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Mr. John Walliset Chairman Citizens Advisory Council P.O. Box 8459 Rachel Carson State Offrce Building Harrisburg, PA 17105-8459 Dear Mr. Walliser:

Thank you and the Citizens Advisory Council (CAC) for taking the time to review and provide input on the third Act 54 Report entifled, The Efficts of Subsidence Resultingfi'om Undergrotmd Bittminous Coal Mining on Sw'face Slruclures and Feahn'es, 2003-2008, The information gathering, data analysis, and reporting processes required by the Act 54 amendments to the Pennsylvania Bifuminous Mine Subsidence and Land Conservation Act @MSLCA) benefit greatly fi'om the scrutiny received by the CAC and other interested parties. As you know, the 1994 amendments to BMSLCA, known as Act 54, brought about significant changes to the Commonwealth's mine subsidence regulatory program. Essentially, the Act 54 amendments reflected a compromise reached through negotiation among representatives from the coal indushy, envilonmental groups, agricultural interests, and public service organizations. That negotiation process, known as the Deep Mining Mediation Project, lasted lbom 1986 to 1990 and resulted in an agreement among the various parties regarding important mining and property intelests, such as water supply protection and surface support requirements for an evolving underglound mining industry, The Act 54 amendments imposed new duties on undergrcund bituminous coal mine operators. These included obligations to replace water supplies affectsd by underground coal mining; to repair or compensate for subsidence damage to a wide range of strucfuies; to avoid causing irreparable damage to ceftain structures; and to prevent imminent hazards to human safety, The Act 54 amendments also repealed existing prohibitions on subsidence damage to cefiain structures and repealed the right of a surface ov/ner to pulchase coal support. An important provision of the Act 54 amendments included a requircmentthat DEP compile and analyze information contained in bituminous underground mine permit applications, in monitoling reports, and in other data sets submitted by underground mine operators on an ongoing basis. This information must be presented to the General Assembly, the Governor, and the CAC in five-year intervals and is be used to assess the effects of subsidence fiom underground mining on surface structures and water lrsources. The third Act 54 Report refercnced above ptovides this infotmation for the five-year reporting period from 2003 to 2008, The report was prepared by the University of Pittsburgh's School of Engineering under contract with DEP. DEP has reviewed the Reporl and has determined that its content and findings do not warrant any r'ecommended ohanges to the existing statute. It is

Rachel Carson State Offlce Bulldlng

7L7.787.2at4

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P.O. Box 2063 | Harlsburg, PA 17105-2063

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www.depweb.state.pa.us

Mr, John Walliser

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important to note that DEP developed and implemented a significant set of tecbnical guidelines duling this 2003-2008 reporling period. These guidelines are contained in a technical guidance document, entitled "surface Water Protection - Underground Bituminous Coal Mining Operations". The guidelines were partially developed to address findings outlined in the first two Act 54 reports, which together covered the ten-year petiod fi'om 1993 to2003, The Surface Water Protection guidance document was not fully implemented until 2007. It addresses subsidence-related issues; including mitigation approaches, monitodng protocols, atld the identification of adverse hydrologic impacts, in a comprehensive way. The guidance document was written to facilitate the evaluation of the undermining of waterresources and to help determine if proposed mining is protective of the existing uses and flrnctions of those resoutces. The implementation ofthe Sutface Water Protection policy resulted in a significant inclease in the amount of data collected by DEP and undelground mine operators. DEP's Surface Mine Conservation Inspectors walk the entire length of the streams being undermined. The sbeams are videotaped and global positioning system coordinatss at'e collected at all pertinent points that document pre-mining and post-mining conditions. Biologists fl'om DEP and the coal industry conductpre-mining and post-mining biological sampling of undeunined stteams. DBP reviews the biologicaldatasubmitted by the operator's biologists to ensule it conforms to the sampling guidelines set in the policy. The third Act 54 Report noted that fitture stream assessments will benefit from DEP's Surface Water Protection technical guidance document, Specifically, the third Act 54 Report found that DEP's Surface Water Protection technical guidance implements appropriate strearn assessment protocols and requires adequate pre-mining data (biological scores) to be collected and used as baseline data to evaluate the future impacts of undetmining. As you note in your letter, there has been a steady improvement in the quality and quantity of data collected with each successive Act 54 reporl. This trend will not only continue but will accelerate due to the collection and analysis of the dala connected with the full implementation of the Surface Water Protection guidelines. DEP is currently in the process of finalizing the conttact for the fourlh Act 54 Report that will assess data and Act 54 implementation over the period fi'om 2008 to 2013. With input from the CAC, DEP has already submitted a list of task descriptions and deliverables to the contractor. DEP's goal is have a contlact in place and have data collection begin prior to the end of the reporting peliod in order to ensure that the next Act 54 Report is completed within 12 months of the end of the reporting period, The next Act 54 teport will focus more on data assessment and stream impacts. This change is reflected in the contract task descriptions and deliverables. The following issues will be emphasized:

More emphasis will be placed on data analysis. The goal is to complement curent data gathering efforts with data evaluations by appropriate professionals. More foous will be placed on the assessment of long{erm advotse impacts to stream flow,

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Continued focus will be placed on the need for, and benefits of, elecffonic data submittal to expedite data submittal and fasilitate data analysis. The Act 54 Report contract language will covet data ownership and availability to ensure public access to the data relied on or referenced in the Report,

DEP, through its Office of Active and Abandoned Mine Operations (AAMO), will work with the CAC to addrcss your questions regarding data trends, sumulative impacts, resolution of complaints, and the cunent science related to predicting, minimizing and mitigating subsidencerelated impacts. To that end, I have asked Deputy Secretary John Stefanko to work with you and the CAC to coordinate presentations from AAMO staffon these issues. Deputy Secretary Stefanko rnay be reached via e-mail at [email protected] or by telephone at 717,783.9958. Again, I would like to thank you and the CAC for taking the time to review and share your comments on the third Act 54