Matt Hepler News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

In Pineville, West Virginia, a town of 500, residents filled up the front rows of the county courtroom recently. They came to hear the latest legal update on a battle some have been fighting for generations - securing clean water. Bobby Lee Keen and his wife Patsy attended the hearing.  “How come they have people living like they're in a third world country and the United States of America?” asks Bobby Keen.

Gov. Jim Justice's business failures and unmet obligations have drawn grievances from banks and foreign companies. But they've also affected members of some of West Virginia's 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 coal empire owned by the family of West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice could be on the hook for up to $1.2 billion in fines in Virginia for violating a 2020 cleanup deal over oil spills at eight mining sites, the state claims.

The Daily Yonder The Biden Administration Promises to Clean Up Mine Land and Create Jobs in Appalachia. Here Are Some Steps It Can Take. A new administration brings potential to address Appalachia’s economic and environmental issues on a wider scale. Share this: A landslide near an abandoned mine site in Perry County, Kentucky. (Photo courtesy Kentucky Energy and Environment Cabinet) This story was published in partnership with Southerly.  A century of fossil fuel extraction has left Appalachia environmentally and economically degraded. With the coal industry on its last leg and co...

By Matt Hepler and Molly Moore UPDATE, Jan. 11, 2020: Following multiple objections to Blackjewel’s proposed Chapter 11 plan, Blackjewel filed an amended plan the morning of the December 17 hearing, striking the use of a reclamation trust. During the hearing, Judge Benjamin Kahn denied former Blackjewel CEO Jeff Hoops’ petition to move the bankruptcy proceeding from a Chapter 11 reorganization plan to a Chapter 7 liquidation plan, but did not rule on the proposed Chapter 11 plan, given the last-minute changes. Blackjewel stated in a Dec. 23 filing that it was seeking to abandon all of ...