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Fire Underground: The Ongoing Tragedy of the Centralia Mine Fire, page 36
36"Centralia Mine Fire," unsigned broadsheet postmarked June 8, 1981, Thornburgh Papers, Pennsylvania State Archives, Harrisburg.
37 Memo, Dewitt C. Smith, director of the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency, to Robert C. Wilburn, secretary of budget and administration, Aug. 20, 1981.
38Thornburgh's dislike of the press was legendary in Harrisburg, and his attitude was reflected in the often shabby treatment reporters received from the governor's Press Office. Thornburgh rarely gave unrestricted press conferences and was known to lash out at reporters whose questions he disliked, despite the fact that he generally received very fair coverage.
39 The AML Fund contained $681 million on September 30, 1981, according to OSM records. Of that, half, or about $340 million, was reserved for the coal-producing states. The other half was reserved for the federal government. Of the federal share, about $136 million was reserved for the Interior Department to spend on mine-fire and other AML projects at Secretary Watt's discretion.
40 Former State Senator Franklin Kury, who left office in 1980 and was now a Harrisburg lawyer and respected environmentalist, advised Polites a lawsuit was impossible because the law left fighting mine fires to Watt's discretion. "I regret we cannot give you better news, because I would love to be able to bring the kind of lawsuit you contemplated," he wrote in a May 11, 1981, letter to Polites. Kury had represented Centralia as a senator and had gone to bat for the town on more than one occasion.
41 The Health Department would not provide any information about carbon monoxide to Centralia residents, rebuffing even pleas from General Smith. The doctors did have this information, as is evidenced by a December 1984 press release headlined "Carbon Monoxide-Kills!" by Dr. Fox about the dangers of carbon monoxide produced by a home heating system. The release describes, among other things, the symptoms of carbon monoxide exposure as "yawning, headache, nausea, dizziness, ringing in the ears, and abdominal pain. Gaspy breathing and unconsciousness quickly follow." Apparently home heating was politically safe.
42 D'Amato was an acquaintance of a man who was married to a cousin of Francis O'Hearn, a member of Concerned Citizens.
43 Hodel became Interior secretary in 1985 after the resignation of William Clark at the end of Reagan's first term. He later served terms as president of the Christian Coalition and Focus on the Family.
44 Memo, H. Arnold Muller, M.D., secretary of health, to Dewitt C. Smith Jr., director, Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency, Dec. 10, 1981. DEP Archives. The memo was discovered after Smith's death, so there was no opportunity to question him about it.
45 The Larksville mine fire ignited around 1977. Like the Centralia fire, it originated in a landfill, this one made up of furniture, clothing, and other combustible debris from the terrible Hurricane Agnes flood that ravaged Wilkes-Barre and many other communities along the Susquehanna River in 1972. The Bureau of Mines began a project to extinguish the Larksville fire in 1981.
45 Horton wrote in his Nov. 30, 1981, memorandum, "As I have tried to emphasize-the Centralia mine fire, and particularly BOM vs. OSM, is a very sensitive issue. Discussions with reporters, indications we will not do as Congress directs, views counter to OSM's-are not helpful."
47 Belfanti had persuaded state reapportionment officials to place Centralia in his realigned 107th District. His first opportunity to face the electorate would be in November 1982. Centralia remained in State Representative Ted Stuban's district until the end of 1982.
48A document found in the DEP Archives in 2009, a preliminary draft of a letter to OSM dated Jan. 13, 1982, confirmed the basic details of the threat. OSM, meaning Griles, had demanded that a Centralia air-monitoring cooperative agreement, which was supposed to be effective on Jan. 1, 1982, be delayed until the drilling project details were concluded. State officials protested that "uninterrupted monitoring of the air quality in the homes and businesses of Centralia is of fundamental importance to the health, safety, and emotional well-being of the residents." So much for press office denials. Wilson is now the mayor of Carlisle, Pennsylvania.
49 DER Secretary Peter Duncan sent a letter condemning the plan to, of all people, State Senator Edward Helfrick. One of the senator's aides released the letter to the press. Helfrick insisted the letter should be viewed the same as if it came from Thornburgh.
so Memo, Smith to Robert S. "Robin" Ross, deputy general counsel, Governor's Office, Jan. 6, 1982. DEP Archives.
51 The News-Item checked to see if this violated the state ethics code for public officials. It did not. Helen Koschoff served as counsel for the Pennsylvania Commission for Women from 1980 to 1982. Thornburgh appointed her a member of the commission on June 20, 1983.
52 Helen Womer, for example, told the Washington Post in 1982, "This was once a model community, it was so close-knit, and we had so much fun, we'd have town picnics and everybody would show up."
53 Brennan, who lived in nearby Mount Carmel and received his engineering training at Pennsylvania State University, worked for the Bureau of Mines for most of his career and did not join OSM until Feb. 1, 1982, the day most bureau personnel who worked in abandoned mine land reclamation were transferred to OSM, which now controlled the bulk of available funding for reclamation work.
54 Brennan's wife and daughter had a scary encounter with murderer Frank Earl Senk on the day Jane Benfield's body was found in 1961, as described in chapter 2.
55 Belfanti was correct-the Republican exit was entirely political. A July 9, 1982, memo in the DEP Archives from Kenneth R. Lamison, director of response and recovery for PEMA, to General Smith states that he was told by Fred Taylor, a Republican analyst for the Mines and Energy Committee, that Rep. Ivan Itkin "wants to embarass the governor" with the Centralia trip. Lamison said Mary Webber, the governor's legislative liaison on Centralia issues, was "working on a meeting in Centralia that would preempt Itkin's trip. Details to follow."
56 One of the strictest Thornburgh administration information control policies was that reporters were not allowed to talk to state employees-except perhaps agency heads-unless a public relations person cleared it, which they often did not. If they did, they often listened in on the interview. It was the governor's belief that his administration should "speak with one voice."
57 Smith to Thornburgh, Oct. 21, 1982. DEP Archives.
58 The Womer telegram, along with a series of DER and OSM letters, turned up in response to a general Freedom of Information request filed by the News-Item in 1983. The documents were used in a story published on June 1, 1983.
59 Memorandum for Record, Joseph K. Hoffman, assistant director, Bureau of Resources Planning, Department of Environmental Resources, Oct. 26, 1982.
60 Brennan and Anderson were ordered not to include "recommendations or interpretations" in their interim and final reports, according to an OSM memorandum dated Jan. 14, 1983.
61 This trench and all others mentioned in the GAI report would be backfilled with incombustible material upon completion.
62 Womer to Thornburgh, Aug. 18, 1983. DEP Archives.
63 Centralia Fact Sheet, Sept. 29, 1983, DEP Archives.
64 Robert C. Oberman to Ronald O'Brien, Oct. 4, 1984, DEP Archives.
65 Iseman, David. "Evicted couple didn't heed government warnings," Press-Enterprise, Bloomsburg, Pa., Oct. 8, 1987.
66lseman, David. "Neighbors convinced that pressure to make move contributed to deaths," PressEnterprise, Bloomsburg, Pa., Oct. 8, 1987.
67 Reports of Coroner, Deaths of Bertha and John Mayernick on Oct. 6, 1987, Columbia County Prothonotary's Office, Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania.
68 Interview with Jack Carling, Dec. 29, 2008.
69 Briefing, Centralia Subsidence Incident, U.S. Office of Surface Mining, Wilkes-Barre Office Report, March 23, 1989.
70 Brook, Susan. "Officials face off over tree plan," Press-Enterprise, Bloomsburg, Pa., March 24, 1989.
71 Brook, Susan. "Authorities promise help: Centralians still worried about community's fate," PressEnterprise, Bloomsburg, Pa., March 24, 1989.
72 Carling interview with the author, Dec. 29, 2008.
73 Klink interview with the author, Dec. 17, 2008.
74Rohland, Pamela. "Town loyalists criticized: Relocation director warns of dangers for those remaining," Reading, Pa., Eagle, Dec. 29, 1991.
75 Devine to Klink, Jan. 3, 1992, Gov. Robert P. Casey Papers, Pennsylvania State Archives.
76 Rhoads, Patty. "Centralia officials will fight state order: Mayor, council president: We'll take the issue to court," The News-Item, Shamokin, Pa., Feb. 20, 1992.
77 Feeley, Mike. "Stubborn Centralians won't leave: Government pressure angers town." The Patriot, Harrisburg, Pa., Feb. 21, 1992.
78 Womer to Casey, March 27, 1992, Gov. Robert P. Casey Papers, Pennsylvania State Archives.
79Angeli to Devine, July 28, 1992. Gov. Robert P. Casey Papers, Pennsylvania State Archives.
80 Bill Klink interview with the author, Dec. 17, 2008.
81 The Associated Press, "Town still alive in memory and church during Christmas," Dec. 23, 1987, printed in Valley Independent, Monessen, Pa.
82 Overbaugh to Joseph Larish, acquisition specialist, Columbia County Redevelopment Authority, Aug. 6, 1986. St. Ignatius File, Records of the Centralia Relocation, Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development (DCED) Archives.
83The author escorted the now well-known Bill O'Reilly, then-anchor of the tabloid news show Inside Edition, on a televised walk across this particular patch of steaming ground around 1988.
84 Obituary of Bishop Nicholas C. Datillo, Catholic New York, www.cny.org/archive/ob/ob040104 .htm, updated April 2004, viewed on April 6, 2009.
'STerrence J. Kerwin, lawyer for the Diocese of Harrisburg, to Joel Weisberg, chief counsel, Department of Community Affairs, Dec. 10, 1993. St. Ignatius File, Records of the Centralia Relocation, DCED Archives.
86 Phillip G. Barrho, Technical Evaluation Consultants, to Joseph Larish, real estate acquisition specialist, Columbia County Redevelopment Authority, St. Ignatius File, Records of the Centralia Relocation, DCED Archives.
87 Wolfgang, Ben. Pottsville Republican and Herald, Dec. 31, 2008.
88 Oberman to Bielicki, March 14, 1985, DEP Archives.
89 Letter, Solano to Biggi, July 5. 1985, DEP Archives
90 Bill Klink interview with the author, Jan. 7, 2009.
David DeKok, Fire Underground: The Ongoing Tragedy of the Centralia Mine Fire
