Mead tells 'Tree Street' residents to keep fighting for equitable solution
By JEFF GEARINO - Southwest Wyoming bureau Posted: Thursday, January 28, 2010 12:15 am
ROCK SPRINGS -- For two years now, residents of the downtown "Tree Street" neighborhood whose homes were damaged during an ill-fated mine subsidence project have begged help from anybody who would listen.
The homeowners have done dozens of interviews with print and TV media.
They've conducted tours for state lawmakers, lobbied legislators and written hundreds of letters to officials and others in hopes of getting a fair settlement from the state to repair the damage.
Now they're turning for help from those who are just seeking office.
Republican gubernatorial candidate Matt Mead toured four Tree Street homes and an apartment complex while campaigning here on Wednesday to get a first-hand look at the damage caused by the July 2007 project.
The project, conducted by the Wyoming Abandoned Mine Lands Division, aimed to free up vacant lands in the city so they could be developed for housing to help cope with a booming, energy-related demand for affordable homes. The dropping of 25- and 35-ton weights more than 2,300 times over two weeks ended up damaging nearly 20 homes.
Like other lawmakers who toured some of the homes earlier this month, Mead said he was stunned by what he saw.
"There's a shocking amount of damage I've seen here today ... There's some terrible angst involved in all of this," Mead said during an informal meeting with about a dozen homeowners after the tour.
The Jelm rancher, who served as U.S. attorney for Wyoming from 2001 to 2007, urged residents to not wait until the November election in hope that a new governor might fix their problems.
He said homeowners should continue to inform the public of their plight and keep fighting for a fair and equitable solution from the state.
"I'd hate to have you think that this would all change if there were a new governor ... so I would not take my foot off the gas pedal yet, if I were you," Mead said.
"Don't wait for me or anybody to get elected ... keep the throttle going on this," he added. "There is nothing more frustrating than not having any answer or any direction (from the state). I'll try to give you some."
Becky Kelley, the unofficial spokeswoman for the Tree Street residents, said Wednesday she and other homeowners continue to be frustrated with the slow pace of the resolution process.
However, she said residents were heartened by Mead's visit and the handful of recent tours by other area lawmakers.
"We're glad somebody is listening ... these (lawmakers) get really interested once they get here and see the damage to these homes themselves," Kelley said. "They're shocked when they see that we have a legitimate complaint. We hope Matt will make this a campaign issue."
Mead told residents he would study the issue and then send each homeowner a letter in the next few weeks spelling out how he would deal with the issue if he were governor.
'Bureaucratic impasse'
The state sent in engineers to assess 19 damage claims filed by homeowners under a settlement process established by the Abandoned Mine Lands Division in 2008. The state followed up with settlement offers based on the engineers' report, but only two homeowners accepted the state's initial offers.
Homeowners are now pinning their hopes on planned new inspections by structural engineers in the coming year that they believe will finally reveal the true extent of the damage.
On Monday, Sen. Stan Cooper, R-Kemmerer, released a Jan. 20 letter he sent to Gov. Dave Freudenthal after he and other southwest Wyoming lawmakers surveyed the damage during a Jan. 13 tour of nearly a dozen homes.
Cooper said residents affected by the dynamic compaction project are receiving little or no help from the state.
He urged the governor to use budgeted state AML funds to pay for much-needed repairs to damaged homes.
"I write this letter with a great deal of frustration over what appears to be a state governmental bureaucracy that has gone completely 'off the rails,'" Cooper wrote. "One gets the feeling that the State's position is ... if we all just ignore this issue long enough, it will go away.
"It is time that this bureaucratic impasse is lifted and that we get on with the business of assisting these people."
He noted the governor's budget message submitted with the state budget recommendations for the 2011-12 biennium said there will be $116 million available for AML funding. Cooper said much of that funding will not be spent on direct abandoned mine reclamation projects.
"Why is it not possible to use a fairly small amount of these funds to rectify the damage that has been done to these homes," Cooper said in the letter.
"Our legislative attempts in the past have met with claims ... that there is a shortage of funds for the existing AML projects," he continued. "Maybe it's time we divert some of those funds to use for something that they were really intended for."
Contact southwest Wyoming bureau reporter Jeff Gearino at 307-875-5359 or gearino@tribcsp.com
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Letter to Governor from Sen. Stan Cooper
Sen. Cooper sent this to Becky, and said to put it on the blog.
January 20, 2010
Governor Dave Freudenthal
State Capitol Building
Cheyenne, Wyoming 82002
Re: Tree Street Folks-Rock Springs
Dear Governor Freudenthal;
I write this letter with a great deal frustration over what appears to be a state governmental bureaucracy that has gone completely “off the rails”. I’m referring to what is happening or maybe it would be better defined by what is not happening to help the Tree Street people of Rock Springs. These folks have been unjustly characterized as a bunch of people just looking to make a bundle of money off of the government and they really have no justifiable claim. Nothing could be further from the truth and I believe, Governor, if you had the opportunity to visit these homes you would readily come to the conclusion that the Tree Street Folks have verifiable and justifiable claims against the state for its actions relating directly back to the Dynamic Compaction project.
These people are convinced, and I agree, that they are being completely ignored by the DEQ. As I understand the system, the DEQ is the agency specifically charged with handling abandoned mine problems and reclamation. The claim I hear from the bureaucracy is that the Tree Street Folks have “lawyer’d up” which seems to be an excuse for them to shut down any action on their part to address the grievances of these people. What else could you expect of these people when they’re lives have been upset, their homes wrecked and they are feeling that they have been abandoned by the very system that was meant to protect them. They are receiving little or no help from state government to address the problems that were of no fault of their own. I’m not even sure that the people in state government really understand the consequences of their actions on these people’s lives because of this ill fated state sponsored project. Do they even understand that because of the states actions that these homes, even if repaired, will most likely be rendered unsalable or at best sold at ridiculously low values? One gets the feeling that the State’s position is; if we all just ignore this issue long enough it will just go away!
We all know that the Dynamic Compaction Project in Rock Springs was ill advised and badly planned. This project has caused a tremendous amount of damage to the homes in the Tree Street District. It doesn’t take a geological engineer to connect the dots between this project and the damage to these homes. If someone drops a (35) ton weight (2200) times on a rock formation that has been under-mined and your house is sitting about (1000) feet away on the same formation there is going to be unintended consequences (damage) to that home. These folks have testified to me that every time that (35) tons hit the ground you could see their homes shutter and shake like an earthquake from the impact.
There is particular concern for an area within the Tree Street District where an approved HUD housing apartment complex is located with (59) elderly, disabled and low income tenants residing. There has been extensive damage to this facility to the point that all the stairwells are cracking and many of the fire doors will no longer close properly in order to halt the progress of a fire within the corridors of these buildings. HUD is not a “happy camper” with the situation and is concerned for the safety of the residence of this complex. The apartment managers are concerned also and there is a possibility that the HUD administrators could shut the place down and put all of these people out on the street. I would hate to think that we could be responsible for something like that happening just because we failed to take action on the problem. The people operating this complex do not have the kind of money that it takes to repair the facility in light of the fact that we’re probably talking about foundation stabilization. One home owner in the area has recently spent $69,000 of their own money to stabilize the foundation of their home so one could imagine what it would cost to do an apartment house.
You have the authority, Governor, to recommend that the Tree Street folks have their grievances addressed by the state and that they be fairly compensated for the damages that were incurred as a result of the state sponsored Dynamic Compaction Project. It’s time that this bureaucratic impasse is lifted and that we get on with the business of assisting these people. AML funds could not be used in a better way or for a better reason and for a purpose for which they were originally intended. According to your budget message submitted with the State Budget Recommendations for the 2011-2012 Biennium Budget there will be $116 M available for AML funding; much of which will not be spent on direct abandoned mine reclamation projects. Why is it not possible to use a fairly small amount of these funds to rectify the damage that has been done to these homes by the Dynamic Compaction Project in Rock Springs?
If there is any way legislatively that I can help move an agenda forward to help these people with their plight, I’ll be happy to do so. Our legislative attempts in the past have met with claims generally attributed to the executive branch that there is a shortage of funds for the existing AML projects. Well maybe it’s time that we divert some of those funds to use for something that they were really intended for. I guess I’m having a difficult time keeping that old saying from rattling around in my head: “I’m from the government and I’m here to help”!
Please let me know where the State is on any kind of movement to meet with or address the Tree Street issues.
Sincerely,
Senator Stan Cooper
CC: Senator Marty Martin
Senator John Hastert
Rep. Bill Thompson
Rep. Bernadine Craft
Rep. Stan Blake
Rep. Joe Barbuto
Rep. Allen Jaggi
Rep. Kathy Davison
Tree Street Folks
January 20, 2010
Governor Dave Freudenthal
State Capitol Building
Cheyenne, Wyoming 82002
Re: Tree Street Folks-Rock Springs
Dear Governor Freudenthal;
I write this letter with a great deal frustration over what appears to be a state governmental bureaucracy that has gone completely “off the rails”. I’m referring to what is happening or maybe it would be better defined by what is not happening to help the Tree Street people of Rock Springs. These folks have been unjustly characterized as a bunch of people just looking to make a bundle of money off of the government and they really have no justifiable claim. Nothing could be further from the truth and I believe, Governor, if you had the opportunity to visit these homes you would readily come to the conclusion that the Tree Street Folks have verifiable and justifiable claims against the state for its actions relating directly back to the Dynamic Compaction project.
These people are convinced, and I agree, that they are being completely ignored by the DEQ. As I understand the system, the DEQ is the agency specifically charged with handling abandoned mine problems and reclamation. The claim I hear from the bureaucracy is that the Tree Street Folks have “lawyer’d up” which seems to be an excuse for them to shut down any action on their part to address the grievances of these people. What else could you expect of these people when they’re lives have been upset, their homes wrecked and they are feeling that they have been abandoned by the very system that was meant to protect them. They are receiving little or no help from state government to address the problems that were of no fault of their own. I’m not even sure that the people in state government really understand the consequences of their actions on these people’s lives because of this ill fated state sponsored project. Do they even understand that because of the states actions that these homes, even if repaired, will most likely be rendered unsalable or at best sold at ridiculously low values? One gets the feeling that the State’s position is; if we all just ignore this issue long enough it will just go away!
We all know that the Dynamic Compaction Project in Rock Springs was ill advised and badly planned. This project has caused a tremendous amount of damage to the homes in the Tree Street District. It doesn’t take a geological engineer to connect the dots between this project and the damage to these homes. If someone drops a (35) ton weight (2200) times on a rock formation that has been under-mined and your house is sitting about (1000) feet away on the same formation there is going to be unintended consequences (damage) to that home. These folks have testified to me that every time that (35) tons hit the ground you could see their homes shutter and shake like an earthquake from the impact.
There is particular concern for an area within the Tree Street District where an approved HUD housing apartment complex is located with (59) elderly, disabled and low income tenants residing. There has been extensive damage to this facility to the point that all the stairwells are cracking and many of the fire doors will no longer close properly in order to halt the progress of a fire within the corridors of these buildings. HUD is not a “happy camper” with the situation and is concerned for the safety of the residence of this complex. The apartment managers are concerned also and there is a possibility that the HUD administrators could shut the place down and put all of these people out on the street. I would hate to think that we could be responsible for something like that happening just because we failed to take action on the problem. The people operating this complex do not have the kind of money that it takes to repair the facility in light of the fact that we’re probably talking about foundation stabilization. One home owner in the area has recently spent $69,000 of their own money to stabilize the foundation of their home so one could imagine what it would cost to do an apartment house.
You have the authority, Governor, to recommend that the Tree Street folks have their grievances addressed by the state and that they be fairly compensated for the damages that were incurred as a result of the state sponsored Dynamic Compaction Project. It’s time that this bureaucratic impasse is lifted and that we get on with the business of assisting these people. AML funds could not be used in a better way or for a better reason and for a purpose for which they were originally intended. According to your budget message submitted with the State Budget Recommendations for the 2011-2012 Biennium Budget there will be $116 M available for AML funding; much of which will not be spent on direct abandoned mine reclamation projects. Why is it not possible to use a fairly small amount of these funds to rectify the damage that has been done to these homes by the Dynamic Compaction Project in Rock Springs?
If there is any way legislatively that I can help move an agenda forward to help these people with their plight, I’ll be happy to do so. Our legislative attempts in the past have met with claims generally attributed to the executive branch that there is a shortage of funds for the existing AML projects. Well maybe it’s time that we divert some of those funds to use for something that they were really intended for. I guess I’m having a difficult time keeping that old saying from rattling around in my head: “I’m from the government and I’m here to help”!
Please let me know where the State is on any kind of movement to meet with or address the Tree Street issues.
Sincerely,
Senator Stan Cooper
CC: Senator Marty Martin
Senator John Hastert
Rep. Bill Thompson
Rep. Bernadine Craft
Rep. Stan Blake
Rep. Joe Barbuto
Rep. Allen Jaggi
Rep. Kathy Davison
Tree Street Folks
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Damages from 2007 man-made quakes still irking Wyo. residents
January 18th, 2010 @ 4:07pm
By John Hollenhorst
ROCK SPRINGS, WYO. -- More than two years after a government project shook them up with a lengthy series of small, deliberate earthquakes, homeowners in southwest Wyoming are getting increasingly irate.
They say their homes are damaged, that it's getting worse and that the government isn't fixing it.
Residents in a neighborhood of Rock Springs, Wyo., have been agitating for government money to fix the damage since 2007.
Although some officials have suggested the problems are exaggerated or caused by something else, residents are hoping this is the year they finally get repair moneyIn 2007, KSL told the story about the people of Rock Springs who were startled one day when the ground suddenly began to move.
Esther Shafe, a local resident, told KSL, "The house, it would jump. And it would also vibrate."
"It bounced my son out of the bed. And my son's, like, 210 [pounds]!" said resident Becky Kelley.
The cause was a pair of enormous weights, about 25 tons each, dropped repeatedly by a crane. It was government action to collapse old coal mines lying under the town of Rock Springs.
Now, government inaction has residents frustrated. Going on three years later, they sent home video to KSL to show damage is getting worse -- things like cracks in walls and ceilings, doors that don't fit any more, foundations buckling, and walls bulging ominously were just some of the effects of the shaking.
Wyoming lawmakers invited for a home tour were surprised at how bad it is.
"This really just tore through here doing some damage," said one Wyoming lawmaker after seeing a local house.
Residents say they've been advised by the Wyoming Attorney General's office not to make repairs until the state does an assessment.
In the meantime, some have settled for quick fixes.
"So you just kind of put putty in a hole or stuff a pillow in a window, whatever we have to do to get by until the next day," said Kelley. Another resident, Karla McAffee, spent $50,000 just to avoid disaster. "We're out of money, and we're just taking care of what has to be done to preserve the house at this point. If we hadn't done it, the house would have fallen in."
Many on the Wyoming Legislature say the inaction is unacceptable. Sen. John Hastert said, "For the people to have to sit and wait, it's not right."
In the past, some officials have argued the pounding was meant to be a good thing, to collapse abandoned mines that damaged homes and caused dangers for decades. And they argued there's no proof the pounding is what damaged the homes.
Still, some lawmakers are vowing to press for action in the upcoming session of the Wyoming Legislature.
E-mail: hollenhorst@ksl.com
By John Hollenhorst
ROCK SPRINGS, WYO. -- More than two years after a government project shook them up with a lengthy series of small, deliberate earthquakes, homeowners in southwest Wyoming are getting increasingly irate.
They say their homes are damaged, that it's getting worse and that the government isn't fixing it.
Residents in a neighborhood of Rock Springs, Wyo., have been agitating for government money to fix the damage since 2007.
Although some officials have suggested the problems are exaggerated or caused by something else, residents are hoping this is the year they finally get repair moneyIn 2007, KSL told the story about the people of Rock Springs who were startled one day when the ground suddenly began to move.
Esther Shafe, a local resident, told KSL, "The house, it would jump. And it would also vibrate."
"It bounced my son out of the bed. And my son's, like, 210 [pounds]!" said resident Becky Kelley.
The cause was a pair of enormous weights, about 25 tons each, dropped repeatedly by a crane. It was government action to collapse old coal mines lying under the town of Rock Springs.
Now, government inaction has residents frustrated. Going on three years later, they sent home video to KSL to show damage is getting worse -- things like cracks in walls and ceilings, doors that don't fit any more, foundations buckling, and walls bulging ominously were just some of the effects of the shaking.
Wyoming lawmakers invited for a home tour were surprised at how bad it is.
"This really just tore through here doing some damage," said one Wyoming lawmaker after seeing a local house.
Residents say they've been advised by the Wyoming Attorney General's office not to make repairs until the state does an assessment.
In the meantime, some have settled for quick fixes.
"So you just kind of put putty in a hole or stuff a pillow in a window, whatever we have to do to get by until the next day," said Kelley. Another resident, Karla McAffee, spent $50,000 just to avoid disaster. "We're out of money, and we're just taking care of what has to be done to preserve the house at this point. If we hadn't done it, the house would have fallen in."
Many on the Wyoming Legislature say the inaction is unacceptable. Sen. John Hastert said, "For the people to have to sit and wait, it's not right."
In the past, some officials have argued the pounding was meant to be a good thing, to collapse abandoned mines that damaged homes and caused dangers for decades. And they argued there's no proof the pounding is what damaged the homes.
Still, some lawmakers are vowing to press for action in the upcoming session of the Wyoming Legislature.
E-mail: hollenhorst@ksl.com
Friday, January 15, 2010
New law eyed for home damages
this was posted in the Billings Gazette.
JEFF GEARINO Casper Star-Tribune Posted: Thursday, January 14, 2010 10:05 pm
ROCK SPRINGS — For three years, more than a dozen downtown Tree Street residents whose homes were damaged by a controversial mine subsidence project in 2007 have been waiting for the state to pay for repairs to their houses.
During that time, they’ve enlisted the help of anyone who would listen, including area lawmakers who tried unsuccessfully last year to pass legislation that would have upped the amount the state was offering for much-needed repairs.
Lawmakers said Wednesday they’ll take a different approach when the Legislature convenes next month.
Under Wyoming’s strict laws, subsidence mitigation funds administered by the state’s Abandoned Mine Lands Division can only be used on reclamation and publi facility projects, which precludes the agency from buying homes or lots damaged by subsidence projects.
Federal AML guidelines, however, are looser and much more subject to interpretation, said state Rep. Bernadine Craft, D-Rock Springs.
“We’re going to try and amend the state guidelines to better match the federal guidelines ... then (the state) can’t say all their money is tied up on other projects,” Craft said during a tour of some of the damaged homes with other southwest Wyoming lawmakers on Wednesday.
She noted that the top priority for the AML Division is to protect the health and safety of Wyoming residents.
“If this situation is not health and human safety, then I’m not sure what is. ... It’s amazing to me that somebody hasn’t been hurt yet,” Craft said.
Not bloodthirsty
Craft was the first state lawmaker to see firsthand the damage to Tree Street homes when she visited in December 2008. Stunned by the extent of the damage and the state’s “lackluster” response, she joined other southwest Wyoming lawmakers and sponsored a $2.8 million bill amendment during the 2009 legislative session that aimed to provide more money for repairs to houses damaged from the dynamic compaction.
The measure allocated an initial $65,000 for new engineering inspections of damaged homes, but the funding never made it into the final bill.
Craft said she’s been disappointed in how the state has handled the situation. She noted that the state is able to use AML funds to fund new public facilities such as the University of Wyoming’s School of Energy Resources, but hasn’t been able to help the Tree Street homeowners.
“The state portrays these poor homeowners as bloodthirsty people only out for money,” she said. “And in reality, they’re not that at all. They just want their homes fixed. And I feel this may be the only way we’re going to get these dollars.”
Unintended damage
At the request of Rock Springs Mayor Tim Kaumo, the city began discussions with AML officials and Gov. Dave Freudenthal in 2006 about possibly using AML money to mitigate some lands within the city that had not been scrutinized for development before because of old mine voids.
State rules forbid the AML from conducting subsidence work on undeveloped lands, but the city received special permission to try a new subsidence technique on a tract near the Tree Street neighborhood.
City officials settled on an 840-acre site containing 14 tracts of undeveloped land in the downtown area that seemed ideal for affordable housing.
On paper, the $2.4 million pilot project seemed like a good idea.
The city and state agreed to take a proven reclamation technique used widely back East known as dynamic compaction — which involved dropping 25- and 35-ton weights over undermined areas to collapse the underground mine voids — and use it on the undeveloped land in Rock Springs.
Engineering studies indicated that homes in the few neighborhoods surrounding the project site wou.d not be damaged by the seismic vibrations resulting from dropping the multiton weights.
For three weeks beginning July 17, 2007, AML contractors using cranes dropped the weights about 2,270 times.
The state initially reported success in early results, but a week into the project officials began hearing complaints from homeowners in the Tree Street area. Residents told AML officials that the seismic vibrations caused damage, or may have accelerated ongoing subsidence so that damage occurred much sooner than it would otherwise have.
At a contentious meeting in mid-August 2007 shortly after the project was halted, Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality eirector John Corra promised residents that the agency would pay for all repairs to homes damaged by the dynamic compaction.
But homeowners believed the state’s first settlement offers in December 2008 — which were based on a state-contracted engineer’s assessment of the damage and repair/cost estimates — weren’t nearly enough to adequately compensate for the needed repair work. Only two homeowners accepted the state’s initial offer.
Craft said she intends to draft a House bill that would amend the state AML guidelines to mirror federal rules. She hopes the bill might come out of the House Rules Committee or perhaps the Minerals Committee.
“We’ll have to convince two-thirds of the House, or 40 members, to hear it in a nonbudget year,” she said.
Contact Jeff Gearino at gearino@tribcsp.com or 307-875-5359.
JEFF GEARINO Casper Star-Tribune Posted: Thursday, January 14, 2010 10:05 pm
ROCK SPRINGS — For three years, more than a dozen downtown Tree Street residents whose homes were damaged by a controversial mine subsidence project in 2007 have been waiting for the state to pay for repairs to their houses.
During that time, they’ve enlisted the help of anyone who would listen, including area lawmakers who tried unsuccessfully last year to pass legislation that would have upped the amount the state was offering for much-needed repairs.
Lawmakers said Wednesday they’ll take a different approach when the Legislature convenes next month.
Under Wyoming’s strict laws, subsidence mitigation funds administered by the state’s Abandoned Mine Lands Division can only be used on reclamation and publi facility projects, which precludes the agency from buying homes or lots damaged by subsidence projects.
Federal AML guidelines, however, are looser and much more subject to interpretation, said state Rep. Bernadine Craft, D-Rock Springs.
“We’re going to try and amend the state guidelines to better match the federal guidelines ... then (the state) can’t say all their money is tied up on other projects,” Craft said during a tour of some of the damaged homes with other southwest Wyoming lawmakers on Wednesday.
She noted that the top priority for the AML Division is to protect the health and safety of Wyoming residents.
“If this situation is not health and human safety, then I’m not sure what is. ... It’s amazing to me that somebody hasn’t been hurt yet,” Craft said.
Not bloodthirsty
Craft was the first state lawmaker to see firsthand the damage to Tree Street homes when she visited in December 2008. Stunned by the extent of the damage and the state’s “lackluster” response, she joined other southwest Wyoming lawmakers and sponsored a $2.8 million bill amendment during the 2009 legislative session that aimed to provide more money for repairs to houses damaged from the dynamic compaction.
The measure allocated an initial $65,000 for new engineering inspections of damaged homes, but the funding never made it into the final bill.
Craft said she’s been disappointed in how the state has handled the situation. She noted that the state is able to use AML funds to fund new public facilities such as the University of Wyoming’s School of Energy Resources, but hasn’t been able to help the Tree Street homeowners.
“The state portrays these poor homeowners as bloodthirsty people only out for money,” she said. “And in reality, they’re not that at all. They just want their homes fixed. And I feel this may be the only way we’re going to get these dollars.”
Unintended damage
At the request of Rock Springs Mayor Tim Kaumo, the city began discussions with AML officials and Gov. Dave Freudenthal in 2006 about possibly using AML money to mitigate some lands within the city that had not been scrutinized for development before because of old mine voids.
State rules forbid the AML from conducting subsidence work on undeveloped lands, but the city received special permission to try a new subsidence technique on a tract near the Tree Street neighborhood.
City officials settled on an 840-acre site containing 14 tracts of undeveloped land in the downtown area that seemed ideal for affordable housing.
On paper, the $2.4 million pilot project seemed like a good idea.
The city and state agreed to take a proven reclamation technique used widely back East known as dynamic compaction — which involved dropping 25- and 35-ton weights over undermined areas to collapse the underground mine voids — and use it on the undeveloped land in Rock Springs.
Engineering studies indicated that homes in the few neighborhoods surrounding the project site wou.d not be damaged by the seismic vibrations resulting from dropping the multiton weights.
For three weeks beginning July 17, 2007, AML contractors using cranes dropped the weights about 2,270 times.
The state initially reported success in early results, but a week into the project officials began hearing complaints from homeowners in the Tree Street area. Residents told AML officials that the seismic vibrations caused damage, or may have accelerated ongoing subsidence so that damage occurred much sooner than it would otherwise have.
At a contentious meeting in mid-August 2007 shortly after the project was halted, Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality eirector John Corra promised residents that the agency would pay for all repairs to homes damaged by the dynamic compaction.
But homeowners believed the state’s first settlement offers in December 2008 — which were based on a state-contracted engineer’s assessment of the damage and repair/cost estimates — weren’t nearly enough to adequately compensate for the needed repair work. Only two homeowners accepted the state’s initial offer.
Craft said she intends to draft a House bill that would amend the state AML guidelines to mirror federal rules. She hopes the bill might come out of the House Rules Committee or perhaps the Minerals Committee.
“We’ll have to convince two-thirds of the House, or 40 members, to hear it in a nonbudget year,” she said.
Contact Jeff Gearino at gearino@tribcsp.com or 307-875-5359.
Thursday, January 14, 2010
A thank you from Sen. Cooper
Please thank everyone for helping out on the tour and showing us the damage in their homes. I will tell you that I really had my eyesopened up on this issue and will work towards trying to get something resolved for you folks.
Stan
Stan
Lawmakers tour homes damaged by 2007 dynamic compaction project 'I am so astonished'
By Jeff Gearino Star-Tribune staff writer Posted: Thursday, January 14, 2010 12:15 am
ROCK SPRINGS -- Sen. Stan Cooper, R-Kemmerer, watches as Ash Street resident Ron Child takes a golf ball and sets it down on his home's hardwood floor. It rolls directly to the northwest corner of the room.
Child sets the ball on the dining room table, kitchen cabinet and coffee table. The ball does the same thing, rolling in the same direction. It's not an illusion.
"The problem is ... how do you fix that?" Child asks about his sloping floor.
Child's home was damaged in 2007 along with a slew of others located in the downtown neighborhood known as "Tree Street" during an ill-fated mine subsidence pilot project.
The project, conducted by the Wyoming Abandoned Mine Lands Division, included a controversial process known as dynamic compaction.
Child and several other Tree Street homeowners have been battling state government over the project -- and the state's first settlement offer to pay for the damage -- for more than three years.
A handful of southwest Wyoming state legislators including Cooper toured more than a dozen homes and a nearby apartment complex Wednesday to get first-hand looks at the damage caused by the project known locally as the "Big Drop."
Lawmakers were stunned by what they saw.
"I am so astonished at the amount of damage in these houses ... it just set me back completely," Cooper said.
"We really need to get this resolved at the state level, but it sounds like we're at an impasse now," he continued. "These folks are between a rock and a hard place and it's just a really unfair situation for them to be in."
The state and most Tree Street residents have yet to reach monetary settlements for the damage and homeowners said Wednesday they continue to be frustrated with the slow pace of the process.
"We've waited so long ... I think some of these houses are now beyond repair," said Donna Maynard. Her Ash Street home sits directly across from the 61-acre project site.
Maynard told lawmakers her house is literally splitting apart at the seams as a result of the project.
Windows sit crooked with broken seals, the skylight and hot tub leak, cracks line many of the walls and ceilings, outside fences lean and a few sinkholes have opened in her yard.
"I'm just generally disgusted," Maynard said. "Nobody wants to live up here anymore. They should just tear down all these houses and just turn it into a park up here."
Affordable housing
Many of the homes in Rock Springs were built around and on top of old coal mines, which were developed in this central Sweetwater County city in the 1860s to supply coal to the Union Pacific Railroad.
The Tree Street neighborhood sits over three different coal mines that lie at two different depths. The mines were all closed and abandoned in the 1920s.
Spurred by a long search for affordable housing, Rock Springs officials selected an undeveloped tract of land in 2007 as the site of a $2.4 million subsidence mitigation project. The tract sits adjacent to the Tree Street neighborhood.
A key component of the project was the use of a pilot technique known as dynamic compaction. The process involved dropping 25- and 35-ton weights on a portion of the tract to collapse the underground mine voids.
For three weeks beginning July 17, 2007, cranes dropped the weights more than 2,200 times before AML officials called off the project.
Homeowners said the shock waves from the ground-pounding reverberated through the neighborhood, cracking foundations and driveways, opening sinkholes in yards and causing cracks to walls, floors and windows among other damage.
The homeowners believe the state's first settlement offers in December 2008 -- which were based on a state-contracted engineer's survey of the damage and repair cost/estimates -- won't adequately compensate for the needed repair work.
Some residents said they are continuing to suffer damage to homes years after the project, including new cracks to ceilings, walls and driveways, gaps in windows, slanting floors and subsidence holes among others.
Wyoming AML Division officials have repeatedly said the state will stand by its initial pledge to repair homes damaged from the project. State officials are expected to base their next settlement offers on the new inspections.
The reinspections come at the request of state lawmakers including Rep. Bernadine Craft, D-Rock Springs, who attempted to allocate funding for the new engineers' assessments during the 2008 Legislature.
Craft and other county representatives sponsored a $2.8 million bill during the session that aimed to provide homeowners with more money for repairs to houses damaged from the dynamic compaction.
The measure allocated an initial $65,000 for the engineers' inspections, but the funding never made it into the final bill. AML officials and residents continued to negotiate last year on a new agreement that would allow the reinspections.
Contact southwest Wyoming bureau reporter Jeff Gearino at 307-875-5359 or gearino@tribcsp.com
ROCK SPRINGS -- Sen. Stan Cooper, R-Kemmerer, watches as Ash Street resident Ron Child takes a golf ball and sets it down on his home's hardwood floor. It rolls directly to the northwest corner of the room.
Child sets the ball on the dining room table, kitchen cabinet and coffee table. The ball does the same thing, rolling in the same direction. It's not an illusion.
"The problem is ... how do you fix that?" Child asks about his sloping floor.
Child's home was damaged in 2007 along with a slew of others located in the downtown neighborhood known as "Tree Street" during an ill-fated mine subsidence pilot project.
The project, conducted by the Wyoming Abandoned Mine Lands Division, included a controversial process known as dynamic compaction.
Child and several other Tree Street homeowners have been battling state government over the project -- and the state's first settlement offer to pay for the damage -- for more than three years.
A handful of southwest Wyoming state legislators including Cooper toured more than a dozen homes and a nearby apartment complex Wednesday to get first-hand looks at the damage caused by the project known locally as the "Big Drop."
Lawmakers were stunned by what they saw.
"I am so astonished at the amount of damage in these houses ... it just set me back completely," Cooper said.
"We really need to get this resolved at the state level, but it sounds like we're at an impasse now," he continued. "These folks are between a rock and a hard place and it's just a really unfair situation for them to be in."
The state and most Tree Street residents have yet to reach monetary settlements for the damage and homeowners said Wednesday they continue to be frustrated with the slow pace of the process.
"We've waited so long ... I think some of these houses are now beyond repair," said Donna Maynard. Her Ash Street home sits directly across from the 61-acre project site.
Maynard told lawmakers her house is literally splitting apart at the seams as a result of the project.
Windows sit crooked with broken seals, the skylight and hot tub leak, cracks line many of the walls and ceilings, outside fences lean and a few sinkholes have opened in her yard.
"I'm just generally disgusted," Maynard said. "Nobody wants to live up here anymore. They should just tear down all these houses and just turn it into a park up here."
Affordable housing
Many of the homes in Rock Springs were built around and on top of old coal mines, which were developed in this central Sweetwater County city in the 1860s to supply coal to the Union Pacific Railroad.
The Tree Street neighborhood sits over three different coal mines that lie at two different depths. The mines were all closed and abandoned in the 1920s.
Spurred by a long search for affordable housing, Rock Springs officials selected an undeveloped tract of land in 2007 as the site of a $2.4 million subsidence mitigation project. The tract sits adjacent to the Tree Street neighborhood.
A key component of the project was the use of a pilot technique known as dynamic compaction. The process involved dropping 25- and 35-ton weights on a portion of the tract to collapse the underground mine voids.
For three weeks beginning July 17, 2007, cranes dropped the weights more than 2,200 times before AML officials called off the project.
Homeowners said the shock waves from the ground-pounding reverberated through the neighborhood, cracking foundations and driveways, opening sinkholes in yards and causing cracks to walls, floors and windows among other damage.
The homeowners believe the state's first settlement offers in December 2008 -- which were based on a state-contracted engineer's survey of the damage and repair cost/estimates -- won't adequately compensate for the needed repair work.
Some residents said they are continuing to suffer damage to homes years after the project, including new cracks to ceilings, walls and driveways, gaps in windows, slanting floors and subsidence holes among others.
Wyoming AML Division officials have repeatedly said the state will stand by its initial pledge to repair homes damaged from the project. State officials are expected to base their next settlement offers on the new inspections.
The reinspections come at the request of state lawmakers including Rep. Bernadine Craft, D-Rock Springs, who attempted to allocate funding for the new engineers' assessments during the 2008 Legislature.
Craft and other county representatives sponsored a $2.8 million bill during the session that aimed to provide homeowners with more money for repairs to houses damaged from the dynamic compaction.
The measure allocated an initial $65,000 for the engineers' inspections, but the funding never made it into the final bill. AML officials and residents continued to negotiate last year on a new agreement that would allow the reinspections.
Contact southwest Wyoming bureau reporter Jeff Gearino at 307-875-5359 or gearino@tribcsp.com
Sunday, January 10, 2010
Saturday, January 9, 2010
Pictures of Kelly Residence
This picture is under the cabnets. Notice the screws.
This picture of the crack gauge outside on the retaining wall. Notice that it's almost to 5, but we have no movement!
Picture of the Shafe Residence.
These are pictures of the Shafe Residence.
This is a picture of the entry into the kitchen. The log end fell out.
This is a picture of the wall in one of the bedrooms that is bowing.
.JPG)
This picture is of the front window. The snow was blown in by the wind.
Sunday, January 3, 2010
Owners of subsidence-damaged homes hope for resolution this year-STILL WAITING
By JEFF GEARINO Southwest Wyoming bureau Posted: Friday, January 1, 2010 12:55 am
ROCK SPRINGS -- A few months ago, Becky Kelley made husband Weldon cut two large pieces of plywood as a just-in-case measure for her beleaguered kitchen.
Just in case her big bay window falls out.
"It cracks and pops all the time now ... and there's a some big gaps showing," Kelley said in an interview last week. "I'm really afraid it's just going to fall right out at some point."
It has been more than three years after a controversial subsidence project known as the "Big Drop" damaged Kelley's and more than a dozen other homes in the city's "Tree Street" neighborhood.
The state and most residents have yet to reach monetary settlements for the damage, and Kelley said homeowners in the area continue to be frustrated with the slow pace of the process. But there's hope for resolution in 2010.
Kelley said homeowners are pinning their hopes on planned new inspections by structural engineers in the coming year that they hope will finally reveal the true extent of the damage caused by the controversial ground-pounding project.
In the meantime, many homeowners including Kelley are still seeing new damage appear from the ill-fated, 2007 mine subsidence project.
"If they wait another year to fix this mess, I'm not sure my house will still be standing," she said. "The ground is still moving all the time ... and we're still seeing damage."
The Tree Street homeowners have been battling state government over the mine subsidence projects -- and the state's first settlement offers -- for more than three years.
Wyoming Abandoned Mine Lands Division officials have repeatedly said the state will stand by its initial pledge to repair homes damaged from the project.
State officials are expected to base their next settlement offers on the new inspections, if an agreement can be reached with homeowners.
New inspections?
The reinspections come at the behest of state lawmakers, who attempted to allocate funding for the new engineers' assessments during the 2008 Legislature.
Rep. Bernadine Craft, D-Rock Springs, and other county lawmakers sponsored a $2.8 million bill in a budget amendment during the session that aimed to provide homeowners more money for repairs to houses damaged from the project.
The measure allocated an initial $65,000 for the state to contract with a structural engineer to reassess the damage to homes in the area.
Though the funding never made it into the final bill, AML officials and residents continued to negotiate through 2009 on a new agreement that would allow state engineers to reinspect the homes, with an eye toward making new settlement offers to homeowners.
The homeowners believe the state's first settlement offers in December 2008 -- which were based on a state-contracted engineer's survey of the damage and repair/cost estimates -- won't adequately compensate for the needed repair work.
Several residents said they are still continuing to suffer damage to homes years after the project, including new cracks to ceilings, walls and driveways; gaps in windows and doors; slanting floors; and the subsidence holes, among others.
The 2007 dynamic compaction project was spurred by the city's long search for affordable housing.
City officials had been working for years to free up vacant lands within city limits that could not be developed for housing because they were located over old, unsafe underground mine voids.
For three weeks beginning in late July 2007, cranes pounded the ground with 25-ton and 35-ton weights to collapse the underground mine voids within a 61-acre tract of vacant land bordering the Tree Street area.
The huge weights were dropped more than 2,000 times before homeowner complaints halted the project several weeks later. Residents said the shock waves from the ground pounding shook houses, accelerated ongoing subsidence and severely damaged most homes in the area.
The state sent in engineers to assess 19 damage claims filed by homeowners under a settlement process established by the AML Division in 2008.
The state followed up with settlement offers based on the engineers' reports, but only two homeowners accepted the state's initial offers.
Big Lift
One frustrated homeowner decided to begin repairs and foot the bill this year, until an agreement can be reached concerning payments for damages.
The Big Drop subsidence project damaged the stately, historic Pine Street home of Karla and Dennis McAffee in downtown Rock Springs. The couple used a "Big Lift" solution to try to fix some of it in October.
A Utah contractor specializing in the installation of foundation support systems used a hydraulic lift to raise the north front and east side of the house in an effort to better stabilize it.
Karla McAffee said engineers were concerned about the structural safety of her damaged home and wanted to complete the project before the onset of winter.
The house was slumping on the east-side fireplace wall, and the Big Lift raised the front and side of the house several inches off the ground to make it more level.
McAffee said the family spent more than $65,000 on the repair project. She said engineers are planning another Big Lift -- possibly this year -- to stabilize the back end of the home that was built in the 1920s.
Also in October, state officials unveiled findings from investigative drilling conducted in various locations within the Tree Street neighborhood that aimed to better determine what's actually happening in the abandoned underground mine shafts and voids.
Geological engineers said there are a number of factors contributing to what's causing movement in the mine voids. Those factors include irregular roof pillars that are prone to collapse, groundwater fluctuations, and previous mitigation and grouting efforts.
Southwest Wyoming bureau reporter Jeff Gearino can be reached at 307-875-5359 or at
ROCK SPRINGS -- A few months ago, Becky Kelley made husband Weldon cut two large pieces of plywood as a just-in-case measure for her beleaguered kitchen.
Just in case her big bay window falls out.
"It cracks and pops all the time now ... and there's a some big gaps showing," Kelley said in an interview last week. "I'm really afraid it's just going to fall right out at some point."
It has been more than three years after a controversial subsidence project known as the "Big Drop" damaged Kelley's and more than a dozen other homes in the city's "Tree Street" neighborhood.
The state and most residents have yet to reach monetary settlements for the damage, and Kelley said homeowners in the area continue to be frustrated with the slow pace of the process. But there's hope for resolution in 2010.
Kelley said homeowners are pinning their hopes on planned new inspections by structural engineers in the coming year that they hope will finally reveal the true extent of the damage caused by the controversial ground-pounding project.
In the meantime, many homeowners including Kelley are still seeing new damage appear from the ill-fated, 2007 mine subsidence project.
"If they wait another year to fix this mess, I'm not sure my house will still be standing," she said. "The ground is still moving all the time ... and we're still seeing damage."
The Tree Street homeowners have been battling state government over the mine subsidence projects -- and the state's first settlement offers -- for more than three years.
Wyoming Abandoned Mine Lands Division officials have repeatedly said the state will stand by its initial pledge to repair homes damaged from the project.
State officials are expected to base their next settlement offers on the new inspections, if an agreement can be reached with homeowners.
New inspections?
The reinspections come at the behest of state lawmakers, who attempted to allocate funding for the new engineers' assessments during the 2008 Legislature.
Rep. Bernadine Craft, D-Rock Springs, and other county lawmakers sponsored a $2.8 million bill in a budget amendment during the session that aimed to provide homeowners more money for repairs to houses damaged from the project.
The measure allocated an initial $65,000 for the state to contract with a structural engineer to reassess the damage to homes in the area.
Though the funding never made it into the final bill, AML officials and residents continued to negotiate through 2009 on a new agreement that would allow state engineers to reinspect the homes, with an eye toward making new settlement offers to homeowners.
The homeowners believe the state's first settlement offers in December 2008 -- which were based on a state-contracted engineer's survey of the damage and repair/cost estimates -- won't adequately compensate for the needed repair work.
Several residents said they are still continuing to suffer damage to homes years after the project, including new cracks to ceilings, walls and driveways; gaps in windows and doors; slanting floors; and the subsidence holes, among others.
The 2007 dynamic compaction project was spurred by the city's long search for affordable housing.
City officials had been working for years to free up vacant lands within city limits that could not be developed for housing because they were located over old, unsafe underground mine voids.
For three weeks beginning in late July 2007, cranes pounded the ground with 25-ton and 35-ton weights to collapse the underground mine voids within a 61-acre tract of vacant land bordering the Tree Street area.
The huge weights were dropped more than 2,000 times before homeowner complaints halted the project several weeks later. Residents said the shock waves from the ground pounding shook houses, accelerated ongoing subsidence and severely damaged most homes in the area.
The state sent in engineers to assess 19 damage claims filed by homeowners under a settlement process established by the AML Division in 2008.
The state followed up with settlement offers based on the engineers' reports, but only two homeowners accepted the state's initial offers.
Big Lift
One frustrated homeowner decided to begin repairs and foot the bill this year, until an agreement can be reached concerning payments for damages.
The Big Drop subsidence project damaged the stately, historic Pine Street home of Karla and Dennis McAffee in downtown Rock Springs. The couple used a "Big Lift" solution to try to fix some of it in October.
A Utah contractor specializing in the installation of foundation support systems used a hydraulic lift to raise the north front and east side of the house in an effort to better stabilize it.
Karla McAffee said engineers were concerned about the structural safety of her damaged home and wanted to complete the project before the onset of winter.
The house was slumping on the east-side fireplace wall, and the Big Lift raised the front and side of the house several inches off the ground to make it more level.
McAffee said the family spent more than $65,000 on the repair project. She said engineers are planning another Big Lift -- possibly this year -- to stabilize the back end of the home that was built in the 1920s.
Also in October, state officials unveiled findings from investigative drilling conducted in various locations within the Tree Street neighborhood that aimed to better determine what's actually happening in the abandoned underground mine shafts and voids.
Geological engineers said there are a number of factors contributing to what's causing movement in the mine voids. Those factors include irregular roof pillars that are prone to collapse, groundwater fluctuations, and previous mitigation and grouting efforts.
Southwest Wyoming bureau reporter Jeff Gearino can be reached at 307-875-5359 or at
Rock Springs, Wyo., homeowners await payments after state project damaged houses
By The Associated Press
Posted: 01/02/2010 01:00:00 AM MST
ROCK SPRINGS, Wyo. — Some homeowners in Rock Springs are still waiting for the state to reimburse them for property damage they say occurred during a state project more than two years ago.
The state program, called the "Big Drop," is suspected of damaging more than a dozen houses in the Tree Street neighborhood.
For three weeks beginning in late July 2007, the state used cranes to drop 25-ton and 35-ton weights on the ground to collapse underground mine voids beneath a 61-acre parcel of vacant land.
The city government had hoped the project would stabilize the site so it could accommodate affordable housing.
The weights were dropped more than 2,000 times over several weeks before homeowner complaints halted the project.
Becky Kelley and other homeowners say they are still discovering damage to their homes. Kelley said she made her husband cut two large pieces of plywood recently in case a bay window falls out.
"It cracks and pops all the time now . . . and there's some big gaps showing," she said.
The state hasn't agreed on settlements with most of the residents. Kelley said area homeowners are frustrated with the slow pace of the process, but it appeared the problem might be resolved this year.
Kelley said homeowners hope that planned inspections by structural engineers will reveal the full extent of the damage.
Officials with Wyoming's Abandoned Mine Lands Division have said the state will stand by its pledge to repair homes damaged during the project, but only two homeowners have accepted state payment offers.
In October, state officials released a report that stated investigative drilling conducted in various locations within the Tree Street neighborhood showed that a number of factors are contributing to movement in the mine voids.
Factors include irregular roof pillars that are prone to collapse, groundwater fluctuations and previous mitigation and grouting efforts.
Posted: 01/02/2010 01:00:00 AM MST
ROCK SPRINGS, Wyo. — Some homeowners in Rock Springs are still waiting for the state to reimburse them for property damage they say occurred during a state project more than two years ago.
The state program, called the "Big Drop," is suspected of damaging more than a dozen houses in the Tree Street neighborhood.
For three weeks beginning in late July 2007, the state used cranes to drop 25-ton and 35-ton weights on the ground to collapse underground mine voids beneath a 61-acre parcel of vacant land.
The city government had hoped the project would stabilize the site so it could accommodate affordable housing.
The weights were dropped more than 2,000 times over several weeks before homeowner complaints halted the project.
Becky Kelley and other homeowners say they are still discovering damage to their homes. Kelley said she made her husband cut two large pieces of plywood recently in case a bay window falls out.
"It cracks and pops all the time now . . . and there's some big gaps showing," she said.
The state hasn't agreed on settlements with most of the residents. Kelley said area homeowners are frustrated with the slow pace of the process, but it appeared the problem might be resolved this year.
Kelley said homeowners hope that planned inspections by structural engineers will reveal the full extent of the damage.
Officials with Wyoming's Abandoned Mine Lands Division have said the state will stand by its pledge to repair homes damaged during the project, but only two homeowners have accepted state payment offers.
In October, state officials released a report that stated investigative drilling conducted in various locations within the Tree Street neighborhood showed that a number of factors are contributing to movement in the mine voids.
Factors include irregular roof pillars that are prone to collapse, groundwater fluctuations and previous mitigation and grouting efforts.
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