Gaston's back-up comes through

In March, this blog described a "bureaucratic version of the Alphonse and Gaston routine" — "After you, Alphonse." "No, you first, my dear Gaston." — in which two units of Pennsylvania's Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) pointed to each other as being responsible for regulating a parcel of land in Fayette County known as the Curry site while unchecked erosion on the site was causing discharges of sediment that polluted the Youghiogheny River. Cast in the role of Alphonse was the Waterways and Wetlands (W&W) Program in DEP's Southwest Regional Office in Pittsburgh, and playing the role of Gaston was DEP's Mining Program.


In an update posted in July — "Alphonse Makes a Play" — we applauded W&W for taking enforcement actions against the owner of the Curry site and a timbering company for violation of DEP's erosion and sedimentation control regulations.


Gaston, in contrast, has been a stick-in-the-sediment.


Gaston — the DEP Mining Program — initially issued a compliance order to the company that holds the surface mining permit for the Curry site, Amerikohl Mining, Inc. It then abruptly reversed course, deciding that the clear-cutting of trees on portions of the site closely corresponding to those permitted for mining activities was not related to the proposed mining operation. The DEP Mining Program reasoned that because the timbering and mining operations were independent, any ongoing soil erosion and sediment pollution resulting from the timbering was not Amerikohl's responsibility and was not within the Mining Program's regulatory jurisdiction.


In short, Gaston's position was "don't call me, call Alphonse."


Fortunately, Gaston has a back-up, in the form of the federal Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement (OSMRE), which oversees the DEP Mining Program's regulation of coal mining in Pennsylvania. Digging deeper into the situation than Gaston had, OSMRE stepped up and took action.


The full story is spelled out in a September 8, 2014 Decision of Supervisory Administrative Law Judge Harvey C. Sweitzer of the U.S. Department of the Interior's Office of Hearings and Appeals (OHA).


Here's the short version. In response to citizen complaints about sediment pollution entering the Youghiogheny River, OSMRE gave the DEP Mining Program an opportunity to take action to correct the violations. After initially issuing a compliance order to Amerikohl, the DEP Mining Program reversed course, withdrew its order, and took the position that it had no authority over the Curry site. OSMRE received the same response when it gave the DEP Mining Program a second chance to take action. OSMRE then issued a notice of violation and later a cessation order to Amerikohl for erosion and sedimentation violations at the permitted Curry surface mine. Amerikohl appealed OSMRE's actions to OHA.


On review, Judge Sweitzer upheld OSMRE's issuance of the notice of violation and cessation order to Amerikohl. Rejecting absolute, "bright line" rules suggested by both parties, Judge Sweitzer held that the critical issue of whether the timbering was independent of the proposed coal mining activities required a case-by-case analysis of the factual situation presented. On that central issue, a welter of evidence showed extensive cooperation and coordination between the landowner and Amerikohl. Among other things, the landowner asked Amerikohl which logging contractor to use, had Amerikohl delineate the area to be timbered, removed more trees than would be prudent from a forest management perspective, and geared the logging operation to Amerikohl's timetable and a date restriction in the mining permit. (OHA Decision, p. 12.) Judge Sweitzer concluded that the landowner "did virtually everything he could to facilitate mining through his logging practices." (Id.) As a result, the judge ruled, the logging is classified as a surface mining activity under Pennsylvania's OSMRE-approved coal mining regulations. (Id., p. 15.)


Judge Sweitzer noted that when the DEP Mining Program decided it lacked jurisdiction, it was unaware of the full extent of Amerikohl's involvement in the timbering operations at the Curry site. He also found, however, that the DEP Mining Program had enough evidence — including the congruity between the area timbered and the area covered by the mining permit — to warrant further investigation, and he concluded that its failure to request additional time from OSMRE to conduct an investigation "was an arbitrary and capricious decision." (Id., p. 16.)


For the sake of the High Quality waters of the Youghiogheny, it is welcome news that Gaston has an able back-up that is willing to step into the void and make the play.


Better yet, of course, would be for Gaston to follow Alphonse's lead by getting in the game and making the play himself.

Kurt Weist is senior attorney for PennFuture and is based in Harrisburg.