FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
State Rep. Bill DeWeese D-Greene/Fayette/Washington www.pahouse.com/deweese

DeWeese joins Right-to-Know request regarding Ryerson documents 

HARRISBURG, March 31 – State Rep. Bill DeWeese, D-Greene/Fayette/Washington, has joined the Center for Coalfield Justice and the Washington (Pa.) Observer-Reporter newspaper in requesting documentation from two state agencies regarding the dam failure at Ryerson Station State Park.

The Right-to-Know Law request, seeking more than a dozen documents and reports, was made to the state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources and the state Department of Environmental Protection on March 30.

 "We would like to thank Representative DeWeese for joining us on this," said Cassie McCrae, community organizer for Coalfield Justice. "We are looking forward to working with him to increase public transparency and to bring a just solution on Ryerson to the residents of Greene County."

DeWeese, who has called upon Consol Energy to pay $58 million to restore the Duke Lake dam as sought by the DCNR, said he had no problem adding his name to the request to obtain public documents that will shed further light on the Ryerson situation.

"I am told all of these documents are referenced in an interim report prepared by the Department of Environmental Protection," said DeWeese. "Ryerson is a public property – and the public has a right to know what these state agencies have done, in terms of studying and rectifying this important issue."

DeWeese, who as Democratic majority leader moved an updated open records bill to the House floor for a successful vote, said, "It is my hope that through swift compliance with this legitimate inquiry for public records, the Center for Coalfield Justice and the Observer-Reporter will be able to illuminate the public as to what’s been going on."

The documents being sought are:

1. The submission from DCNR to DEP, Jan. 20, 2009, including all enclosed documents, specifically:

• Bruce K. Hebblewhite (Feb. 10, 2007) Preliminary Report on Factors Associated with damage to Ryerson Park Reservoir Dam (August 2005);

· Mine Subsidence Engineering Consultants Report (January 2007), Observed Impacts Near Ryerson Station Reservoir PA USA and an Overview of Valley Related Movements Resulting From Mining Within the Coalfields of New South Wales, Australia;

· Gannett Fleming Report (March 2007) Volumes I-V;

· GeoTDR, Inc. (October 2001) Effects of Undermining Interstate Route 70, South Strabane Township, Washington County, PA;

· Robert B. Francini: Kiefner and Associates, (Jan. 5, 2006), Final Report on Response to Apparent Ground Movement at Duke Energy's Holbrook Compressor Station to Duke Energy;

· Consol Pennsylvania Coal Company (CPCC) video of Ryerson Park (April 12, 2005 and May 5, 2005);

2. Technical response from CPCC to DEP on Jan. 21, 2009, including:
• Background information;
• Ground movement predictions calculated from Surface Deformation Prediction System (SDPS);
• CPCC’s response to DCNR’s theory of "unconventional" subsidence
• CPCC’s initial comments on the Gannett Fleming Report
• Additional supporting documents
• GAI Consultants, (April 2007), Review of Subsidence Data, Longwall Panels 5I and 7I, Bailey Mine, Greene County, PA
  
  
3. Supplemental submission from DCNR to DEP, April 9, 2009, including:

· Gannett Fleming’s Final Data Report

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