May 29, 2002 By Jim Stark 4 min read

As I write this I am sitting amid a pile of boxes packed by the mining company, anticipating a man made slow-motion earthquake. So far, the mining company is living up to its end of the Pennsylvania Act 54 mining act. In preparation for undermining my home of 25 years, they have piled my possessions into a trailer in the back yard and a storage facility two miles away.

They have shifted my water lines so that when the foundation shifts, there will be enough give in the water lines to ensure that they not break and flood the house. They have arranged with the local utility company to add slack into the service lines, so that when the house moves the lines will not break and we will not be forced to live without electricity.

So far, Maple Creek Mine is doing what it promised.

The problem with all of this is that everything I do to maintain the beauty of my property is infinitely more difficult than it truly needs to be.

Last weekend I wanted to mow my lawn. But before I could do that, I needed to do some minor maintenance work on the mower. To complete this, I needed a bolt and a nut. Normally, I would pull out a drawer, grab what I need and go. But these days the process is more involved. These days, I have to refer to a long list that details which boxes hold the nuts and bolts that I want. Then, I am forced to trek out to the trailer in my backyard with a flashlight so I can find the boxes, dig them out and hopefully find what I need. When this is done, I repack all of the boxes and pray that I will not have to repeat the process for at least a few hours or so. A task that would normally have taken two minutes has absorbed 40 minutes of my Saturday afternoon. Perhaps if I had driven the 10 miles to the store, I might have shaved off some time. Ah, the frustration.

Unfortunately, I will have to live with this situation for up to three years before the mining company is through with me. Can you imagine living for three years with your entire life packed away in boxes?

The problem is that everyone has rights. Homeowners have the right to expect that their homes will not be destroyed. The coal company has the right to mine its coal. The miner has the right to work if a safe environment. And the global community has a right to use these energy resources to allow the economy to grow, as well as the right to a strong and healthy environment.

These rights are man-made, and open for discussion.

But the laws of gravity, physics and the strength of materials are non-negotiable. An unsupported roof 1,000 feet wide and a mile long will collapse. And if your house is built upon that collapsing ground, well then, your house will most likely collapse as well.

But what if we change the current paradigm? What if we could ensure that the mine roof would not collapse?

What if instead of building trash mountains such as Mount Arden, we built mine supports? What if state or federal law required earth recycling?

What if Act 54 were changed to require that for every pound of coal or other ore removed from the earth, a pound of trash had to be compacted to a strength equal to the ore removed from the ground? What if instead of paying millions of dollars to repair, rebuild, or restore houses and disrupting lives, we found a way to hold the ground in place? We could eliminate the multiple problems with a single solution that allowed for virtually 100 percent resource recovery.

If the equipment used to support the roof of the mines were modified slightly, the trash from New York and New Jersey could be used to hold up the land. If the trash had a few ingredients added to it, the strength of the compacted trash could be equal to the strength of the coal of other ore.

The process could eliminate leaching of acids and destruction of aquifers. When perfected, 100 percent of the resource could be recovered instead of the current 70 percent.

This could mean billions more in resources and that means billions more in profits for companies. Rock strata would not shift, water well would not be lost, mines would not flood, houses would not drop, and lives would not have to be disrupted.

But more than that, I would not have to live out of boxes for years. Ah the possibilities…

Jim Stark is a resident of Eighty Four in Washington County.