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Neighbors tell of 'mine disasters' - Congressman hopes to help Cheshire residents
Sep 23, 02:30 PM
WATERBURY REPUBLICAN-AMERICAN BY LAURESHA XHIHANI
CHESHIRE — In a residential neighborhood plagued by mine collapses there is hope for help from the federal government.
On Monday morning 16 neighbors met with 5th District Congressman Christopher Murphy to talk about the danger lurking underground.
Murphy hopes he can influence Washington decision makers with the stories he heard on Monday to bring relief to property owners threatened by underground mine collapses.
Congress is revamping mining laws unchanged in 100 years and looking to create an abandoned mine fund from mining royalties.
“It helps that I live in Cheshire telling a personal story about what might happen in my back yard,” Murphy said.
The stories included the experience of Bill and Lisa Baker, whose back yard opened up into a 37-foot-deep crater just one week after they moved into their 395 Sheridan Drive home in October 2005. An abandoned mine runs about 500 feet through the neighborhood, and is one of dozens such tunnels in town.
Other neighbors told of children playing on a 15-foot-deep mine collapse in a nearby wooded area, which is now a neighborhood of expensive homes. The neighborhood along Peck Lane is one of several neighborhoods in town built over abandoned mines.
During the 1800s, there were several mines in Cheshire harvesting barite, a white mineral used in paint production. Each mine was built around a main shaft, from which side tunnels radiated thousands of feet.
Murphy said a study estimates it will take $30 billion to fix problems caused by abandoned mines across the country.
Spruce Street resident Lauren Korman said property owners need government to respond to the threat. So far the neighborhood has gotten little cooperation from state or local authorities. The state legislature killed a bill that would have created a mine fund fashioned after a successful underground storage tank removal fund.
The town of Cheshire has not been supportive either, for fear of having to pay millions to fill mines it never owned.
Baker has sued the town for neglecting to inform him of the mines and for giving permits to developers to build his home above a mine.
Three of six counts in Baker’s lawsuit were thrown out by a New Haven court recently. Baker said he plans to appeal if the court does not rule in his favor.
