Amerikohl gets go-ahead to surface mine
Ligonier Township supervisors voted Tuesday to tentatively grant a conditional-use permit to Amerikohl Mining Inc. for a surface mining project.
The decision ended several months of public debate over whether the Stahlstown company should receive it.
The township's action is contingent on the company's acquisition of a National Pollution Discharge Elimination System permit through the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, said solicitor Judith K. Ciszek.
The company also must provide the township a copy of the DEP-issued permit, updated project maps and site plans, and a letter verifying the date mining operations will commence, Ciszek said.
By year's end, Amerikohl plans to begin mining 24.5 acres of the Middle Kittanning coal seam on a 205-acre township patch to be called A&R Mine, located on a 533-acre property in Ligonier and Derry townships owned by Hanson Aggregates above the Loyalhanna Gorge off Latrobe Quarry Road, said company vice president David Maxwell.
The township permit, good for 24 months from the date the DEP permit is issued, requires Amerikohl to comply with a resolution containing 17 provisions put forth by Ciszek. Included are rules regarding times for mining and blasting, routes and times for coal transport, distances at which work must occur from township homes, and construction of a protective fence around the work site, Ciszek said.
Under the resolution, Amerikohl surface mining operations at the A&R Mine can initially occur from 6 a.m. to 2 a.m., Monday through Friday, during a 14-day startup period. After that, mining can occur from 6 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday. Blasting in accordance with state law can occur from 2 to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday.
"We can live with that," Maxwell said, adding that he plans to ask the board to allow for increased blasting time for contractor J&D Explosives, Meyersdale, Somerset County, in the event of any emergencies.
Coal transport by truck from the site can occur only on state Route 30, and Amerikohl volunteered to install truck warning signs at or near the site at the direction of PennDOT, Ciszek said.
Amerikohl also will work with Ligonier Valley School District to ensure that no hauling takes place on public roads during times when children are being bused to and from school.
Maxwell said Amerikohl also plans to ask township supervisors to grant the 30-day startup period for the project as initially requested.
Regarding any public dismay over the proposed site, Amerikohl is available to answer any questions, Maxwell said.
"If I don't resolve their issues, which normally can be resolved pretty quickly in a timely fashion or to their satisfaction, then all they have to do is call the DEP at that point. But I would rather they call us," Maxwell said.
The project should be completed 6 to 8 months after its projected start in late 2006, Maxwell said. The forest land will then be restored, Maxwell said.
"In another 10 years, nobody will know we were there," he said.
