Friday, August 26, 2011

There Goes the Lake: "Did we do that?"

There used to be a lake here.
Duke Lake provided Greene County (PA) residents with a popular spot to fish, boat, and swim.
Six years ago, the earth moved in Greene County, PA.  A dam at Ryerson Station State Park's 62-acre Duke Lake cracked as a result of longwall mining nearby.  The state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources was forced to drain the lake because of safety concerns.  Litigation ensued.  Consol Energy is responsible for the crack in the dam.  But now they don't want to pay to replace the dam.

Duke Lake is still dry.  Here is the latest advisory:

8/17/2011 1:56:00 PM Duke Lake at Ryerson Station State Park was drawn down on 7/28/05 due to concerns about the dam. As a result there is currently no lake, no boating and only limited trout fishing available at the park until the concerns can be addressed and the lake refilled. The limited trout fishing areas are in the stream above what once was the lake near the iron bridge, and below the breached dam. The park is still open for camping, hiking, and picniking year-round and when in season, the swimming pool is open

Read the PennFuture article here.

Here's Don Hopey's article published August 25, 2011, in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.  A judge will issue a decision as to whether Consol Energy will have to pay for the damages soon.

2 comments:

smurfette said...

There is currently NO LAKE? I would think that the NO BOATING part would be understood.You know, if you bring your boats there and there is no lake, I think you would notice before you put your boats where the lake formerly was. LIMITED TROUT FISHING? I would guess so- above "what once was the lake" ? Are they kidding? Can you imagine the property values in the area? As for hiking around the "lake", I'd say the scenery has definitely changed for the worse. You could actually have a picnic in the MIDDLE of the scorched Earth that was once the lake. Can you imagine actually writing this advisory? I certainly hope and pray that the judge makes Consol Energy pay for damages. It's the least they can do for these poor people.

Angler's Notebook said...

A settlement has arrived! In keep with its long tradition of "environmental stewardship," the Consol corporation has agreed to give the DCNR just over half of the amount of money it said it needed to get the lake back to its previous state. The only stipulations are that the company will admit no fault, mining will continue under the park, and Consol will now drill for natural gas under the park too!