On May 17, 2024, Lexington Coal Company signed a payment agreement with WV Dept. of Environmental Protection to settle the $2,997,067.50 in delinquent penalties they owed the people of West Virginia for hundreds of violations across their coal mining operations. On June 15, 2024, LCC made the initial payment of $299,705.75 in accordance with the agreement. On Sept. 17, 2024, WVDEP and LCC entered into an amended payment agreement that included newer delinquent penalties, for a total of $3,182,510.00. Monthly payments of $144,659.55 were to have been made on the first of each month for the remaining 22 months until the debt was paid in full. WVDEP confirms that LCC only made the initial payment. We are now 11 months after the initial agreement and more than three years past the original violations. When asked about WVDEP's plans to collect this debt and the additional delinquent penalties that have since been assessed, WVDEP states "The alternative enforcement process is ongoing, and we will not provide further comment at this time."   About $2 million worth of these fines have resulted from CRMW's birddogging WVDEP and complaining to the federal Office of Surface Mining, Reclamation and Enforcement about WVDEP's practice of allowing violations to go unabated for months or years beyond the legal limit. Suddenly, WVDEP started assessing the required fines, and then they provided a memo to inspectors and supervisors reminding them of correct procedures.

Your interests (clean air, water, stable climate, species preservation) are adversely affected by renewal of this permit.   Comment Tues, 3/25/2025 at 5PM EDT. Comment online at https://meet.google.com/zsp-jhvk-job?hs=224 or by phone at 1+678-631-8517 PIN 568550176 or by email to Laura.B.Claypool@wv.gov. Say that you oppose renewal of Taishan Coal LLC’s permit number O002084. 

On Feb. 26, 1972, Pittston Coal Company’s waste sludge dam in Logan County, WV, collapsed, killing 125 people and leaving 4,000 homeless. As we remember this solemn anniversary, let’s also remember that thousands of people in Appalachia live under these massive dams. Thank you Appalshop and Mimi Pickering for documenting this crime against humanity in the documentary "The Buffalo Creek Flood: An Act of Man" at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gkQpI0qQSJM. While new standards were emplaced after the disaster, they’re only as good as the integrity of the companies (known for disasters) building and operating the dams and diligence and enforcement by government regulators (known for lax enforcement and giving coal companies whatever they want). With climate chaos driving more floods with greater severity, and regulatory agencies being gutted, hamstrung, and weakened, citizen vigilance is even more important now. Below are some of the sludge dams near us.

Environmental Groups Sue to Challenge Mountaintop Removal Mine on Coal River Mountain 

Citizens' Enforcement Program coordinator Junior Walk: For over a quarter of a century, we at Coal River Mountain Watch have done everything within our power to stop coal companies from pillaging our region with their surface mining practices. One of the main ways we’ve found to cost these coal operators money is to diligently monitor their activities and find things to bring to the attention of regulatory authorities. Whether these infractions are related to coal companies not following pre-agreed upon reclamation schedules, chemical spills, runoff from the side of a mine site, or dangerous highwalls precariously close to public roads, or many other problems we’ve found. It’s our belief that if coal operators were held to the same standard as your average citizen, they wouldn’t be able to operate in an economically sustainable way.