Alliance Coal-owned company cited 3 times

State News

June 24, 2010

Anonymous Associated Press Thu Jun 24, 2010, 08:34 AM EDT

FRANKFORT — A western Kentucky mining company owned by Alliance Coal has been cited three times this spring for violating conditions of a mining permit it obtained through a controversial state policy.

The citations against Warrior Coal for mining in Hopkins County came in April, May and this month, The Courier-Journal reported. Warrior is a subsidiary of Tulsa, Okla.-based Alliance.

“It’s regrettable, but it doesn’t surprise me a bit,” said Tom FitzGerald, director of the Kentucky Resources Council. “It wouldn’t have occurred if Kentucky was following the law, as opposed to an illegal policy on permitting.”

The company had no comment on the citations, said Rusty Ashcraft, Alliance’s manager of environmental affairs and permitting.

Officials of the Department of Natural Resources were reviewing the citations and said it would be July before they determine how much to fine Warrior Coal. The state can fine $5,000 to $25,000 per day for each day a violation existed.

The state policy the permits were acquired through has been criticized by environmentalists and former state Director of Mine Permits Ron Mills, who was fired in November. It allows permits for applicants who haven’t obtained mining rights for as much as one-third of the property covered by the permit.

Officials said in regards to the citations, Alliance had largely obtained the permission it needed but had not notified the state.

The policy was initiated during Gov. Ernie Fletcher’s administration but was stopped in August 2008 by Mills. Mills said the policy was illegal because the law requires an applicant to have the right to enter all properties within a permit zone before mining begins.

Last year, state officials reinstated the policy. Mills filed a whistleblower lawsuit in which he claimed his firing was because he opposed the policy.

The newspaper obtained state records that showed Warrior Coal was cited three times for illegally mining in areas where it has no documented entry rights and hadn’t obtained a revised permit.

The first time, on April 20, Warrior was cited for having mined all the coal within seven parcels of land without documentation proving it had permission to enter. The remaining citations were issued on May 28 and June 14 for mining other unauthorized parcels.

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