May 17, 2021: Today, the Sierra Club, Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition and West Virginia Highlands Conservancy filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Office of Surface Mining, Reclamation, and Enforcement (OSMRE) over its failure to require needed improvements and stronger requirements for West Virginia’s federally-approved surface mining program to cover the costs of coal mine reclamation.
West Virginia’s reclamation bonding and regulatory programs are meant to clean up abandoned mine sites and protect drinking water from pollution. The state’s existing “bond pool,” which coal mining companies pay into through a tax on every ton of coal mined, is insufficient for insuring the full costs of reclamation amid the rapid, nationwide decline of the coal industry.
Last year, the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection (WVDEP) admitted to the crisis, and took the unprecedented step of asking a state court to place a failing mine operator into receivership. Among the justifications given to the court by WVDEP was the potential failure of one of the state’s primary surety bond providers and the need to avoid exhausting the state’s emergency “Special Reclamation Fund” for mine cleanup.
The communities that have already suffered from their proximity to active coal mines should not now also have to live with abandoned, unreclaimed mine sites. Today's lawsuit asserts that OSMRE failed to satisfy its duty under the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act (SMCRA) to determine if improvements to West Virginia’s surface mining program are required, and follows a lawsuit filed last year by the same plaintiffs which compelled WVDEP to notify the federal Office of Surface Mining that its reclamation bonding program was grossly inadequate.
Sierra Club and our partner groups are represented by attorneys with Appalachian Mountain Advocates. Find the official Sierra Club press release here.