IN Peters Township April/May 2018 | Page 14

DEP LAUNCHES MINE SUBSIDENCE INSURANCE NOTIFICATION CAMPAIGN The Department of Environmental Protection’s (DEP) Mine Subsidence Insurance Program recently sent out notices to approximately 5,000 property owners in Peters Township to alert them of abandoned coal mines beneath their property, putting their homes and businesses at risk of damage from mine subsidence. The notices included maps that show undermined areas beneath property owners’ homes. The long- abandoned mines can deteriorate and collapse, causing the surface to sink. This mine subsidence can cause expensive-to-repair damage to foundations and walls. In extreme cases, subsidence can render buildings uninhabitable. Standard homeowners’ insurance rarely covers mine subsidence damage, leaving the property owner burdened with the repair expense. DEP offers affordable mine subsidence insurance to protect homeowners from potential damages caused by mine subsidence. Multiple mine subsidence events have occurred in Peters Township over the last several decades, damaging numerous homes and buildings. In May of 1984, the Peters Township Middle School and the McMurray Elementary School suffered extensive 12 PETERS TOWNSHIP damage due to mine subsidence. These two buildings were removed and the ground stabilized. The new Peters Township Middle School opened in the fall of 1988. In 2013, mine subsidence damaged 10 homes on Fredrick Street in Mount Oliver, Allegheny County. Only one of those homeowners had mine subsidence insurance. Due to incidents like the Mount Oliver subsidence, DEP has developed a notification program to alert property owners in undermined areas of the risk of costly damage caused by mine subsidence, and the availability of affordable mine subsidence insurance coverage. Mine subsidence damage often exceeds $100,000. Premiums are about 55 cents for every $1,000 of coverage. An average policy of $175,000 would cost just $95 a year, about $8 a month, or 25 cents a day. Despite the modest cost, only about 60,000 buildings are insured statewide. It is estimated that more than 1,000,000 buildings are built over abandoned mines in Pennsylvania. More information about the Mine Subsidence Insurance program is available at www.paMSI.org.