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Friday, January 27, 2012

Feds question mine plan that would create grade and drain for part of King Coal Highway in W.Va.

Consol Energy wants to mine 2,300 acres between Belo and Delbarton in Mingo County, West Virginia, but the Obama administration is questioning the Buffalo Mountain mountaintop-removal mine proposal and pressuring state officials and the company to reduce potential impacts. Part of the company's proposed post-mining land use plan involves construction of the King Coal Highway that would connect four-lane US 119 at Williamson, population 3,400, to Interstate 77 at Bluefield, notes Ken Ward Jr. of the Charleston Gazette. (Red line on map denotes proposed route)


The Environmental Protection Agency said the mine would be one of the largest ever proposed in Appalachia and would bury 10 miles of streams under 13 separate valley fills if allowed to continue. EPA says the permit includes 159 possible water pollution "outfalls." The agency sent a letter objecting to an Corps of Engineers "dredge-and-fill" permit for the proposed mine issued the day of Obama's inauguration. Consol wants to mine 16 million tons of coal over a 14-year period, and the state Division of Highways said the mine would reduce the cost of the King Coal Highway section from $200 million to less than $90 million.

EPA recently sent a letter to the state Department of Environmental Protection objecting to a specific Clean Water Act pollution discharge permit for the mine. In the letter, it said the DEP hadn't included "adequate pollution monitoring or discharge limits in its proposed water quality permit for the operation." The Federal Highway Administration and state DOH announced this week they would focus a joint study of potential environmental impacts of the King Coal Highway on the Buffalo Mountain mining project. (Read more)

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