To: Dustin Johnson, Permit Supervisor and Harold Ward, Mining Director
Don't renew an invalid mountaintop removal permit
Deny Republic Energy's application to renew surface mine permit S302805. This invalid permit should have terminated years ago by federal law, but WV Dept. of Environmental Protection has routinely purported to grant extensions, without any authority to do so and without any demonstration that the statutory conditions providing for an extension were met.
Why is this important?
Alpha Natural Resources' subsidiary Republic Energy has applied for renewal of the 2,040-acre (3+ square miles) "Eagle 2" mountaintop removal coal mine, part of over 10 square miles of destruction on Coal River Mountain. Mountaintop removal blasts fine and ultrafine silica dust and other pollutants into the air, creating a public health threat for nearby residents. At this location, it destroys habitat for the endangered Indiana bat and the threatened northern long-eared bat. WVDEP has failed to take effective action for this company's failure to meet legal requirements at this site and history of violations at neighboring sites.