Barletta says Jeansville fire is extinguished; DEP is still monitoring

Congressman Lou Barletta held a news conference in Jeansville on Wednesday morning to announce that a mine fire discovered in 2012 has been extinguished, however the Department of Environmental Protection says more testing is needed to confirm the fire is out.

Barletta was joined by state Sen. John Yudichak, Banks Township supervisors, and officials from Hazleton Shaft, the mine company which was contracted to extinguish the fire while actively mining the site.

Barletta praised the cooperation between federal, state and local officials to extinguish the fire in the six years since it was discovered. It is believed the fire was burning underground for 30-40 years before it was discovered.

“When I first learned of the fire, I feared it would be another Centralia, and I’m sure local residents felt the same. That’s why I was determined to do everything possible to ensure it was put out once and for all,” Barletta said.

The Department of Environmental Protection did not participate in the news conference. A spokesman said she cannot confirm that the Jeansville Mine Fire has been extinguished.

Colleen Connolly said an update from DEP on the status of the fire will be available in the coming months.

The last official update from DEP came in March, when they determined the fire was contained in a 29-acre area and hadn’t spread.

“The DEP continues to utilize a contractor, Hazleton Shaft, to extinguish the fire and is working with them to drill additional monitoring holes to determine if coal material continues to burn beneath the surface,” said Colleen Connolly, Community Relations Coordinator for DEP.

Contacted after the news conference, a spokesman for Barletta said the fire is out, but they understand DEP’s caution about definitively saying so.

Katherine Sears said DEP wants to make sure that the fire does not reignite. She said they are glad that DEP plans to still monitor it.

“They’re prioritizing the safety of residents, and we understand that,” Sears said. “But we’ve been in contact with the company that’s in charge of the project, and the site manager, and they have all confirmed it is, in fact, out.”

Sears said the representative’s office wanted to celebrate because extinguishing the mine fire is a big win for the residents of Jeansville and Banks Township. It is believed to have burned for 30-40 years, even though it was just discovered by the mine company about six years ago.

DEP determined in 2016 that the fire was not negatively impacting air quality in Jeansville, but Sears said there was still concern that it could turn into another disaster like Centralia.

“Centralia hung over their head even while they were working on putting it out. And I think this will provide a lot of relief for them,” Sears said.

Louis Pagnotti is an executive with Atlantic Carbon, the parent company of Hazleton Shaft, which received a $9.3 million contract to put out the fire. Hazleton Shaft also has a lease to surface mine approximately 960 acres, including some of the area where the fire burned underground.

Pagnotti said conditions at the site recently changed significantly, leading them to believe that it is out. The high temperatures, smoke and steam from the fire, which would pop up during mining operations, have ceased.

“We’re there every day, mining adjacent to the mine fire, and we know that it’s out,” he said.

Mine workers no longer have to use water where they are mining because the fire is out, Pagnotti said. They have dug down to the bottom of the seam of coal, and there is no evidence of fire.

During the project, Hazleton Shaft excavated more than 3 million cubic yards of material, and used over 44 million gallons of water to extinguish the fire.

Pagnotti said he believes that when DEP drills new monitoring wells, it will confirm his assessment of the fire.

“Absolutely positive, yes,” he said.

Pagnotti said the project would not have been possible without the federal government getting involved. Much of the land involved isn’t in active mining.

“This area, most of it was off the permit area to the south. Private funding just can’t do all that needs to be done — you needed the federal government,” he said.

Sen. John Yudichak, who appeared at the news conference, praised the partnership with Atlantic Carbon, saying it was instrumental in extinguishing the mine fire and allowing for mine reclamation work to take place at the same time.

A spokesman for Yudichak said DEP has the final say when it comes to determining whether the fire is actually out.

“Great things can be accomplished on behalf of our communities when partisan politics is put aside. Local, state and federal officials teamed up to develop and execute a plan to help with the Jeansville Mine Fire and eliminate the significant health risk,” Yudichak said.