Tom Rathbun
Tom Rathbun
companies obsolete order paid spend
We don't want to order these companies to spend $100,000 on something that's going to be obsolete before it's paid for.
asking believe cleaning federal focused historic state
The state is focused on cleaning up this huge, historic mess. We don't believe we're asking for anything extravagant (from the federal government) to do it.
frost meeting
The supervisors and FROST requested a meeting with us when we neared the end of the process.
asked discuss frost known meeting private process review trouble
The supervisors and FROST had requested a private meeting at the end of the review process to discuss what was going to be in the permit. We were doing what we were asked to do. If we had known the trouble this would cause, we wouldn't have done it that way.
amended bigger concern despite management several
Management was a bigger concern to us than the finances. The reclamation just wasn't being done despite several amended agreements.
mining money touch work
We need something that's going to work for the Appalachian states; any place there was mining before the 1970s, there's a real need for reclamation. And that money still only cleans up higher-priority sites; it doesn't even touch on all the non-coal quarries in need of reclamation.
meets mining needs permanent state
What we want is to find a more permanent arrangement, a long-term reauthorization (of the fund) that meets the needs of a state with our mining history.
accident habits happen learn mining repeat sure work
Mining is dangerous, but it is work habits that make it unsafe. When there's an accident you need to learn from it, so you can make sure it doesn't happen again. You learn from the accident so it doesn't repeat itself.
filled kid lined mountain orange rivers trees
Mountain streams and rivers that were orange when I was a kid are now filled with fish, are now lined with trees and rhododendrons, and that's progress.
clean creating good material money soon taxpayers
You have a material that can be used as fuel. As soon as you get the material out of the stream, it (the stream) improves. If we can clean streams while creating electricity, and it's not costing the taxpayers any money to clean up these streams, that's a good thing.
awful looking people problem solution time
There are an awful lot of people that have put time into making this happen, people who aren't looking at the problem and complaining, but looking for a solution to the problem.
review welcome
We welcome any independent review of what we do.
communication company effort involves ongoing promote safe
It's not something the company was faulted for. They make a very concerted effort to have a safe workplace. They promote it ... It's an ongoing thing and it involves communication at all levels.
abandoned built depended entire europe helped iron mine nation opened steel west win
For a long time, the entire nation depended on coal, limestone, iron ore and steel from Pennsylvania. It helped win the Revolutionary War, it built railroads that opened the West and rebuilt Europe after two world wars. Our take on this is that this is not Pennsylvania's abandoned mine problem, it's America's problem.