BY CANDACE WAGNER
PARDEESVILLE, Pennsylvania - Joe Lupcho, president of
United Mine Workers (UMWA) Local 803 and fellow local member
Larry Romanchik greeted everyone as they arrived at a January
24 spaghetti dinner fund-raiser at the St. Nazarius Church in
this small town in anthracite coal country. Fifty-nine
members of UMWA locals 803 and 1531 have been on strike
against Jeddo Coal since March 26, 1998. The miners sponsored
the spaghetti dinner to benefit an organization called ACTION
ALL, which has been spearheading a campaign to stop a
landfill at a worked-out area of the Jeddo mine. The mine
owner, James Pagnotti, hopes to sell the land to Cranberry
Environmental Inc. for $1. This company would bring in
construction and demolition waste from the surrounding seven
counties and "possibly" from out of state, said Joanne Balay,
a leader of ACTION ALL.
This would save Pagnotti millions of dollars from the expense of back filling the strip mined area. According to Balay, the dumped materials would include asbestos, lead, and other toxic substances. The Luzerne County Court recently ruled in agreement with the local zoning board against giving a special zoning exception to the landfill. "The court disagreed with the challenge of Cranberry that the opposition experts weren't really experts," said Balay. These experts testified to the danger of pollution reaching the Susquehanna River from the landfill.
Among the 250 diners who came by over the course of the afternoon were UMWA members on strike against Jeddo, as well as union miners that work at Blaschak mine in Mahanoy City, Pennsylvania. Members of other unions were there as well. Several reported that their locals had taken up collections for the striking miners.