November 23, 2024 - As longwall mining that began in October continues in the Cameron, WV area, city officials have concerns about how the mining may impact the area’s utilities. Residents allege the mining has damaged their properties.

American Consolidated Natural Resources, previously Murray Energy, is mining in the area. West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection Chief Communications Officer Terry Fletcher said ACNR had begun mining in the area during an Oct. 8 public meeting regarding the mining activity.

City Clerk Nichole Bryan has been acting as mayor since late October, when former mayor Greg Galentine resigned. She alleges subsidence from the longwall mining may damage the town’s water and sewer lines and is concerned about “a lack of communication” from ACNR officials.

Bryan’s main concern is possible damage to a newly installed $750,000 waterline extension along Green Valley Road. She fears subsidence, the movement of the ground surface due to the collapse of underground coal, may damage the road.

Bryan said “almost every fire hydrant” along Green Valley Road stands at “a tilt.” She noted that city crews had not noticed any leaks from the fire hydrants but she does not want city workers to open them due to her fears of aggravating any potential damage to the fire hydrants.

Bryan is also concerned that if subsidence were to damage waterlines, a water geyser would erupt, and city crews would be unable to shut it off easily.

Bryan alleges subsidence from the mining along Tunnel Hill has caused the city to lose track of the location of shutoff valves for the waterlines. She said ACNR crews leveled down the land on the road that was “hooved up” by the subsidence, but this has resulted in city officials and employees being unable to determine where their shutoff valves are located for their waterlines.

“We have shutoff valves that are MIA right now,” Bryan said. “We had one shutoff valve in the road that was spray painted visible. We can no longer see that valve because (ACNR has) graded the road and buried it.”

With the town already under a voluntary water conservation order due to the statewide summer drought, Bryan hopes a waterline will not break until the town’s reservoir can reach higher levels.

“Our reservoir is low right now, and it’s going to be low for a while, so there’s a lot of ‘what-ifs’ right now,” Bryan said. “When one of these ‘what-ifs’ happens, there’s going to be numerous issues, and I still have not spoken with or heard from anybody with ACNR.”

Cameron resident Lee Anderson points out repair work done to cracks in his house he believed were caused by longwall mining in the area.

photo by: Emma Delk

Cameron resident David Evans, a member of the city’s sewer/water board, also alleges that subsidence from longwall mining may damage the town’s sewer lines as they are gravity fed. He outlined that the city’s sewer lines run downhill, meaning if a sewer line was damaged from the mining, multiple residences may be compromised due to sewer backups.

Cameron residents Ed and Pat Phillips, who live along Green Valley Road, allege their septic tank collapsed into the ground due to subsidence from the mining. Pat Phillips said their septic tank fell “straight into the ground” two weeks ago.

When the septic tank fell, Pat Phillips recalled having ACNR crews visit their house to view the damage. Pat Phillips said ACNR crews placed a cover on top of the hole where the tank fell and orange fencing around the hole.

The couple fears their sewer system will soon be backed up due to the collapsed tank.

Evans said only water, no solids, could be flushed properly through the septic system with a collapsed septic tank.

“It’s been two weeks, and right now, there’s no way to know when the solids in their septic tank system will eventually come back up,” Evans said. “It all depends on how much the septic system is used and how poor the tank’s condition is.”

Another concern of Pat Phillips is the cracks appearing in their basement floor and walls. She noted in one corner of their basement, the house had begun to pull off of the foundation, with an approximately ½-inch gap between the house and the foundation seen inside the basement of their house.

Pat Phillips said ACNR crews came to their house two weeks ago to seal a large crack in the floor outside their basement door. She said last week, the seal began to crack again.

Pat Phillips believes the tilted angle of the upper floors is due to the uneven land below that she attributes to subsidence from the mining that pushing the land up and outward.

The Phillipses live approximately 500 feet away from Green Valley Road resident Lee Anderson, who also alleges his house is now at a tilted angle due to mining subsidence. Anderson estimates mining was performed under his house four to five days ago.

Anderson reported that ACNR crews have been adding wooden shims to the bottom of his house, which is made of two single-wide trailers, to even out the floor. He believes these are “band-aid solutions” to the problem, and he has requested ACNR employees lower the ground at the corner of his house to fix the problem.

Anderson’s most significant concern is that his house may break in two due to the land rising and dropping beneath it. Anderson’s house is constructed out of two single-wide trailers hooked together on a wooden rail that goes down the center of it, the “marriage rail.”

Anderson has already noticed a part of the house separating from the marriage rail in the back corner of his house.

“I would be kicked out of here if the single-wides were to pull apart,” Anderson said. “I’m trying to get it put back together.”

Anderson has also experienced cracking in the molding of his house. He added there is “plastic tape or foam tape on every window” in his house because the windows have tilted, resulting in air coming underneath the bottom corners.

Anderson’s backyard has raised sections of land he attributes to subsidence from the mining.

ACNR subcontractors have flattened the end of Anderson’s driveway, which has risen above the rest of the road to his house. Anderson, who drives a school bus for Marshall County Schools, said ACNR employees were at his house as recently as Thursday, Nov. 21, to flatten the hump in his driveway so he could get his bus out.

Anderson did not lose water due to the mining but reported that ACNR employees put a filter over his waterlines to clear out shale particles.

Anderson said he did not want to move but admitted he will most likely have to get a new home.

“I want to live comfortably until summertime,” Anderson said. “You can’t bring in a double-wide in the middle of winter.”

Anderson’s former next-door neighbor, Don Stern, vacated his Green Valley Road home two weeks ago due to the alleged damage the mining caused to his residence.

Stern decided to vacate his house after an incident when the power was not working in his basement. After turning the power for the basement on and off in his breaker box, he reported seeing “fire shoot out” of the closest power receptacle to the breaker box in the basement.

Stern then turned the breaker box on and off again and witnessed fire shoot out of the receptacle again. After that, Stern said he left the power off for the basement.

The next day, Stern said he called ACNR officials to inform them he believed his house was unsafe. Stern said the electric company turned off the house’s power “a day or two” after the incident.

Another concern for Cameron residents is that ACNR will mine under the high-risk Upper Grave Creek dams 7, 8 and 9. Under the West Virginia Code of State Rules Series 47-34, the failure of a Class 1 High Hazard dam may result in loss of life and major damage to property.

R&R Auto Sales Owner Rick Beresford Jr.’s garage is approximately 50-60 feet below dam 9. Beresford said ACNR officials informed him they were mining “directly under him” 10 days ago.

Since then, Beresford has observed “fat cracks” in the foundation of his garage, which he noticed appearing three weeks ago, grow larger, and new cracks have begun to form in other areas of the garage. He has also observed cracks between the garage walls’ concrete blocks and cracks between the walls and the garage’s windows.

Beresford’s main concern is any cracks in the concrete floor underneath his car lift, which he uses to perform West Virginia state car inspections. He explained that he puts 8,000 to 10,000 pounds on that lift, requiring the concrete underneath it to be a minimum of 6 inches thick.

“I keep telling myself, if the concrete breaks, that lift is not operable,” Beresford said. “Right now, it scares me because I hear cracking and popping (in the garage). I keep telling myself I could be working underneath the lift when the concrete cracks.”

Beresford has also experienced problems closing the barn doors to a tin building he added to the side of the garage. He alleged that the ground dropping underneath the barn doors due to subsidence from the mining had prevented them from opening and closing properly.

Beresford said ACNR crews had shaved down the wood of the doors multiple times so they could work again. He said ACNR workers had not repaired any cracks in the concrete floor.

Beresford does not want to sell the garage, as his late father, Rick Beresford Sr., built the building, and he planned on using the business to provide for his retirement.

“This garage is the last thing I have from my father, and he was the one who built it,” Beresford said.

ACNR officials could not be reached for comment regarding longwall mining in Cameron.