Eagle 2 Mountaintop Removal Update

Sep 12, 2018

The 2,040-acre Eagle 2 mountaintop removal site on Coal River Mountain continues to receive special treatment from the WV Dept. of Environmental “Protection” in spite of having no valid permit. On Sept. 9, the WVDEP “reviewed and accepted the Annual Blasting Advertisement” for the site, even though the permit should have terminated by law in 2011 for not starting within three years. In 2012, the federal Office of Surface Mining, Reclamation and Enforcement (OSMRE) upheld the WVDEP’s retroactive extension of the permit, and just recently, after years of litigation and foot-dragging, reaffirmed that decision. However, subsequent extensions and renewals are questionable, and the WVDEP has routinely granted them. OSMRE questions the validity of those further extensions, but has yet to take action compelling WVDEP to justify them. Now, even if the permit were valid, it expired June 6. The only document mentioning an extension of the renewal is a July 18 inspection report noting that the permit renewal is being reviewed and extended to August 5. While the company began destroying 25 acres of the site in March, they can do no more timbering until November because the endangered Indiana bat roosts in the forest.

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