the first graduates and students of the technology-infused curriculum.

He considers Greene County a leader in the region in terms of technology education and development, and while progress has been slower than many had hoped, the possibilities ahead could be endless.

“I think EverGreene is a national model for how to develop a rural economy and how to change that economy,” Rembold said.

The facts

To get a better idea on just how large a player coal is in the Greene County economy and what kind of effect its continuing depletion is having and will continue to have on the county’s revenue base, the Pennsylvania Economy League (PEL) drafted a study in 2000 offering a number of recommendations for the county.

The study outlines two distinct patterns in the county. First, coal supplies have been depleted for the most part in the eastern portion of the county, which means school districts and municipalities in that area have ridden the rise and fall of coal tax revenue.

Second, areas in western Greene County are still full of coal reserves and not much else has been developed in those areas to diversify the economy.

“Because local governments have come to rely on coal revenue to an extraordinary degree, the decline in revenues as coal is exhausted could demolish their budgets,” the study reads. “Based on estimates … this devastation will appear well within the current planning timeframe for most government officials in Greene County.”

The study says that as coal revenue diminishes, the chances are slim that the property tax will be able to generate enough revenue to keep the county, school districts and municipalities operating in the black.

PEL has listed several “specific threats to the fiscal health of Greene County’s local governments” and has given leaders four objectives, with numerous recommendations, to accomplish, including the following:

– Leaders in the county must develop a common vision for diversifying and expanding the economy.

– Begin to explore consolidation among school districts and municipalities and assess the potential for consolidation or restructuring of school districts and/or municipal governments.

? Examine the application of alternative tax systems.

? Work with state representatives to increase state reimbursements for education expenses as the real property wealth of Greene County school districts erodes.

The study concludes that county and local government must work now to address the pending coal losses, to provide all the necessary services in the future. While western and eastern Greene County are on different sides of the coal depletion seesaw, PEL suggests that leaders develop a strategy to benefit the county as a whole.

“There can be no one single fix for the situation facing Greene County,” the study concludes. “Implementation of each of these objectives must be simultaneous and coordinated for the entire strategy to be successful.”

The county view

The knowledge of the changing coal industry and the effect on the Greene County economy is not lost on the county commissioners, who have been aware of the problem since they each took office.

Commission Chairman Dave Coder said he and his colleagues have worked hard to encourage any form of economic development, including possible retail development, to keep workers in the county. Despite efforts to educate people and persuade more developers to call the county home, Coder said the problem that affects the county economy, the reliance on property tax to generate revenue, must be addressed in the state Legislature.

“We need some changes in the tax system, and I plan to lobby the new governor and the state legislators about the need for tax reform,” he said. “It’s going to have to be a joint effort to fix this problem.”

Commissioner Farley Toothman looks at coal depletion as a situation to be managed, not a problem with solutions. He said the county has adapted to the condition in a number of ways, such as controlling spending and budget growth, lobbying to change what has made this a problem for Greene County and identifying other sources of revenue.

He said three foundations will come together soon to announce a joint contribution to allow the county to partner with the Pennsylvania Economy League and hire a person to use the information and lobby the state to help the county.

“We’ve raised foundation funds, we have reviewed the values of our surface properties, and we are doing what we can to encourage economic development,” Toothman said. “With the nation’s largest producing mines, it’s hard to keep up. It’s impossible to keep up, really.”

He advocates working with the state to encourage more economic development in the county, but without incentives, such as the Keystone Opportunity Zone, that allow companies to operate virtually tax-free for a period of time.

“KOZs have never helped our depleting tax base because they have only abated more taxes,” he said.

Toothman said technology has changed the mining industry, as 10 to 15 percent more coal is being mined from fewer facilities in the region. He said the commissioners have long touted the county’s development efforts and have offered locations for companies, but Greene County finds itself in competition with neighboring counties and the entire southwestern Pennsylvania region.

While recognizing where coal is heading in terms of revenue, Toothman said he would be remiss if he did not stress the value coal has had on the county economy.

“It is paying a large percentage of the county and school district general funds, and it is providing good jobs for a lot of people,” he said. “But if it were to go away tomorrow, our problems would be tremendous.”

Commissioner Scott A. Blair, finishing his third year as county commissioner, said the county and school districts have had to change their approach when looking at revenue and the shortfalls that are continuing from coal depletion. With many new opportunities still on the horizon, he hopes that the strides the county has taken will pay off sooner rather than later.

“I’m satisfied with the effort, but I will never be satisfied with the results,” he said.