Longwall Effects  












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Diary of Longwall Mining Damage 2007

Severe damage continues to occur to our farmland, buildings and water supply as a result of mining by the Ohio Valley Coal Company.


1/2/2007 (see pictures 1/2/2007)

Radon at 3.5 pCi/L
Derrick Smith went up 40 feet to the roof of the house and fed the 4 inch plastic radon tube down the chimney and they connected it to the pipe in the fireplace. The job is now complete. We will see if this helps. I will leave the monitor in place for awhile to see if there is a positive effect. If not we will place a plastic curtain against the basement wall and put the monitor inside to check for a source. More work was done in the NE parlor and it is essentially finished with the last finish coat on and smoothed.

Floyd Simpson

1/3/2007

Radon at 3.6 pCi/L

Floyd Simpson

1/4/2007

Radon at 3.8 pCi/L average for the last 49 hours. Going up a little and we do not know why with the vent in place. Work is continuing on the ceiling in the hall and NE upstairs room. In which most of ceiling was damaged by longwall mining and it will be mostly taken down to the lath and replaced with historic duplication plaster. Professor Vickie Dalton of Belmont Technical College brought her class of 17 students to the farm to talk with me and observe some of the work. They are working on a project that involves application for National Register of like properties along the old Drovers Trail Scenic Byway in front of our house.

Floyd Simpson

1/5/2007

Radon still higher than I would like at 3.5 pCi/L. No workers here today. I am leaving for a week at Salt Lake City for the Annual American Farm Bureau convention today.

Floyd Simpson

1/11/2007

Radon had been going down while I was gone. Allegheny Restoration and Shirley had been noting the readings on the chart while I was in Utah. Jon thinks that barometric pressure has something to do with the changes.

Floyd Simpson

1/12/2007

Radon at 2.1 pCi/L today. I believe I can live with that. Workers not around today, much was done in the hall while I was gone and the room upstairs is about finished.

Floyd Simpson

10/30/2007

Update: Longwall Damage
For House located at
44480 Bel-Cent Rd.
Belmont, Ohio


The Ohio Valley Coal Company, a part of Murray Energy Corporation, has never provided a plan for restoring this structure to pre-mining condition. All settlement offers, made to date, have been based on incomplete bid information. As continued structure movement occurs, based on plumb bob changes, cracks continue to widen in basement floors and drywall separations, new cracks appear, water leaks into the basement, and has leaked around the chimney into the ceiling drywall, mice enter the house, which was not a problem before the subsidence damage occurred, and cold air comes in around windows with bent frames, and through brick separations and gaps in the foundation, making heating and cooling expenses higher. Full use of the house is no longer possible. One outside storm door does not open. Three doors in the basement do not close, one being for the bathroom. Since the chimney was never checked for damage, and the threat of a chimney fire is possible, the fireplaces can no longer be used. As the house continues to deteriorate, the convenience and efficiency of a relatively new home, constructed in 1996, have been severely compromised. We await a fact-based settlement offer, resulting from a complete plan to restore the structure, to resolve the problems caused solely by The Ohio Valley Coal Company’s longwall mining activities resulting in subsidence damages.

In the meantime, a book containing factual data, quotes, and resulting opinions is proceeding. The book will be offered for sale on this website in the future.

Shirley Simpson

 



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