Vol. 28, No. 2, Fall 1990 - "Environmental Hazards and Disasters in Pennsylvania"


WHEN MINE SUPPORTS FAIL: SUBSIDENCE HAZARD IN PENNSYLVANIA'S COAL FIELDS

(pp. 1 – 21)


Kent B. Barnes

Department of Geography and Environmental Planning

Towson State University

Towson, Maryland


Abstract


Mine subsidence is a longstanding and costly environmental hazard of Pennsylvania's coal fields. Presented is an overview of coal mine subsidence, selected adjustments and major state and federal responses to this hazard. The latter includes an insurance program, surface stabilization projects and mining regulation. Also discussed are the taking issue which has served to complicate management of the hazard in the Commonwealth and the need for improved land use regulation to reduce subsidence damages and losses. Keywords: coal mine subsidence, insurance, backfilling, regulation, taking issue.




MANAGING UNDERGROUND MINE FIRES: THE CASE OF CENTRALIA, PENNSYLVANIA

(pp. 22 – 26)


Joseph Geissinger

U. S. Department of Interior Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement

Johnstown, Pennsylvania


Abstract


What began in 1962 as a small fire in a coal seam grew over the years into a major underground mine fire covering hundreds of acres beneath the town of Centralia, Pennsylvania. The Centralia experience offers some insights into failed management opportunities and the difficulties of dealing with hazards whose severity and areal extent are hard to estimate.




COULD EARTHQUAKE DISASTER STRIKE PENNSYLVANIA?

(pp. 27 – 38)


Charles K. Scharnberger

Department of Earth Sciences

Millersville University

Millersville, Pennsylvania


Abstract


Over the past 300 years at least 15 earthquakes large enough to produce intensities of VIII or greater (Modified Mercalli Scale) have occurred in eastern North America. The most seismically active regions have been around New Madrid, Mo., along the St. Lawrence Valley and in eastern Massachusetts, though the eastern earthquake that caused the most damage was in Charleston, S.C., in 1886. More than 40 earthquakes with epicenters in Pennsylvania are known to have occurred, but none of these produced intensities greater than VI. Nevertheless, the geologic structure in southeastern Pennsylvania and New Jersey is such that the possibility of damaging earthquakes in this region cannot be dismissed.




TMI TURNS AROUND BUT WHICH WAY IS IT LOOKING?

(pp. 39 – 54)


Dominic Golding

Center for Technology, Environment, and Development (CENTED)

Clark University

Worcester, Massachusetts


Abstract


The 1979 nuclear power plant accident at Three Mile Island had a profound and lasting influence on public opinion, the nuclear industry and government agencies in Pennsylvania, the United States and the World. For the citizens of Pennsylvania it was a disaster. With the announcement that Unit 1 was the best performer of 1989, it would seem to be an appropriate time to take a retrospective look. The paper traces a series of events that have maintained public anxiety and continued to undermine public confidence, including the accident itself, the krypton venting, the restart and the clean-up. The paper does not deal with the technical details of the accident or its aftermath, but focuses on those issues and events of concern to social scientists in general and geographers in particular. For this reason, a special emphasis is given to public response during the accident and subsequent changes in emergency planning. The paper attempts to draw together several different strands as they spin together over the period of a decade to form the larger story.




THE IMPACTS OF TROPICAL STORM AGNES ON RESIDENTIAL PROPERTY VALUES IN WILKES-BARRE, PENNSYLVANIA

(pp. 55 – 67)


Burrell E. Montz

Department of Geography

S UNY –Binghamton

Binghamton, New York


Graham A. Tobin

Department of Geography

University of Minnesota, Duluth

Duluth, Minnesota


Abstract


In 1972, Wilkes-Barre Pennsylvania experienced its greatest flood of record. The magnitude of this flood, combined with spatial differences in flood depths, facilitates the analysis of the impacts of flooding on property values. The City was divided into four areas based on flood depths. Data were collected on housing characteristics and on list and sold prices for several years before and several years after the flood. Temporal and spatial patterns of change for each flood category (including non-flooded) were compared. The findings indicate that the market did not recover to pre-flood levels until more than 30 months after the flood. In addition, the length of the recovery periods as well as the extent of recovery varied with flood depth. Thus, the flood is capitalized in property values, but this is not uniform across the flooded area.




THE LEGACY OF THE JOHNSTOWN FLOOD

(pp. 68 – 80)


Mary P. Lavine

Department of Geography

University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown

Johnstown, Pennsylvania


Abstract


The 1889 Johnstown Flood, in which more than 2,200 people died, ranks along with the 1871 Chicago Fire and the San Francisco Earthquake of 1906 as among the most infamous disasters experienced in the United States. This paper discusses three major and enduring consequences of the 1889 flood: profound changes in the political geography of the Johnstown area, the impetus for suburbanization in locations above the floodplain and the emergence of two markedly divergent "images" of the community.



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