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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 Company's ballooning delinquent state environmental penalty debt. The group says the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection has failed to effectively enforce Lexington compliance.
Jeffrey Hoops, former CEO of coal companies Blackjewel LLC and Revelation Energy LLC, was at the center of two labor enforcement actions announced Tuesday that total nearly $2 million in penalties. The United States Department of Labor reported over $1.2 million in unpaid medical claims and ordered Blackjewel 401(k) plan trustees to pay roughly $637,000 after finding Hoops and other company executives Drew Kesler and Donald Hetrick diverted employee retirement contributions to pay for company expenses.
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 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 Lexington's Crescent #2 Surface Mine.
A prominent regional coal company owes hundreds of thousands of dollars in environmental fines and is in contempt of two federal court orders requiring it to clean up pollution at