Comments on PADEP’s Sixth Act 54 Report are due September 8, 2026.
For more than 30 years, Pennsylvania’s Act 54 reports have documented damage associated with longwall coal mining. Homes have been damaged, water supplies have been lost or contaminated, land has subsided, and streams have been impaired. Yet PADEP has not made the changes needed to prevent these same problems from continuing.
The Citizens Advisory Council’s Act 54 Report Committee is now accepting public comments on PADEP’s Sixth Act 54 Report, which examines underground mining impacts reported from 2018 through 2022.
Organizations can play an important role in making sure the public understands what the report found and why PADEP needs to act. Citizens Coal Council has created three organizational action alerts to help groups reach the people they serve, whether those constituents live in Southwestern Pennsylvania, elsewhere in the Commonwealth, or outside Pennsylvania.
Review the reports and supporting analysis
Organizations that want to examine the findings in greater detail can review PADEP’s full report along with two reports prepared by Citizens Coal Council.
- Read PADEP’s Sixth Act 54 Report
PADEP’s report examines the effects of underground bituminous coal mining on structures, water supplies, land, streams, and other resources from 2018 through 2022. - Read Broken Streams, Broken System, Broken Trust
Citizens Coal Council’s report examines PADEP’s findings, places them in the context of damage documented since Act 54 was enacted in 1994, and identifies continuing problems with oversight, enforcement, recordkeeping, repairs, and public accountability. - Read Citizens Coal Council’s Independent Technical Review
This detailed review takes a closer look at the report’s data, methods, findings, omissions, and conclusions, including the documented effects of longwall mining on structures, water supplies, land, and streams.
Organizations do not need to read every page before participating. The action alerts below highlight key findings, provide suggested talking points, and help groups decide how to communicate the issue to their members and constituents.
Choose the action alert that fits your audience
Each action alert contains background on the Act 54 review, important findings from PADEP’s records, suggested comment topics, talking points, outreach guidance, and specific actions organizations can request.
Organizations are welcome to use, adapt, reproduce, or share these materials. Choose the version that best reflects where your members, supporters, or constituents live.
For organizations serving Southwestern Pennsylvania
People living in Southwestern Pennsylvania are closest to the effects of longwall mining. They may have firsthand knowledge of damaged homes, lost or contaminated water supplies, diminished streams, subsided land, disrupted farms, or other impacts that do not appear clearly in PADEP’s records.
This action alert helps organizations reach affected residents and encourage them to place their experiences, observations, and concerns into the public record.
Download the Organizational Action Alert for Southwestern Pennsylvania Audiences
This version is especially useful for community groups, watershed organizations, local governments, farms and agricultural organizations, outdoor recreation groups, churches, neighborhood networks, and other organizations serving Greene and Washington Counties or nearby coalfield communities.
For organizations serving Pennsylvania residents outside Southwestern Pennsylvania
Longwall mining may be concentrated in Southwestern Pennsylvania, but PADEP’s responsibility to protect water, enforce environmental laws, maintain accurate public records, and hold mining companies accountable is a statewide concern.
This action alert helps organizations explain why residents throughout Pennsylvania have a reason to comment, even if they do not live above a longwall mine or have not personally experienced mining damage.
This version can be used by statewide environmental organizations, watershed groups, conservation and recreation organizations, good-government advocates, public-health groups, climate organizations, student groups, and others whose members care about clean water and responsible environmental oversight.
For national and out-of-state organizations
Organizations outside Pennsylvania can also bring valuable perspectives to the Act 54 review. National environmental organizations, mining-policy advocates, technical experts, researchers, legal organizations, and groups representing communities affected by mining in other states may be able to identify broader regulatory concerns or offer useful comparisons.
Outside participation should support, not overshadow, the experiences of people living in affected Southwestern Pennsylvania communities. This action alert helps organizations identify when an out-of-state comment would add value and how to frame it appropriately.
Download the Organizational Action Alert for National and Out-of-State Audiences
This version is most appropriate for organizations or constituents with a genuine connection to Pennsylvania, longwall mining, watershed protection, environmental enforcement, federal mining oversight, or similar mining impacts in other states.
How to use the action alerts
The alerts are designed to be flexible. Organizations do not need to address every issue listed or follow the language word for word.
You can use the appropriate alert to:
- Prepare and submit a comment on behalf of your organization
- Identify the Act 54 findings that relate most closely to your mission
- Create an email or newsletter message for your members
- Develop social media posts directing people to the comment opportunity
- Provide members with talking points and suggested requests
- Host a short letter-writing session or community discussion
- Contact people with relevant professional expertise or firsthand experience
- Ask partner organizations to share the alert with their own networks
When reaching out to constituents, explain why your organization is participating and why the issue relates to your work. Encourage people to choose one or two points that matter to them and write in their own words. A short, personal, focused comment can be more effective than a copied form letter.
What comments can ask PADEP to do
Organizations and their constituents may ask PADEP to:
- Improve how mining damage claims, investigations, repairs, and outcomes are recorded
- Publicly track whether damaged streams and water supplies are actually restored
- Require more accurate methods for predicting longwall mining impacts
- Strengthen enforcement when mining companies fail to repair or compensate for damage
- Address gaps and inconsistencies in PADEP’s underground mining records
- Protect the public’s access to information about how damage claims are resolved
- Respond directly to recurring problems documented throughout the Act 54 reports
- Take action to prevent damage instead of continuing to document it after it occurs
Submit comments by September 8
Written comments should be emailed to iirvin@pa.gov by September 8, 2026.
Please include “Act 54 Report Comment” in the subject line. Organizations and commenters are also encouraged to copy Citizens Coal Council at aimee@citizenscoalcouncil.org so we can better understand the concerns being raised and demonstrate the breadth of public participation.
The Act 54 review should lead to more than another report documenting the same unresolved problems. Organizations can help make sure PADEP hears from the people it serves and understands that the public expects meaningful action.
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