West Virginia Public Broadcasting
Telling West Virginia's Story
The West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection will live stream the second day of the Surface Mine Board’s hearing regarding the appeal of Keystone Industries’ KD No. 2 mine permit, which is for a surface mine near Kanawha State Forest. The hearing started on Aug. 11 and resumes this Wednesday, Aug. 20, beginning at 8:30 a.m.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yW9MBzYfISA
The West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection’s Surface Mine Board is holding a hearing Monday focused on the appeals of Keystone Industries’ KD Mine No. 2. The mine sits just 1,500 feet from thed edge of the Kanawha State Forest.
Environmentalists, including the newly formed Kanawha State Forest Coalition, are protesting the mountain top removal mine site saying it threatens the plant and animal life in the forest. On Friday, the group gave Gov. Tomblin’s office a petition with over 2,000 signatures asking him to revoke the mine’s permit.
The appeal’s hearing is being streamed live on YouTube beginning at 8:30 a.m. You can watch it here.
West Virginia environmental officials have ordered a new surface coal mining operation near Kanawha State Forest to halt mining.
The stop-work order is from the Department of Environmental Protection. Inspectors issued an “imminent harm cessation order” when they found cracks in a barrier intended to contain runoff in a sediment-control ditch.
It’s also meant to prevent dirt and mud from the site from entering a nearby creek.
DEP Secretary Randy Huffman told The Charleston Gazette the work stoppage continues “until this gets fixed.”
Keystone Industries was issued a state permit this spring to mine on more than 400 acres. As a condition of the permit, Keystone agreed not to use state forest roads for access, coal hauling or other mining-related activity
Several environmental groups have opposed the mining operation.