GRANTSVILLE — It looks as though the Maryland Bureau of Mines will approve the underground coal mine planned at the Casselman basin, but the company will first need to meet other environmental conditions and post a bond to be set by the bureau.

“What we told the folks at the (Wednesday night) hearing was that we had found the application met with our regulations and requirements,” said Alan Hooker, chief of the coal permits section. “At this point, we could be offering a permit in the next week or two and notify all interested parties of that decision.”

Hooker said the bureau will look at the potential cost for reclamation of the project and the company, Maryland Energy Resources, will be required to post that amount as a bond on the project so that the state can contract out the reclamation work. For his department, he said, what remains is a large amount of paperwork.

The mine is proposed to be comprised of 3,000 acres operating below ground and 28 above. It would cross under both the South and North branches of the Casselman River, with tunnels just wide enough for equipment and crews, leaving columns of coal for support of the ground and river above. No mining would actually take place beneath the river, according to mine plans.

According to a draft of the bureau’s findings, which can be revised, the company will have to check at least every three months for changes in stream flow and water levels that could signal fractures in the stream beds.

Other conditions include diversion ditches and settling ponds to capture and treat water pumped from the mine, and a requirement that the company restore or replace any reduction of well water to homes.

Some area residents have shown opposition to the project, and Steven Putman, executive director of the Patuxent Conservation Corps, which owns 48 acres along the river, said residents are prepared to appeal the permit if it is issued.

He said that at Wednesday night’s meeting at Grantsville Elementary School, there were not enough documents for people to look at and people weren’t allowed to take them from the building.

“So the next recourse for the mine was that the permit has been officially approved and we’re going to invoke our right to appeal,” Putman said. “We’re going to seek a civil injunction. I think the site is flawed in its design. I think they could execute a mining operation in that area in a way that is better. I’m just opposed to how they designed it.”

He said he would like to see a greater buffer area and for the mine to be located further away from the Casselman.

Contact Sarah Moses at smoses@times-news.com.