Bob said on: February 28, 2010, 10:02 am
There have been problems with subsidence for a long time. I remember driving through Rock Springs in the early 70's and there were all these hoses crossing the street. I asked at a diner about the hoses, and was told that the underground mines were collapsing and they were filling them with a sand grout. I would be interested in getting the information on how many of our dollars have been spent on this boondoggle. Anyone who bought houses after that should have known about it. The city of Rock springs knew about it and did nothing about limiting the damage, and Union Pacific should be held accountable for the damage done by their mines.
Sunday, February 28, 2010
Tree Street residents still looking for justice
Star-Tribune Editorial Board Posted: Sunday, February 28, 2010 12:15 am
The wheels of justice continue to grind slowly for Rock Springs residents whose homes were damaged following a controversial 2007 state Abandoned Mine Lands mine subsidence project.
Both the Wyoming House and Senate last week passed budget amendments that would allocate $120,000 to hire a qualified engineer to re-inspect several Tree Street houses to assess damages.
It's a step in the right direction, and may eventually lead to a settlement in the high-profile case, which is now more than two and a half years old. Still, we're mystified why it's taken the state of Wyoming this much time to do the right thing. This incident is precisely the type of problem that AML funds are supposed to be used to fix.
In July 2007, the Wyoming AML Division began a $2.8 million pilot reclamation project near the Tree Street neighborhood in Rock Springs. It was designed to free up vacant lands in the city so they could be developed for affordable housing. A new, unproven technique called "dynamic compaction" was used that involved dropping 25-ton and 35-ton weights over undermined areas to collapse the underground mine voids.
The weights were dropped about 2,300 times over three weeks before neighbors' complaints finally halted the project. Nineteen residents blamed vibrations from dynamic compaction for damaging their homes, cracking foundations, driveways, ceilings and walls, and opening sinkholes in some yards.
AML directors initially said the state would pay for all repairs to homes. But the initial offers were so low, they were rejected by all but two homeowners. Many of the 59 apartments in four three-story apartment buildings were damaged, but the state's first offer was less than $5,000.
Negotiations have continued for more than a year. One of the sticking points has been determining what damage was done by dynamic compaction and what might be the result of subsidence events that have plagued Rock Springs for decades. It will take an impartial, qualified engineer to sort that conflict out, which is what the Legislature agreed to fund.
Gov. Dave Freudenthal said the state is willing to pay up to $275,000 in repairs per structure, which may satisfy some homeowners. But the manager of the apartment complex, Dino Moncecchi, called the amount "ludicrous" for the damage to his buildings.
The governor responded to one legislator's plea to resolve the "bureaucratic impasse" by noting that the state can't just begin writing checks out to residents without determining what caused the damages. Freudenthal is correct in his assertion that there has to be a "factual and legal basis" for any payment made by the state. It may never be known precisely how much damage was caused by dynamic compaction.
But here's what we do know: homeowners didn't report any problems until the weights were dropped. Their homes weren't cracking and falling apart until the AML project began. It makes sense that AML funds should be available to help fix the problems most likely caused by the state's mine reclamation efforts.
One more thing: Attorney General Bruce Salzburg criticized homeowners who filed a lawsuit in Sweetwater County District Court last July against two of the state's consulting engineers who had worked on the project. He said there must be no "double recovery" by the homeowners.
But the suit was only filed because there were just 30 days left before the statute of limitations ran out, and after two years the state still hadn't settled the case. It's insulting for the state -- which held up the case -- to blame homeowners for seeking a legal remedy to recoup their losses.
Posted in Editorial on Sunday, February 28, 2010 12:15 am Updated: 11:36 pm. Tags: Chad Baldwin, Editorial, Editorial Board, Kerry Drake, Nathan Bekke, Opinion, Ron Gullberg, Sally Ann Shurmur, Rock Springs, Abandoned Mine Lands Division
The wheels of justice continue to grind slowly for Rock Springs residents whose homes were damaged following a controversial 2007 state Abandoned Mine Lands mine subsidence project.
Both the Wyoming House and Senate last week passed budget amendments that would allocate $120,000 to hire a qualified engineer to re-inspect several Tree Street houses to assess damages.
It's a step in the right direction, and may eventually lead to a settlement in the high-profile case, which is now more than two and a half years old. Still, we're mystified why it's taken the state of Wyoming this much time to do the right thing. This incident is precisely the type of problem that AML funds are supposed to be used to fix.
In July 2007, the Wyoming AML Division began a $2.8 million pilot reclamation project near the Tree Street neighborhood in Rock Springs. It was designed to free up vacant lands in the city so they could be developed for affordable housing. A new, unproven technique called "dynamic compaction" was used that involved dropping 25-ton and 35-ton weights over undermined areas to collapse the underground mine voids.
The weights were dropped about 2,300 times over three weeks before neighbors' complaints finally halted the project. Nineteen residents blamed vibrations from dynamic compaction for damaging their homes, cracking foundations, driveways, ceilings and walls, and opening sinkholes in some yards.
AML directors initially said the state would pay for all repairs to homes. But the initial offers were so low, they were rejected by all but two homeowners. Many of the 59 apartments in four three-story apartment buildings were damaged, but the state's first offer was less than $5,000.
Negotiations have continued for more than a year. One of the sticking points has been determining what damage was done by dynamic compaction and what might be the result of subsidence events that have plagued Rock Springs for decades. It will take an impartial, qualified engineer to sort that conflict out, which is what the Legislature agreed to fund.
Gov. Dave Freudenthal said the state is willing to pay up to $275,000 in repairs per structure, which may satisfy some homeowners. But the manager of the apartment complex, Dino Moncecchi, called the amount "ludicrous" for the damage to his buildings.
The governor responded to one legislator's plea to resolve the "bureaucratic impasse" by noting that the state can't just begin writing checks out to residents without determining what caused the damages. Freudenthal is correct in his assertion that there has to be a "factual and legal basis" for any payment made by the state. It may never be known precisely how much damage was caused by dynamic compaction.
But here's what we do know: homeowners didn't report any problems until the weights were dropped. Their homes weren't cracking and falling apart until the AML project began. It makes sense that AML funds should be available to help fix the problems most likely caused by the state's mine reclamation efforts.
One more thing: Attorney General Bruce Salzburg criticized homeowners who filed a lawsuit in Sweetwater County District Court last July against two of the state's consulting engineers who had worked on the project. He said there must be no "double recovery" by the homeowners.
But the suit was only filed because there were just 30 days left before the statute of limitations ran out, and after two years the state still hadn't settled the case. It's insulting for the state -- which held up the case -- to blame homeowners for seeking a legal remedy to recoup their losses.
Posted in Editorial on Sunday, February 28, 2010 12:15 am Updated: 11:36 pm. Tags: Chad Baldwin, Editorial, Editorial Board, Kerry Drake, Nathan Bekke, Opinion, Ron Gullberg, Sally Ann Shurmur, Rock Springs, Abandoned Mine Lands Division
Monday, February 22, 2010
comments from the Casper Star Tribune
Todd said on: February 22, 2010, 5:21 am
It is beyond me why this has taken so long. For some reason when government at any level jumps right into something without doing their home work and there is a bad outcome like this, they just want to talk it to death. The time to talk, evaluate, talk, evaluate, talk......is long past. Pay up and be done with it.Fast talkers have taken millions from the business council for urgent things like ski resorts while lawmakers talk and evaluate, but this drags on. Prioritize and get with the program guys! The time for discussion was BEFORE the damage was done.
Carlito said on: February 21, 2010, 7:29 pm
The problem is there were no pre-inspections of the homes before the dynamic compaction began. As you know the houses built there are all on questionable ground and have been settling every since they were built.I do know that the compaction was done away from the houses and seismograph readings were constantly taken and they were barely registering any vibration near the homes.
mark said on: February 21, 2010, 7:05 pm
It is ridiculous that this has not been addressed yet. I am no engineer, but living in Rock Springs as long as I have, I know this. Susidence causes damage to houses. If you cause subsidence on purpose, you can expect damage to occur.Come on, state leg. Let's get this taken care of already!
It is beyond me why this has taken so long. For some reason when government at any level jumps right into something without doing their home work and there is a bad outcome like this, they just want to talk it to death. The time to talk, evaluate, talk, evaluate, talk......is long past. Pay up and be done with it.Fast talkers have taken millions from the business council for urgent things like ski resorts while lawmakers talk and evaluate, but this drags on. Prioritize and get with the program guys! The time for discussion was BEFORE the damage was done.
Carlito said on: February 21, 2010, 7:29 pm
The problem is there were no pre-inspections of the homes before the dynamic compaction began. As you know the houses built there are all on questionable ground and have been settling every since they were built.I do know that the compaction was done away from the houses and seismograph readings were constantly taken and they were barely registering any vibration near the homes.
mark said on: February 21, 2010, 7:05 pm
It is ridiculous that this has not been addressed yet. I am no engineer, but living in Rock Springs as long as I have, I know this. Susidence causes damage to houses. If you cause subsidence on purpose, you can expect damage to occur.Come on, state leg. Let's get this taken care of already!
'Tree Street' residents, lawmakers hoping to resolve subsidence project compensation issue
Still pounding away
By JEFF GEARINO - Southwest Wyoming bureau Posted: Sunday, February 21, 2010 3:38 pm
ROCK SPRINGS -- Any legislative relief for the "Tree Street" residents whose homes were damaged by a controversial mine subsidence project in 2007 will come in the form of a budget amendment, rather than a bill, southwest Wyoming lawmakers say.
A similar budget amendment that sought funding for new engineering studies and possible repairs failed during the 2009 session.
The lawmakers had said they might try to change the state's subsidence rules with a bill in an effort to gain a fair settlement from the state after touring many of the damaged homes in January.
A bill would have attempted to amend the stricter state Abandoned Mine Lands guidelines to better match the looser federal guidelines.
"I had a bill drafted but after lots of discussion decided we were better off with another budget amendment," state Rep. Bernadine Craft said last week in an e-mail to the Star-Tribune. "We have huge support, so I am hopeful that we'll be successful in both houses this time."
Craft said budget amendment discussions are scheduled to begin Tuesday.
The 2009 budget amendment sought to divert $2.9 million in AML monies that would normally be used for reclamation and public facility projects. The diverted funds would have paid for repairs to homes and the hiring of a licensed structural engineer to reassess the damaged properties.
More than a dozen homes were damaged during the mine subsidence project that began in late July 2007.
The project was conducted by the Wyoming Abandoned Mine Lands Division. It aimed to free vacant lands in the city so they could be used to build affordable housing.
Becky Kelley, the unofficial spokeswoman for the Tree Street homeowners, said residents welcomed any help they could get. She and homeowner Donna Maynard spent last week in Cheyenne lobbying state lawmakers.
"I'm not sure how the budget amendment will work for us," she said. "I too am waiting for the language from Representative Craft" and other area legislators.
Presence known
At the request of Rock Springs Mayor Tim Kaumo in 2006, the city began discussions with AML officials and Gov. Dave Freudenthal about possibly using AML monies to mitigate lands in the city that had not been looked at for development before because of the old mine voids.
State rules forbid the AML from conducting mitigation subsidence work on undeveloped lands.
The city, however, received special permission from the state to conduct a $2.4 million subsidence pilot project using a new process known as dynamic compaction.
The process involved dropping 25- and 35-ton weights over the undermined areas to collapse the underground mine voids on a vacant tract of land adjacent to the Tree Street neighborhood.
Beginning July 17, 2007, AML contractors dropped the weights from cranes more than 2,300 times over three weeks before homeowners' complaints about damage halted the project.
Homeowners said vibrations from the dynamic compaction raced through the underground mine voids, shaking homes; damaging foundations, ceilings and walls; cracking driveways and causing gaps in windows and doors in nearly 20 Tree Street homes.
The state sent engineers to assess 19 damage claims filed by homeowners under a settlement process established by the AML in 2008.
The state followed with settlement offers based on the engineer's report. But only two homeowners accepted the state's initial offer.
The other Tree Street residents contended the offer didn't come close to providing adequate compensation for needed repairs.
State officials and attorneys representing the homeowners have been engaged in discussions for more than a year trying to finalize the details of a mediation agreement.
A deal is being brokered that would call for the state to retain another geotechnical engineer to reinspect the Tree Street homes.
The engineer would then make an independent determination on whether the damages were caused, in whole or part, by the dynamic compaction project.
Freudenthal has said the state is willing to compensate the claimants up to $275,000 per structure for any damages the engineer finds were caused by the dynamic compaction.
Kelley said she and other Tree Street homeowners will be in Cheyenne lobbying lawmakers again this week.
"We want to continue to make our presence known," she said.
Contact southwest Wyoming bureau reporter Jeff Gearino at 307-875-5359 or gearino@tribcsp.com
By JEFF GEARINO - Southwest Wyoming bureau Posted: Sunday, February 21, 2010 3:38 pm
ROCK SPRINGS -- Any legislative relief for the "Tree Street" residents whose homes were damaged by a controversial mine subsidence project in 2007 will come in the form of a budget amendment, rather than a bill, southwest Wyoming lawmakers say.
A similar budget amendment that sought funding for new engineering studies and possible repairs failed during the 2009 session.
The lawmakers had said they might try to change the state's subsidence rules with a bill in an effort to gain a fair settlement from the state after touring many of the damaged homes in January.
A bill would have attempted to amend the stricter state Abandoned Mine Lands guidelines to better match the looser federal guidelines.
"I had a bill drafted but after lots of discussion decided we were better off with another budget amendment," state Rep. Bernadine Craft said last week in an e-mail to the Star-Tribune. "We have huge support, so I am hopeful that we'll be successful in both houses this time."
Craft said budget amendment discussions are scheduled to begin Tuesday.
The 2009 budget amendment sought to divert $2.9 million in AML monies that would normally be used for reclamation and public facility projects. The diverted funds would have paid for repairs to homes and the hiring of a licensed structural engineer to reassess the damaged properties.
More than a dozen homes were damaged during the mine subsidence project that began in late July 2007.
The project was conducted by the Wyoming Abandoned Mine Lands Division. It aimed to free vacant lands in the city so they could be used to build affordable housing.
Becky Kelley, the unofficial spokeswoman for the Tree Street homeowners, said residents welcomed any help they could get. She and homeowner Donna Maynard spent last week in Cheyenne lobbying state lawmakers.
"I'm not sure how the budget amendment will work for us," she said. "I too am waiting for the language from Representative Craft" and other area legislators.
Presence known
At the request of Rock Springs Mayor Tim Kaumo in 2006, the city began discussions with AML officials and Gov. Dave Freudenthal about possibly using AML monies to mitigate lands in the city that had not been looked at for development before because of the old mine voids.
State rules forbid the AML from conducting mitigation subsidence work on undeveloped lands.
The city, however, received special permission from the state to conduct a $2.4 million subsidence pilot project using a new process known as dynamic compaction.
The process involved dropping 25- and 35-ton weights over the undermined areas to collapse the underground mine voids on a vacant tract of land adjacent to the Tree Street neighborhood.
Beginning July 17, 2007, AML contractors dropped the weights from cranes more than 2,300 times over three weeks before homeowners' complaints about damage halted the project.
Homeowners said vibrations from the dynamic compaction raced through the underground mine voids, shaking homes; damaging foundations, ceilings and walls; cracking driveways and causing gaps in windows and doors in nearly 20 Tree Street homes.
The state sent engineers to assess 19 damage claims filed by homeowners under a settlement process established by the AML in 2008.
The state followed with settlement offers based on the engineer's report. But only two homeowners accepted the state's initial offer.
The other Tree Street residents contended the offer didn't come close to providing adequate compensation for needed repairs.
State officials and attorneys representing the homeowners have been engaged in discussions for more than a year trying to finalize the details of a mediation agreement.
A deal is being brokered that would call for the state to retain another geotechnical engineer to reinspect the Tree Street homes.
The engineer would then make an independent determination on whether the damages were caused, in whole or part, by the dynamic compaction project.
Freudenthal has said the state is willing to compensate the claimants up to $275,000 per structure for any damages the engineer finds were caused by the dynamic compaction.
Kelley said she and other Tree Street homeowners will be in Cheyenne lobbying lawmakers again this week.
"We want to continue to make our presence known," she said.
Contact southwest Wyoming bureau reporter Jeff Gearino at 307-875-5359 or gearino@tribcsp.com
comments from the Billings Gazette
marion said on: February 15, 2010, 6:25 am
They should not need lawyers, the state screwed up and the state needs to pony up. Take the money from the business council that hands out money for ski resorts, etc. I am ashamed of my state for letting this go on and on, and forcing these folks to have to go thru this.
slow mover said on: February 15, 2010, 2:35 am
Lawyer time...
They should not need lawyers, the state screwed up and the state needs to pony up. Take the money from the business council that hands out money for ski resorts, etc. I am ashamed of my state for letting this go on and on, and forcing these folks to have to go thru this.
slow mover said on: February 15, 2010, 2:35 am
Lawyer time...
Monday, February 15, 2010
Taking their case to the Capitol
Owners of damaged homes lobby legislators.
By JEFF GEARINO - Southwest Wyoming bureau Posted: Monday, February 15, 2010 12:15 am
ROCK SPRINGS -- While "Tree Street" homeowners Becky Kelley and Donna Maynard prowled the State Capital halls in Cheyenne most of last week, the pair sported bright orange buttons on their lapels.
The buttons show a crane with a heavy weight suspended over a cracked and skewed house, superimposed over a boxing glove.
"Dynamic Compaction July 2007" is written in capital letters across the button, along with "state funded pilot project wrecked our homes."
For three straight legislative sessions, the two Rock Springs residents have been using any means they can to catch the eyes of lawmakers while they wait for the state to pay for repairs to their beleaguered homes they say were damaged by a controversial mine subsidence project in 2007.
State officials and attorneys representing the homeowners have been engaged for over a year in discussions to finalize the details of a mediation agreement. Both parties hope the agreement will lead to new inspections of damaged homes, with an eye toward a final financial settlement.
The ill-fated project conducted by the Wyoming Abandoned Mine Lands Division -- which aimed to free up vacant lands in the city that could be used to build affordable housing -- employed a new subsidence process known as dynamic compaction. It involved dropping 25-ton and 35-ton weights over undermined areas to collapse the underground mine voids on a vacant tract of land near the Tree Street neighborhood.
But the project ended up damaging nearly 20 homes in the area, the owners say.
Kelley, the unofficial spokeswoman for the Tree Street residents, said she and other homeowners continue to be frustrated with the slow pace of the resolution process. She and Maynard spent last week in Cheyenne meeting with lawmakers and talking to "anyone who will listen to us."
On Wednesday, the pair completed a daylong lobbying class through the Equality State Policy Center. "The class went very well ... We found that we have a lot of supporters," Kelley said.
Pilot project
At the request of Mayor Tim Kaumo in 2006, the city began discussions with AML officials and Gov. Dave Freudenthal about possibly using AML money to mitigate some lands within the city that had not been looked at for development before because of old mine voids.
State rules forbid the AML Division from conducting subsidence work on undeveloped lands. However, the city received special permission from the state to conduct a $2.4 million pilot subsidence project using dynamic compaction on a tract of land next to the Tree Street neighborhood.
For three weeks beginning July 17, 2007, AML contractors using cranes dropped the weights about 2,300 times before residents' complaints halted the project.
Homeowners contend vibrations from the dynamic compaction severely damaged more than a dozen homes, cracking foundations, ceilings and walls, driveways, opening sinkholes in some yards, and causing gaps in windows and door frames, among other damage.
AML directors told residents during a contentious town meeting in mid-August 2007 that the state would pay for all repairs to homes damaged by the dynamic compaction portion of the project. But homeowners contended the state's first settlement offers -- which were based on a state-contracted engineer's assessment of the damage and estimated repair costs -- weren't nearly adequate to fairly compensate homeowners for the needed repair work.
Double recovery
Over the past few weeks, a bevy of southwest Wyoming lawmakers and gubernatorial candidates has toured homes in the Tree Street area to get a firsthand look at the damage.
Following a tour last month, Sen. Stan Cooper, R-Kemmerer, sent Freudenthal a letter urging the governor to break what he called the "bureaucratic impasse" that seemed to be preventing a satisfactory financial resolution for homeowners.
Last week, Freudenthal released his Jan. 28 response to Cooper's letter that said the state is continuing to work to resolve the problem and that it would be irresponsible to simply begin writing checks to homeowners for damage repairs.
Any state compensation must be tied to the damage which is likely to have been caused by the dynamic compaction project, rather than subsidence events which have plagued Rock Springs for decades, Freudenthal wrote.
The governor said the state is willing to fund up to $275,000 in repairs per structure. And he said the state is willing to accept the findings from new inspections by a mutually agreed upon engineering firm.
In a memorandum to Freudenthal's letter, state Attorney General Bruce Salzburg said while homeowners were negotiating the terms of the mediation agreement, the claimants filed a lawsuit in Sweetwater County District Court in July against two of the state's consulting engineers who had done work for the AML related to the dynamic compaction project.
Salzburg said the filing of the lawsuit raised the question of a possible "double recovery" for homeowners.
The terms of any settlement agreement to resolve the claims must account for the pending lawsuits so there is not double recovery, Salzburg wrote.
Misleading
But the manager of the nearby Springview Manor Apartment complex that was damaged during the project said last week that homeowners had no recourse except to address the partners and agents of the AML Division through a lawsuit.
Built in 1972, the complex was constructed in part to provide affordable housing for Rock Springs residents during the Jim Bridger Power Plant construction boom.
Dino Moncecchi of the Casper-based Spartan Management LCC, which manages the 17-unit apartment complex, said in a Feb. 3 letter to Freudenthal and phone interview that Salzburg's contention that homeowners are seeking double recovery is "misleading at best."
Moncecchi said homeowners filed the lawsuit in July, just 30 days before the statute of limitations ran out, on the advice of their attorneys.
"If we're not going to get money out of the state, we're forced to go somewhere else," he said.
Moncecchi noted four, three-story apartment buildings and many of the 59 apartments in the tidy, low-income complex suffered damage during the project. Window frames have separated from walls, kitchen and hallway floors slope, and numerous double-pane windows were broken as a result of the dynamic compaction, he said.
Hallway doors pulled away from frames and won't open now as a result of the project, some fire doors won't shut, stairwells were cracked, and various pipes and drains are plugged, among other damage. Damage repairs could end up costing millions of dollars, he said.
The state's first settlement offer for repairs to the complex was $4,918.
Moncecchi said the state's proposed financial damage limit of $275,000 per structure is "ludicrous."
He said the limit may be sufficient for most of the single-family residences, but it won't be for the 17-unit apartment building, which must meet federal Department of Housing and Urban Development regulations and inspections to continue to operate.
"For Springview Manor, we are talking about the safety of 59 families," Moncecchi said.
"The hope is that those funds will suffice, but I have a fiduciary duty to the ownership of Springview Manor and clearly my acceptance of that sum would violate that obligation," he wrote to the governor.
Moncecchi said the state should also monitor and stabilize, if necessary, the ground that the AML Division destabilized by the dynamic compaction.
Southwest Wyoming bureau reporter Jeff Gearino can be reached at 307-875-5359 or at gearino@tribcsp.com.
By JEFF GEARINO - Southwest Wyoming bureau Posted: Monday, February 15, 2010 12:15 am
ROCK SPRINGS -- While "Tree Street" homeowners Becky Kelley and Donna Maynard prowled the State Capital halls in Cheyenne most of last week, the pair sported bright orange buttons on their lapels.
The buttons show a crane with a heavy weight suspended over a cracked and skewed house, superimposed over a boxing glove.
"Dynamic Compaction July 2007" is written in capital letters across the button, along with "state funded pilot project wrecked our homes."
For three straight legislative sessions, the two Rock Springs residents have been using any means they can to catch the eyes of lawmakers while they wait for the state to pay for repairs to their beleaguered homes they say were damaged by a controversial mine subsidence project in 2007.
State officials and attorneys representing the homeowners have been engaged for over a year in discussions to finalize the details of a mediation agreement. Both parties hope the agreement will lead to new inspections of damaged homes, with an eye toward a final financial settlement.
The ill-fated project conducted by the Wyoming Abandoned Mine Lands Division -- which aimed to free up vacant lands in the city that could be used to build affordable housing -- employed a new subsidence process known as dynamic compaction. It involved dropping 25-ton and 35-ton weights over undermined areas to collapse the underground mine voids on a vacant tract of land near the Tree Street neighborhood.
But the project ended up damaging nearly 20 homes in the area, the owners say.
Kelley, the unofficial spokeswoman for the Tree Street residents, said she and other homeowners continue to be frustrated with the slow pace of the resolution process. She and Maynard spent last week in Cheyenne meeting with lawmakers and talking to "anyone who will listen to us."
On Wednesday, the pair completed a daylong lobbying class through the Equality State Policy Center. "The class went very well ... We found that we have a lot of supporters," Kelley said.
Pilot project
At the request of Mayor Tim Kaumo in 2006, the city began discussions with AML officials and Gov. Dave Freudenthal about possibly using AML money to mitigate some lands within the city that had not been looked at for development before because of old mine voids.
State rules forbid the AML Division from conducting subsidence work on undeveloped lands. However, the city received special permission from the state to conduct a $2.4 million pilot subsidence project using dynamic compaction on a tract of land next to the Tree Street neighborhood.
For three weeks beginning July 17, 2007, AML contractors using cranes dropped the weights about 2,300 times before residents' complaints halted the project.
Homeowners contend vibrations from the dynamic compaction severely damaged more than a dozen homes, cracking foundations, ceilings and walls, driveways, opening sinkholes in some yards, and causing gaps in windows and door frames, among other damage.
AML directors told residents during a contentious town meeting in mid-August 2007 that the state would pay for all repairs to homes damaged by the dynamic compaction portion of the project. But homeowners contended the state's first settlement offers -- which were based on a state-contracted engineer's assessment of the damage and estimated repair costs -- weren't nearly adequate to fairly compensate homeowners for the needed repair work.
Double recovery
Over the past few weeks, a bevy of southwest Wyoming lawmakers and gubernatorial candidates has toured homes in the Tree Street area to get a firsthand look at the damage.
Following a tour last month, Sen. Stan Cooper, R-Kemmerer, sent Freudenthal a letter urging the governor to break what he called the "bureaucratic impasse" that seemed to be preventing a satisfactory financial resolution for homeowners.
Last week, Freudenthal released his Jan. 28 response to Cooper's letter that said the state is continuing to work to resolve the problem and that it would be irresponsible to simply begin writing checks to homeowners for damage repairs.
Any state compensation must be tied to the damage which is likely to have been caused by the dynamic compaction project, rather than subsidence events which have plagued Rock Springs for decades, Freudenthal wrote.
The governor said the state is willing to fund up to $275,000 in repairs per structure. And he said the state is willing to accept the findings from new inspections by a mutually agreed upon engineering firm.
In a memorandum to Freudenthal's letter, state Attorney General Bruce Salzburg said while homeowners were negotiating the terms of the mediation agreement, the claimants filed a lawsuit in Sweetwater County District Court in July against two of the state's consulting engineers who had done work for the AML related to the dynamic compaction project.
Salzburg said the filing of the lawsuit raised the question of a possible "double recovery" for homeowners.
The terms of any settlement agreement to resolve the claims must account for the pending lawsuits so there is not double recovery, Salzburg wrote.
Misleading
But the manager of the nearby Springview Manor Apartment complex that was damaged during the project said last week that homeowners had no recourse except to address the partners and agents of the AML Division through a lawsuit.
Built in 1972, the complex was constructed in part to provide affordable housing for Rock Springs residents during the Jim Bridger Power Plant construction boom.
Dino Moncecchi of the Casper-based Spartan Management LCC, which manages the 17-unit apartment complex, said in a Feb. 3 letter to Freudenthal and phone interview that Salzburg's contention that homeowners are seeking double recovery is "misleading at best."
Moncecchi said homeowners filed the lawsuit in July, just 30 days before the statute of limitations ran out, on the advice of their attorneys.
"If we're not going to get money out of the state, we're forced to go somewhere else," he said.
Moncecchi noted four, three-story apartment buildings and many of the 59 apartments in the tidy, low-income complex suffered damage during the project. Window frames have separated from walls, kitchen and hallway floors slope, and numerous double-pane windows were broken as a result of the dynamic compaction, he said.
Hallway doors pulled away from frames and won't open now as a result of the project, some fire doors won't shut, stairwells were cracked, and various pipes and drains are plugged, among other damage. Damage repairs could end up costing millions of dollars, he said.
The state's first settlement offer for repairs to the complex was $4,918.
Moncecchi said the state's proposed financial damage limit of $275,000 per structure is "ludicrous."
He said the limit may be sufficient for most of the single-family residences, but it won't be for the 17-unit apartment building, which must meet federal Department of Housing and Urban Development regulations and inspections to continue to operate.
"For Springview Manor, we are talking about the safety of 59 families," Moncecchi said.
"The hope is that those funds will suffice, but I have a fiduciary duty to the ownership of Springview Manor and clearly my acceptance of that sum would violate that obligation," he wrote to the governor.
Moncecchi said the state should also monitor and stabilize, if necessary, the ground that the AML Division destabilized by the dynamic compaction.
Southwest Wyoming bureau reporter Jeff Gearino can be reached at 307-875-5359 or at gearino@tribcsp.com.
Friday, February 5, 2010
Lobbying efforts continue
Tree Street homeowners have scheduled one final tour before Monday's Legislature begins of homes damaged by a 2007 mine subsidence project, said group spokeswoman Becky Kelley.
Republican gubernatorial candidate Ron Micheli is scheduled to visit with homeowners Sunday afternoon. Several area lawmakers and Republican gubernatorial candidate Matt Mead have also gotten first-hand looks at the damage in recent weeks.
Kelley said a handful of homeowners have also signed up for a lobbying class in Cheyenne on Wednesday to help residents prepare for the upcoming session.
Republican gubernatorial candidate Ron Micheli is scheduled to visit with homeowners Sunday afternoon. Several area lawmakers and Republican gubernatorial candidate Matt Mead have also gotten first-hand looks at the damage in recent weeks.
Kelley said a handful of homeowners have also signed up for a lobbying class in Cheyenne on Wednesday to help residents prepare for the upcoming session.
Freudenthal says state is working to resolve 'Tree Street' issue
By JEFF GEARINO - Southwest Wyoming bureau Posted: Friday, February 5, 2010 12:15 am
ROCK SPRINGS -- The state has been working to resolve the problems with "Tree Street" homes damaged by a 2007 mine subsidence project, Gov. Dave Freudenthal wrote in a recent letter to nine area lawmakers.
The governor responded to a letter sent Jan. 20 by State Sen. Stan Cooper, R-Kemmerer, and eight other lawmakers after their tour of the Rock Springs homes and discussions with homeowners.
Cooper urged the governor to break what he called the "bureaucratic impasse" that seemed to be preventing a satisfactory financial resolution for homeowners.
In his Jan. 28 response letter, Freudenthal said that while he understood the need for Cooper to "offer animated rhetoric in support" of constituents, "I take issue with your assertion of an absence of a state effort to reach a conclusion."
Freudenthal said he assumed Cooper "is not advocating the state simply begin writing checks" to Rock Springs residents.
"The Constitution requires and the Legislature expects a factual and legal basis for any payment authorized by the (state) Attorney General," the governor wrote.
"It is appropriate that any state compensation to homeowners be tied to damage which is likely to have resulted from the dynamic compaction project, rather than the subsidence events which have plagued Rock Springs for decades, and which are certain to occur in the future," Freudenthal's letter continued.
The July 2007 project was conducted by the Wyoming Abandoned Mine Lands Division. It was designed to free up vacant lands in the city so they could be developed for much-needed affordable housing.
The $2.8 million pilot reclamation project employed a controversial process known as dynamic compaction.
For three weeks, 25- and 35-ton weights were dropped over vacant lands adjacent to the neighborhood to collapse the underground mine void below.
Homeowners believe vibrations from the dynamic compaction severely damaged more than a dozen homes, cracking foundations, driveways, ceilings and walls, opening sinkholes in some yards, and causing gaps in windows and door frames among other concerns.
They have been battling state government for two years over the state's first settlement offers, which most homeowners rejected as too low to pay for damage repairs.
Filling voids
In 2006 -- at the request of Rock Springs Mayor Tim Kaumo -- the city began discussions with AML officials and Gov. Freudenthal 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.
Rock Springs was built around the coal mines that were first developed in the 1860s to supply coal to the Union Pacific Railroad.
As a result, many of the city's residents live over old, poorly built coal mines. Many miles of underground mine tunnels traverse underneath the city.
State rules forbid the AML from conducting subsidence work on undeveloped lands, but the city received special permission from the state to try a new subsidence technique, dynamic compaction, on a tract of land adjacent to the Tree Street neighborhood.
For three weeks beginning July 17, 2007, AML contractors using cranes dropped the weights about 2,300 times before residents' complaints halted the project.
AML directors said shortly after that the state would pay for all repair to homes damaged by the dynamic compaction portion of the project.
But homeowners contended the state's first settlement offers in Dec. 2008 -- which were based on a state-contracted engineer's assessment of the damages and repair costs -- weren't nearly adequate to fairly compensate for the needed repair work.
End point
In his letter to Cooper, the governor said the state is willing to fund up to $275,000 in repairs per structure.
Freudenthal noted attorneys for both sides have been engaged in finalizing the details of a mediation agreement that would lead to new inspections by a mutually agreed upon engineering firm.
The new inspections would be the basis of the next round of settlement offers to homeowners.
The governor said the state is willing to commit to accepting the findings of that engineer, if the homeowners are willing to do the same.
"For mediation to be successful at some point, the parties need to agree to a mediation process which determines an end point for both the homeowners and the state," Freudenthal wrote.
"For the state to agree to fund repairs while leaving open the possibility of continuing litigation would be irresponsible," the letter continued.
State Attorney General Bruce Salzburg said in a Jan. 28 memorandum to Freudenthal's letter that the "unresolved question" is whether the ground movement -- which appears to be ongoing more than two years after the dynamic compaction was halted -- was caused by the dynamic compaction.
"Although the media seem to have accepted the claim that the project caused the damages, I would like to have that question answered by a qualified neutral expert," Salzburg wrote.
He said the state "remains willing to undertake the significant expense of retaining another geotechnical engineer ... to consider these claims and make an independent determination whether the damages were caused, in whole or in part, by the dynamic compaction project."
Salzburg said while homeowners were negotiating the terms of the mediation agreement, the claimants filed a lawsuit in Sweetwater County District Court in July against two of the state's consulting engineers who had done work for the AML related to the dynamic compaction project.
He said the filing of the lawsuits raised the question of a possible "double recovery" for homeowners.
"The terms of the agreement to resolve the claims through this process must account for the pending suits ... so there is no double recovery," Salzburg's letter said.
Contact southwest Wyoming bureau reporter Jeff Gearino at 307-875-5359 or gearino@tribcsp.com
ROCK SPRINGS -- The state has been working to resolve the problems with "Tree Street" homes damaged by a 2007 mine subsidence project, Gov. Dave Freudenthal wrote in a recent letter to nine area lawmakers.
The governor responded to a letter sent Jan. 20 by State Sen. Stan Cooper, R-Kemmerer, and eight other lawmakers after their tour of the Rock Springs homes and discussions with homeowners.
Cooper urged the governor to break what he called the "bureaucratic impasse" that seemed to be preventing a satisfactory financial resolution for homeowners.
In his Jan. 28 response letter, Freudenthal said that while he understood the need for Cooper to "offer animated rhetoric in support" of constituents, "I take issue with your assertion of an absence of a state effort to reach a conclusion."
Freudenthal said he assumed Cooper "is not advocating the state simply begin writing checks" to Rock Springs residents.
"The Constitution requires and the Legislature expects a factual and legal basis for any payment authorized by the (state) Attorney General," the governor wrote.
"It is appropriate that any state compensation to homeowners be tied to damage which is likely to have resulted from the dynamic compaction project, rather than the subsidence events which have plagued Rock Springs for decades, and which are certain to occur in the future," Freudenthal's letter continued.
The July 2007 project was conducted by the Wyoming Abandoned Mine Lands Division. It was designed to free up vacant lands in the city so they could be developed for much-needed affordable housing.
The $2.8 million pilot reclamation project employed a controversial process known as dynamic compaction.
For three weeks, 25- and 35-ton weights were dropped over vacant lands adjacent to the neighborhood to collapse the underground mine void below.
Homeowners believe vibrations from the dynamic compaction severely damaged more than a dozen homes, cracking foundations, driveways, ceilings and walls, opening sinkholes in some yards, and causing gaps in windows and door frames among other concerns.
They have been battling state government for two years over the state's first settlement offers, which most homeowners rejected as too low to pay for damage repairs.
Filling voids
In 2006 -- at the request of Rock Springs Mayor Tim Kaumo -- the city began discussions with AML officials and Gov. Freudenthal 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.
Rock Springs was built around the coal mines that were first developed in the 1860s to supply coal to the Union Pacific Railroad.
As a result, many of the city's residents live over old, poorly built coal mines. Many miles of underground mine tunnels traverse underneath the city.
State rules forbid the AML from conducting subsidence work on undeveloped lands, but the city received special permission from the state to try a new subsidence technique, dynamic compaction, on a tract of land adjacent to the Tree Street neighborhood.
For three weeks beginning July 17, 2007, AML contractors using cranes dropped the weights about 2,300 times before residents' complaints halted the project.
AML directors said shortly after that the state would pay for all repair to homes damaged by the dynamic compaction portion of the project.
But homeowners contended the state's first settlement offers in Dec. 2008 -- which were based on a state-contracted engineer's assessment of the damages and repair costs -- weren't nearly adequate to fairly compensate for the needed repair work.
End point
In his letter to Cooper, the governor said the state is willing to fund up to $275,000 in repairs per structure.
Freudenthal noted attorneys for both sides have been engaged in finalizing the details of a mediation agreement that would lead to new inspections by a mutually agreed upon engineering firm.
The new inspections would be the basis of the next round of settlement offers to homeowners.
The governor said the state is willing to commit to accepting the findings of that engineer, if the homeowners are willing to do the same.
"For mediation to be successful at some point, the parties need to agree to a mediation process which determines an end point for both the homeowners and the state," Freudenthal wrote.
"For the state to agree to fund repairs while leaving open the possibility of continuing litigation would be irresponsible," the letter continued.
State Attorney General Bruce Salzburg said in a Jan. 28 memorandum to Freudenthal's letter that the "unresolved question" is whether the ground movement -- which appears to be ongoing more than two years after the dynamic compaction was halted -- was caused by the dynamic compaction.
"Although the media seem to have accepted the claim that the project caused the damages, I would like to have that question answered by a qualified neutral expert," Salzburg wrote.
He said the state "remains willing to undertake the significant expense of retaining another geotechnical engineer ... to consider these claims and make an independent determination whether the damages were caused, in whole or in part, by the dynamic compaction project."
Salzburg said while homeowners were negotiating the terms of the mediation agreement, the claimants filed a lawsuit in Sweetwater County District Court in July against two of the state's consulting engineers who had done work for the AML related to the dynamic compaction project.
He said the filing of the lawsuits raised the question of a possible "double recovery" for homeowners.
"The terms of the agreement to resolve the claims through this process must account for the pending suits ... so there is no double recovery," Salzburg's letter said.
Contact southwest Wyoming bureau reporter Jeff Gearino at 307-875-5359 or gearino@tribcsp.com
Thursday, February 4, 2010
Please keep Rep. Tim Hallinan in your thoughts and prayers
Representative Tim Hallinan we are wishing you a fast and healthyrecovery from your by pass surgery, and you and your familywill be in our prayers. Tree street folks
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Candidate tours damaged homes
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
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
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.
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
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.”
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.”
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
News Broadcast Thrusday Dec. 3, 2009
Here is a news broadcast that was done on Thursday December 3, 2009.
Thursday, December 3, 2009
State needs to settle "BIG DROP CLAIMS"
written by the editor of the casper star tribune. please feel free to leave comments.
It's been more than two years since a ground-pounding subsidence project in Rock Springs was halted by Wyoming's Abandoned Mine Lands Division after nearly two dozen homeowners complained about damage.
The state has yet to settle with residents of the Tree Street neighborhood, where 25- and 35-ton weights were dropped more than 2,000 times on a nearby tract of unoccupied land. The "dynamic compaction" experiment (known in Rock Springs as "The Big Drop") was part of a pilot project intended to stabilize the land for housing construction.
Houses in the neighborhood were built over old underground coal mine voids. Engineering studies show that there continues to be movement in the old mine workings beneath the neighborhood and the subsidence risk in the area remains high.
Days after the dynamic compaction project began, residents began complaining that the shock waves from the dropped weights was shaking houses, cracking driveways and foundations, accelerating ongoing subsidence and severely damaging their houses.
The Abandoned Mine Lands Division offered to pay for damages that an Evanston-based engineer determined may have been caused by the ground pounding. But the offers were much lower than what it would cost to actually repair the homes' subsidence damage, and most homeowners refused the settlement.
They are amazed that nothing has been done to fix their homes, and so are we. "We're not just frustrated .. we're way beyond frustrated at this point," said Ash Street resident Donna Maynard.
It has taken the state far too long to settle this issue. The money exists to make these homeowners whole, and it should be used for that purpose because that's precisely what it was intended to do: address problems caused by old, abandoned mines.
Coal companies contribute 35 cents for every ton of coal extracted from surface mines and 15 cents per ton from underground mines to fund mine reclamation projects. Over the past 20 years, Wyoming's AML has spent more than $80 million on various grouting and excavation-and-backfill mine reclamation projects across Rock Springs.
The AML Division has been conducting subsurface investigations since the fall of 2007 to determine if any further mitigation measures are required. Engineers resumed drilling in the neighborhood in September to gather additional data, and will continue through December.
AML Administrator Rick Chancellor said the agency hopes to have a negotiated agreement soon with the homeowners that should lead the way to new inspections. That's the first hopeful sign we've seen in the past year.
It will likely be difficult to prove that dynamic compaction directly caused all of the damage to houses. But there's no question that mine subsidence has badly damaged a significant number of homes in the neighborhood, and the risks of further damage are still great. It's an issue the state can't afford to ignore.
Members of the House this year unanimously passed a budget amendment that would have allocated $2.8 million to provide relief to the homeowners, but it was rejected by the Senate. The AML Division did agree, at the behest of state lawmakers, to redo the engineering inspections with the goal of making new compensation offers.
It's time for the state to open up the purse strings and get this accomplished. Money should not be an issue.
It's been more than two years since a ground-pounding subsidence project in Rock Springs was halted by Wyoming's Abandoned Mine Lands Division after nearly two dozen homeowners complained about damage.
The state has yet to settle with residents of the Tree Street neighborhood, where 25- and 35-ton weights were dropped more than 2,000 times on a nearby tract of unoccupied land. The "dynamic compaction" experiment (known in Rock Springs as "The Big Drop") was part of a pilot project intended to stabilize the land for housing construction.
Houses in the neighborhood were built over old underground coal mine voids. Engineering studies show that there continues to be movement in the old mine workings beneath the neighborhood and the subsidence risk in the area remains high.
Days after the dynamic compaction project began, residents began complaining that the shock waves from the dropped weights was shaking houses, cracking driveways and foundations, accelerating ongoing subsidence and severely damaging their houses.
The Abandoned Mine Lands Division offered to pay for damages that an Evanston-based engineer determined may have been caused by the ground pounding. But the offers were much lower than what it would cost to actually repair the homes' subsidence damage, and most homeowners refused the settlement.
They are amazed that nothing has been done to fix their homes, and so are we. "We're not just frustrated .. we're way beyond frustrated at this point," said Ash Street resident Donna Maynard.
It has taken the state far too long to settle this issue. The money exists to make these homeowners whole, and it should be used for that purpose because that's precisely what it was intended to do: address problems caused by old, abandoned mines.
Coal companies contribute 35 cents for every ton of coal extracted from surface mines and 15 cents per ton from underground mines to fund mine reclamation projects. Over the past 20 years, Wyoming's AML has spent more than $80 million on various grouting and excavation-and-backfill mine reclamation projects across Rock Springs.
The AML Division has been conducting subsurface investigations since the fall of 2007 to determine if any further mitigation measures are required. Engineers resumed drilling in the neighborhood in September to gather additional data, and will continue through December.
AML Administrator Rick Chancellor said the agency hopes to have a negotiated agreement soon with the homeowners that should lead the way to new inspections. That's the first hopeful sign we've seen in the past year.
It will likely be difficult to prove that dynamic compaction directly caused all of the damage to houses. But there's no question that mine subsidence has badly damaged a significant number of homes in the neighborhood, and the risks of further damage are still great. It's an issue the state can't afford to ignore.
Members of the House this year unanimously passed a budget amendment that would have allocated $2.8 million to provide relief to the homeowners, but it was rejected by the Senate. The AML Division did agree, at the behest of state lawmakers, to redo the engineering inspections with the goal of making new compensation offers.
It's time for the state to open up the purse strings and get this accomplished. Money should not be an issue.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
