Home >  Local News >  Neighborhoods

Sunday, October 20, 2002

By Janice Crompton, Post-Gazette Staff Writer

Maple Creek Mining Inc. of Bentleyville last week announced the donation of three new vehicles and $125,000 in cash payments to Carroll as part of a court-ordered settlement.

The January 2001 settlement between the company and township ended a dispute over construction of a coal tramway in Carroll and Fallowfield. Carroll supervisors had been concerned the open conveyer-belt tramway would cause dust and noise. In 2000, Maple Creek sued Fallowfield for $900 million, when supervisors there denied a land-use permit. The company threatened to do the same with Carroll, supervisors said, but the matter was resolved when the company agreed to modify the tramway into an enclosed system. The tramway will transport coal from a portal at the company's new High Quality Mine in Fallowfield. The contribution was delayed until recently, when construction began on the tramway.

The company's previous operations at Maple Creek Mine in Bentleyville are winding down as coal reserves there are depleted. The new mine is expected to yield a higher quality of coal with low sulfur content. Longwall mining production is expected to begin by next summer.

It is "the largest new underground mine in Pennsylvania in a generation," with a 2,000-acre reserve of coal, according to Steven E. Cohen, company manager of public affairs and government relations.

The township recently took possession of a new police cruiser, dump truck, sport-utility vehicle and $25,000 in cash. It also will receive $20,000 a year for the next five years.

Carroll Supervisor Thomas Rapp said the payments will be used to upgrade the municipal building.

The police cruiser arrived just in time, he said. One of the township's two police cars had more than 100,000 miles and the transmission needed to be replaced.

"We have an amicable relationship with the mine now," he said.

Janice Crompton can be reached at jcrompton@post-gazette.com or 724-223-0156.