Citizens' Enforcement Program Update
Dec 3, 2024
Here are some updates on our Citizens’ Enforcement Program so far in 2024:
-Junior Walk, our CEP coordinator, site monitor, and outreach coordinator, has posted 97 YouTube videos of the coal operations, as well as some stunning fall foliage, in the Coal River Valley at https://www.youtube.com/@StopMTR/videos.
-In October, we intervened in a hearing where Lexington Coal Company had been ordered to "Show Cause" why their Lower Big Branch permit should not be revoked or suspended for a longstanding violation for "injecting (channeling or pumping waste water into abandonded underground mines) with an expired Underground Injection Control permit (expired April 20, 2023). Lexington's justification to keep the permit was that they had submitted the permit application on (wait for it ...) the day before the hearing.
-We’ve submitted 12 citizen’s complaints to the WV Dept. of Environmental Protection so far in 2024, resulting in seven violations. The latest was due to a sharp-eyed citizen letting us know that the river was running white from Alpha Metallurgical Resources’ subsidiary Marfork Coal Company’s Black Eagle mine where Pettus, WV used to be (https://youtu.be/jQXZSWIT1Os?si=ZBWAVTJHdqurpwoA).
-Another member alerted us to a preparation plant permit renewal request by Taishan Coal LLC above Gary, WV in neighboring McDowell County. We objected to the renewal and also complained to the federal Office of Surface Mining, Reclamation and Enforcement about excessive extensions of violations at the site. We arranged a flyover with our friends at Southwings so our member could see the site from the air, and we arranged a site visit with WVDEP so that she and another resident could see the operation up close. After Taishan again failed to correct an ongoing violation, WVDEP issued a consent order. The hearing about the renewal has not yet been scheduled.
-As a member group of Citizens’ Coal Council, CRMW provided standing and comments as intervenors in the case where 13 states are challenging OSMRE’s new version of the Ten Day Notice rule. Intervenors defending the 2024 rule are Citizens’ Coal Council, Center for Biological Diversity, Sierra Club, and Appalachian Voices. From the press release (https://appvoices.org/2024/09/24/10-day-notice-motion/): “West Virginia regulators were granting indefinite violation extensions and failing to assess required fines or take escalated enforcement actions against chronic violators,” said Vernon Haltom, Executive Director of Coal River Mountain Watch, a member organization of the Citizens Coal Council. “Through the Ten Day Notice process, we notified the OSMRE, who forced WV to issue dozens of cessation orders, retrain inspector supervisors, assess millions in penalties, and even suspend a permit. Citizens affected by polluting coal companies should be front and center holding those companies accountable, with strong federal oversight. Without a strong Ten Day Notice rule to hold them accountable, West Virginia regulators would continue to find themselves faultless as they gaslight citizens and coddle coal companies.”
-We kept reporters updated on our activities and provided tours and interviews. As a result, NBC’s Stay Tuned platform did a story on CRMW’s Junior Walk at https://youtu.be/TbLJyJEUr4g?si=YJ97yNZvGX7MOZDJ.
-Junior also wrote the Daily Yonder commentary “Hillbillies don’t need an elegy, but the mountains might” (https://dailyyonder.com/commentary-hillbillies-dont-need-an-elegy-but-the-mountains-might/2024/08/06/). And he wrote an autobiography, “Walk, on the Mountain” (https://tinyurl.com/WalkMountainBook).
