BIG STONE GAP, Va. (Legal Newsline) — A Virginia mining company is facing a lawsuit from the Sierra Club and others over its alleged failure to perform reclamation work at its former mining sites.
Southern Appalachian Mountain Stewards, Appalachian Voices and Sierra Club filed a complaint Jan. 18 in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Virginia Big Stone Gap Division against A&G Coal Corporation alleging violations of the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act and other claims.
According to the plaintiffs' complaint, A&G owns and operates the Looney Ridge Surface Mine, Sawmill Hollow Mine and Canepatch Surface Mine located in Wise County, Virginia. They claim that after more than nine years after cessation of mining operations at the Looney Ridge Surface Mine, reclamation work that includes backfilling, grading and revegetation has not been completed by A&G.
The plaintiffs allege that A&G has been issued various notice of violations and cessation orders by the Virginia Department of Energy and Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement since 2013 and despite compliance agreements and amendments, A&G has failed or made "minimal effort" to follow the reclamation requirements. The plaintiffs claim A&G's failure to reclaim the mines pose the risk of erosion, landslides and polluted runoff from the sites into local streams.
The plaintiffs seek monetary and all other just relief. They are represented by Isak Howell of Appalachian Mountain Advocates in Roanoke, Virgina and Walton Morris of The Morris Law Office PC in Charlottesville, Virginia.
U.S. District Court for the Western District of Virginia Big Stone Gap Division case number 2:23-CV2