Redstone man seeking subsidence help
Dan Grieco, with Gateway Engineers, gathers information for the Pennsylvania Turnpike as he looks down a deep sinkhole that according to property owner Jim Meese, Redstone Township, keep getting larger and deeper.
Redstone Township property owner Jim Meese talks about the several sinkholes that have appeared on his property.
Property owner Jim Meese stands at the edge of sinkhole that opened up at the rear of his Redstone Township property in the past month.
REDSTONE TWP. — A Redstone Township man is seeking help from state officials to remedy a series of sinkholes that have opened on his property.
According to Jim Meese, most of the holes opened up on his Simpson Road property following blasting for construction of the Mon/Fayette Expressway. Meese said he warned those involved in the construction blasting about potential problems.
“I said don’t shoot here, there’s a crack and it’s going to cause me trouble,” Meese said. “In the winter, I noticed places where the snow wouldn’t lay in the yard.”
Meese has lived on the site since 1922. According to the state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), it is over both the Pittsburgh Coal Seam and the Redstone Coal Seam which were mined by the Century Coal Company prior to 1940.
“I showed the engineers when they came here in 2009 that there was a disturbance here and I told them I thought it went clear down to the tunnel,” Meese said.
Meese said the disturbance goes beyond the open holes.
“Now, when I mow my yard, I can feel spots that are opening up,” Meese said. “I can’t let my boy bring his kids home and let them run around in the yard.”
He has been in contact with both the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission (TPC) and the DEP’s Department of Surface Mining. Someone from the DEP attempted to visit Meese’s property on July 19, but Meese was in the hospital at the time and the officials did not enter his property. The DEP sent Meese a letter based on that visit.
“The coal seams are located well beneath the ground at this location. It was determined that the problem is not an abandoned mine related problem. Based on the findings, a “No further action/Not mining related” determination was made,” the letter from Dean R. Baker of the Bureau of Surface Mining’s Investigation section stated.
DEP spokesman Kevin Sunday said a meeting with Meese at the end of the month is to clarify the finding, not to review it for possible change.
Sunday said a much larger area of ground would be disturbed if subsidence were involved. Township officials estimated that the line of holes is stretched across at least 80 to 100 feet of Meese’s property, and may actually extend across the road.
Engineers and insurance representatives for New Enterprise, the PTC contractor for the Redstone section of the expressway, visited Meese’s property last week to take measurements.
“Gateway Engineers have agreed to review the blast logs of the contractor, New Enterprise,” said PTC spokesman Tom Fox. “Fortunately, we had sensors on his property when the blast occurred and we will review the information from those sensors and we will use that to determine the level of vibration there.”
Fox said the review will take about three weeks.