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
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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.