HUNTINGTON Conservation agencies are suing the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement in federal court alleging it failed to make a determination to a surface mining program.
Legal Enviros sue feds over W. Va insolvent mine reclamation program
Sebastien Malo
4 minute read
Steam rises from a pile of coal at a mine in Bishop, West Virginia, U.S., May 19, 2018. REUTERS/Brian Snyder
Environmental groups sued the Office of Surface Mining, Reclamation, and Enforcement (OSMRE) in Huntington, West Virginia federal court for failing to determine whether the state should overhaul its surface mines reclamation program in light of the insolvency of various in-state coal mines.
In a complaint filed on Monday, the plaintiffs including the Sierra Club say that OSMRE is violating the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act (SMCRA) because it has failed to decide whether West Virginia should revise rules tied to the cleanup of abandoned mines through reclamation, even as state regulators have admitted that the state could be more than $100 million short to reclaim 100 private non-producing coal mines it may have to help clean up.