Monday, November 01, 2010
A Park in Centralia
State and local officials in Pennsylvania, as well as a law firm representing coal mining interests, are being sued for allegedly conspiring to move residents off their property for the sake of a land grab.
People living in the Borough of Centralia in northeastern Pennsylvania lost their homes after being told by authorities that an underground coal mine fire threatened the area. But the residents claim the fire was never a real threat to them and was used by a county redevelopment agency to abuse its condemnation powers so a coal company could purchase land containing billions of dollars worth of coal deposits.
The underground fire began in 1962 in an abandoned coal stripping pit that was used as a trash dump in Conyngham Township outside the Borough of Centralia. In 1983, the Bureau of Mines Office of Surface Mining issued a report warning of the dangers of The Centralia Mine Fire, and the Columbia County Redevelopment Authority began a voluntary relocation program for residents of Centralia Borough, although no evidence was presented that the fire actually extended to the Borough.
Meanwhile, according to the lawsuit, mining companies and government officials knew about the extensive coal deposits, but did not reveal the information to the residents of the area. Rosenn, Jenkins & Greenwald, the law firm representing the coal interests, made a claim for subsurface mineral rights below Centralia, and the Columbia County Redevelopment Authority initiated a claim of eminent domain.
In 2004, Blaschak Coal Corporation, the current holders of the mining rights, built a warehouse for mining activities in the alleged fire impact area.
The defendants “by and through political connections and the manipulation of governmental agencies and entities, are, among other things, illegally taking the property of the plaintiffs through the unlawful use of government police power,” reads the lawsuit.
-David Wallechinsky, Noel Brinkerhoff
Eminent Domain in Coal Country Called a Billion-Dollar Land Grab (by Erin McAuley, Courthouse News Service)
Hynoski v. Columbia County Redevelopment Authority (U.S. District Court, Middle Pennsylvania) (pdf)
Few Remain as 1962 Pa. Coal Town Fire Still Burns (by Michael Rubinkam, Associated Press)
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