Work begins to fill mine void in Drifton

HAZLE TWP. – A Bloomsburg excavation company was awarded a contract for the first phase of construction work on the mine subsidence in Drifton that caused two homes to be condemned last week.

M & J Excavation was awarded the contract after submitting a bid of slightly more than $78,000 to the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement on Monday morning.

An on-site inspection conducted at 10 a.m. lasted a half hour, said Luzerne County Emergency Management Agency Coordinator Steve Bekanich. Contractors toured the site and developed bidding plans within an hour.

The bid was awarded at 11:45 a.m. and work began just two hours later. Officials from the local Office of Surface Mining said phase 1 should be completed within two to four days.

“The contractor will backfill the deepest part of the void with concrete, and then install cribbing and a steel beam beneath one or both houses,” said Michael Kuhns, supervisory general engineer for the local Branch of Anthracite office.

“Right now, the (plan) is set up so that we will excavate some of the loose material and make sure we have access to get under the houses,” Kuhns said.

Kuhns said phase 2 is a definite, while a third phase depends on how the ground settles after backfilling.

“If we do that, we’ll look into accessing the mine underground and trying to (determine) the cause of the problem,” Kuhns said. Phase 3 will involve using bore holes that the state drilled a few years ago.

“Filling some of those voids in will help to minimize the potential for this to happen again in the future at this scale,” Kuhns said.

The project is being funded with federal money from a levy on each ton of coal produced. Approximately 30 cents from each ton is put into a fund.

Officials from the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation said Route 940 in the area of the subsidence could be closed until at least Friday.

“This is certainly one of the most destructive (mine subsidences),” Kuhns said. “It’s very large and very destructive because of where it is … by the two houses.”

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