Raleigh County Based News Today

Raleigh County-based Coal River Mountain Watch has urged the federal Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement to step in to address Lexington Coal Companys ballooning delinquent state environmental penalty debt. The group says the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection has failed to effectively enforce Lexington compliance.

The federal Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement has announced changes to its Ten-Day Notice rule poised to make it easier for citizens to report concerns with coal mining operations. Environmental advocates hailed the rule update.

Gov. Jim Justices business failures and unmet obligations have drawn grievances from banks and foreign companies. But theyve also affected members of some of West Virginias most vulnerable communities, including company Justice company retirees like Pinkey Mullens enduring company drug coverage interruptions and southern coalfields suffering environmental and property tax revenue losses.

The West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection renewed the permit, on Jan. 12, 2024, for Lexington Coal Company’s Crescent #2 Surface Mine in Boone and Raleigh counties after it issued two letters on Jan. 9 demanding payment of delinquent civil penalties totaling $5,562 to Lexington on that permit.

The 2014 Elk River chemical leak showed West Virginians theyd have to fight hard for basic environmental health protections. 10 years after the water crisis, advocacy continues.

The DEP has issued Milton, West Virginia-based Lexington Coal 48 notices of violation and nine cessation orders since the beginning of 2021 for environmental failures at Lexingtons Crescent #2 Surface Mine.

Before he numbered his days in the U.S. Senate on Thursday, Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., spent the morning chairing a hearing on abandoned coal mine land reclamation economic revitalization programs.

Speaker after speaker cleared the air because they had lost so much time gasping for it.

West Virginia environmental regulators have renewed a permit on which a mine cleanup violation has gone unabated in Boone County for nearly a year and a half, drawing the ire

West Virginia regulators are threatening to take two Boone County mining permits spanning nearly 1,400 acres away from a prominent coal company in response to a lengthening string of alleged