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A federal agency has found fault with the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection’s enforcement of federal surface mine law in Greenbrier County.
The Office of Surface Mining, Reclamation and Enforcement sent a notice last week to DEP that it needs to enforce federal law on South Fork Coal’s mining operations in Greenbrier County.
The federal agency gave the DEP 10 days to respond with its plan to correct the various violations the federal agency believes have occurred at the Rocky Run Surface Mine.
According to the Surface Mine Reclamation and Control Act of 1977, that includes a cessation order and a civil penalty of $750 per day per violation.
In July, the West Virginia Highlands Conservancy sent a letter to Sharon Buccino, the principal deputy director of the federal agency, which said pollution from South Fork’s mine was pushing the endangered candy darter, a small freshwater fish that’s native to West Virginia, closer to extinction.
It said DEP was allowing “severe” water quality violations to persist longer than the 90 days allowed, in some cases for years, and with no penalties.
It said if DEP did not respond to the notice within 10 days, a federal inspection of the surface mine operations would take place and appropriate penalties would be issued as required by law.
Terry Fletcher, a DEP spokesman, said the state agency takes the matter seriously and would respond to the federal agency in a timely manner.
