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The Ohio Division of Mines and Reclamations will send out a decision notice about the Lands Unsuitable Petitions submitted by Ohio University and the Buckeye Forest Council on Monday said ODMR spokesperson Kathy Rossman. Dysart Defenders will hold a press conference at 2 p.m. Wednesday, December 2 in the lobby of the Ohio Division of Mines and Reclamations headquarters at 1855 Fountain Square Court Building H-3 in Columbus (off Morse Road) to respond to the ODMR's decision. The Ohio Ohio Department of Natural Resources(ODNR) and its ODMR division decided in 1988 that the full watershed buffer zone (the same one that was submitted in the Buckeye Forest Council's Lands Unsuitable Petition) must be protected from coal mining. The Ohio Division of Natural Resources, ODNR issued a press release in 1988 stating that the ODNR had requested that the North American Coal Company withdraw two permits to mine near Dysart Woods. One was a quarter of a mile and the other a mile from Dysart Woods. The ODNR should not have double standards today. Its past decision to protect the watershed buffer zone must be respected today. The ODMR must not compromise on this buffer zone that in 1988 it told the NACCO not to mine. To not approve the Buckeye Forest Council Lands Unsuitable Petition would be an unacceptable change of policy by the ODMR and the ODNR that would violate the request of more than 15,000 people who have submitted petition signatures and letters calling for the protection of the watershed buffer zone of Dysart Woods. If Ohio and the United States are a Democracy, the watershed buffer zone of Dysart Woods must be protected from coal mining. OU Professor Brian McCarthy said at the ODMR public hearing that
Dysart Woods is the only virgin forest of the mixed mesophytic forest type
that once covered southeast Ohio. The ODMR transcript of McCarthy's
speech (available at: www.frognet.net/~hockingv/) states: "Dysart Woods
is unique in that it is the only forest in the State of Ohio which lies
within the Mixed Mesophytic Forest Region as designated by biogeographers.
This uniqueness is part of the reason why this site was designated a National
Natural Landmark by the United States Department of Interior in 1967.
Few other forests have such designation.
Here is a copy of the Ohio Department of Natural Resources Press
Release:
COLUMBUS, OHIO -- The Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) announced today that it has taken action to protect Dysart Woods from the effects of underground mining. The woods are located in Smith Township, Belmont County. Dysart Woods, which is on the National Registry of Natural Landmarks, is a 50-acre forest of 300- and 400-year-old beech, oak and tulip-poplar. The woods are owned by Ohio University. It is the largest known stand of virgin forest left in Southeastern Ohio. ODNR has received a great deal of public comment and concern regarding the possible impact of mining on the Dysart Woods area. ODNR Director Joseph S. Sommer said the department shares those concerns, "...As Director of the Department of Natural Resources I want to make sure that nothing is done to harm Dysart Woods - a precious part of Ohio's natural heritage." Tim Dieringar, Chief
of ODNR's Division of Reclamation has requested that North American Coal
Company (NACCO) withdraw from two proposed permit applications those areas
identified to be mined within the designated buffer zone of Dysart Woods.
The buffer
Two applications
submitted to ODNR's Division of Reclamation by NACCO are currently undergoing
review. One is a proposed underground mining operation called room
and pillaring that, at its closest is approximately 1/4 mile away from
the Dysart Woods area, The other is a proposed underground mining
operation called longwall mining which is approximately one mile away from
Dysart Woods.
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