Pennsylvania

Coal and industrial minerals mining permits

Agency Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection

Mine sites in Pennsylvania are permitted and inspected by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP). Its Bureau of District Mining Operations permits and inspects them through six district mining offices, and its Bureau of Mining Programs runs the environmental regulatory program for all coal and noncoal mining. DEP calls any mined commodity other than coal or peat noncoal, and says these minerals are also called nonfuel or industrial minerals.

In a Phase I ESA

ASTM E1527-21 does not name mining permit records among its standard record sources. On a property in or beside a permitted mine, quarry or coal refuse site, the permit file is where to learn what was mined, what was placed back and what is still being treated. That is advice for the search, not something DEP says. Hazards left by coal mining before 1977 belong to a separate program, described on the Abandoned mine lands and mine subsidence page.

A permit covers more than the pit. DEP says a coal mining permit area includes the mining and support areas, facilities and roads, and that permits are also required for exploration and for processing plants. Every mining permit needs an associated NPDES permit. A coal mining permit must be renewed every five years; a large noncoal permit does not expire.
A discharge can outlast the mine. The area under a coal or noncoal permit must be bonded to ensure reclamation is completed. DEP says the courts have held that reclamation includes treating post-mining discharges, and that a permittee whose site develops one must treat it for as long as it exists, backed by a bond or, as an alternative DEP has set up, a trust fund. Ask whether a reclaimed mine on or next to the property has a treated discharge.
Coal ash goes back into mines. DEP says coal ash (fly ash, bottom ash or boiler slag) is beneficially used on mine sites to fill pits, to create or amend soil, and as a low-permeability or high-alkalinity material. The ash sources must be certified by the Bureau of Mining Programs, and data on the active mining permit site, water quality monitoring reports among them, goes to the district mining office. The federal rules on the coal combustion residuals units page do not reach coal ash placed at coal mines, so ask the district office.
Longwall mining can move the ground. DEP says longwall mining lets the roof collapse into the mined void and may cause surface subsidence features. Act 54, the 1994 amendment to the Bituminous Mine Subsidence and Land Conservation Act of 1966, added protection and restoration of water supplies affected by mining and further remedies for structural damage.
Small pits are permitted too. A small noncoal permit limits extraction to 5 acres, and a general permit covers taking noncoal minerals, on up to 5 acres, to supply fill for the one construction project its registration identifies.

What the record shows

DEP's yearly mining reports give mine operators, mine names and locations, tons of coal produced, employees and hours worked, and accidents and fatalities. The 2025 page links lists, by county, of anthracite and bituminous underground mines, surface mines and coal refuse sites reporting production, and of industrial minerals mines, and separate files of operators' address information; the reports page links a page for each year back to 2011. Since the coal lists' titles say they are of mines reporting production, ask the district office about a permit that may not have produced that year.

Where to look a site up

eFACTS, which the district mining operations page lists among its mining topics and DEP's file review page links.
eMapPA, whose map layers DEP says include mining, and DEP's Open Data Portal, whose layers include coal mining and industrial minerals mining.
DEP's Reports from PA Mining Programs page, with the yearly reports and a link to the Act 54 page on the effects of underground mining.
DEP's Treatment Trust Funds page links a listing of trust fund documents. DEP says a fund normally has two: a consent order and agreement with DEP, and a trust or participation agreement with the trustee.
DEP's Coal Ash Beneficial Use page links a list of certified ash sources that it labels current; the file's name dates it October 2024. DEP gives RA-coalash@pa.gov for electronic copies of its coal ash forms and for ash certification submittals and their monitoring data; data on the mine site itself goes to the district office.
The Bureau of District Mining Operations page links the six district offices; the office page read lists the counties it serves. DEP says the California office is the only one that permits bituminous deep mines, and that the Pottsville office permits anthracite underground mines.

Getting the file

DEP says its mine permit files are always available for public review, by appointment, because staff must first review the file for confidential information such as private complaints and must have someone available to monitor it. The district mining offices are open from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. and closed on state holidays, and DEP says an appointment may need to start before 3 p.m. Ask the district office for the county. For DEP's other records, DEP recommends its Environmental Site Assessment Search Tool or an Informal File Review before a request under the Right-to-Know Law. The file review and the Right-to-Know request are on the Informal File Review and Right-to-Know requests page.

Sources

Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection pages, read October 15, 2026, no modified date shown:

Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection pages, read October 1, 2026, no modified date shown: