Legislators inspect 'tree street' homes in RS

By Johnny Shafe-Green River Star Newspaper
Staff Writer
Published: Wednesday, December 9, 2009 6:06 PM MST

More than 28 months have passed since the weights stopped falling on a pilot dynamic compaction project near the “tree street” homes on the southwest side of Rock Springs.Families in 12 houses and the Springview Manor apartments still await a decision by the state on the damages to their residences caused by the alternating drops of a 25 and 35-ton weights near their homes in order to create more developable land.Dynamic compaction is a process described by the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality as “the process of repeatedly dropping heavy weights on the ground in a systematic pattern to collapse underground mine voids and compact rubble zones remaining from historic underground mining activities.” The entire aim of the project was “protecting the public from the effects of coal mine subsidence.”The project, overseen by the Abandoned Mine Lands division of the DEQ, was halted Aug. 6, 2007, after concerns from residents arose when damage began to appear in their homes after work began.

Five months later, John Corra, director of the DEQ, announced that AML plans for other tracts of land in the area selected for mine subsidence mitigation by dynamic compaction were being redrawn to exclude the process altogether.

Amidst talk and bureaucratic processes, the residents have yet to receive closure on the botched AML project.

The residents recently banded together again, putting on an open house-style tour for Rep. Bill Thompson, Stan Blake and Bernadine Craft, in addition to Sen. John Hastert and the media.

The purpose of the tour was to show the continuing damage to the homes as the ground beneath continues to shift.

The attorney general’s office wants to hire another engineer; a structural engineer this time. Harry Moore, the engineer previously designated to assess the damages to the houses in 2008 was a street engineer.

The 2008 assessment was the last time the residents received a settlement offer.

The point of contention between the state and the residents is the AG’s desire to make the engineer’s assessment a binding agreement.

The residents are being asked to agree to a reimbursement total without knowing what the dollar amount would be, instead of conducting the assessment and then offering a settlement.

“I’m embarrassed on how we’re handling this on the state level,” Thompson said. “I’m really frustrated about this whole ordeal.”

“I was appalled at the conditions of the homes these people have to live in, as well as the treatment of these people by the state.” Blake said of the tour of the affected houses. “It’s unacceptable.”