WV coal firm had long environmental violation history before bankruptcy, cases stopped

South Fork’s 17 permits span roughly 3,700 acres in the Gauley and Upper Kanawha River watersheds. Many of those permits have drawn DEP violations citing drainage and sediment control failures and not revegetating or preventing excessive erosion in or regraded areas.

Last month, South Fork Coal and Boone County-based parent company White Forest Resources Inc. filed for bankruptcy relief, prompting Chief U.S. District Judge Frank Volk in the District Court for the District of West Virginia to put on hold conservationist group lawsuits looking to block the company’s operations in Greenbrier County over environmental concerns.

Also last month, federal regulators gave the DEP more time to respond to their threat to take over enforcement across a string of South Fork Coal permits in Greenbrier County after finding reason to believe the DEP failed to promptly review and act on patterns of violations it issued for the company.

Conservationists see South Fork Coal’s bankruptcy as a move that could allow the company to avoid responsibility for its impacts on environmentally impaired waters and endangered species.

“Coal companies have long disrespected the people and the land of West Virginia, doing everything they can to avoid taking responsibility for the damage they’ve done,� Olivia Miller, program director for the West Virginia Highlands Conservancy, said in an emailed statement. “This is just the latest chapter in a long, shameful legacy of wealthy outsiders draining Appalachia dry, then using bankruptcy as a shield from liability.�

Reported water pollution limit exceedances up to 1,094%

South Fork Coal filed a bankruptcy notice in federal Delaware bankruptcy court Feb. 11 reporting the company had between 200 and 999 creditors, with estimated assets and liabilities each totaling between $50 million and $100 million. South Fork Coal was one of 11 companies that sought joint administration of bankruptcy cases. South Fork is owned by debtor Xinergy of West Virginia, Inc., which is in turn owned by White Forest Resources, according to bankruptcy filings.

White Forest Resources did not respond to a request for comment.

Volk cited South Fork Coal’s bankruptcy move to set aside a federal lawsuit the West Virginia Highlands Conservancy and another environmental group, Appalachian Voices, filed against the company in December seeking to stop what they alleged were water pollution and surface mining reclamation violations at its Lost Flats, Blue Knob and Rocky Run surface mines in Greenbrier County.

The environmental groups’ complaint alleged South Fork Coal exceeded average monthly water pollution limits from 2019 to 2024 by up to 1,094%, with exceedances of aluminum, iron, manganese, pH and total suspended solids, which are waterborne particles that may include sediment and toxic compounds that threaten aquatic life. South Fork coal took no meaningful action to eliminate the underlying cause of the reported violations, according to the complaint, which focused on tributaries of the South Fork of the Cherry River.

The groups contended South Fork is liable for civil penalties of up to $66,712 per day of violation for its violations of water pollution limits under the federal Clean Water Act.

The environmental groups’ complaint asserted the DEP and federal Environmental Protection Agency did not take sufficient administrative penalty action to resolve Clean Water Act violations.

“By declaring bankruptcy, the company has effectively shielded itself — for now — from our lawsuit seeking to enforce these violations,� Appalachian Voices coal impacts program manager Willie Dodson said in an email.

‘Likely to cause lasting harm’

Volk also cited South Fork Coal’s bankruptcy move to set aside a January 2024 lawsuit filed by West Virginia environmental groups challenging what they said was an illegal U.S. Forest Service permit allowing South Fork Coal to use Forest Service roads in the Monongahela National Forest to haul coal and mining equipment and supplies within the Cherry River watershed.

The groups said permitted extensive road grading, clearing and reconstruction work to make a Forest Service road usable for daily oversized coal hauling, including constructing ditches and installing culverts on direct tributaries to the South Fork of the Cherry River, were “likely to cause lasting harm� to the Cherry River watershed and endangered species.

The groups also objected to what they said was unlawfully permitted use of a Forest Service road running along a tributary to the North Fork of the Cherry River to haul mining equipment and supplies — including fuel and explosives — to and from the Rocky Run Mine.

Daily heavy coal truck traffic damages gravel roads and could result in increased stream sedimentation that destroys the stream habitat of the candy darter, an endangered, small freshwater fish native to the Gauley, Greenbrier and New River watersheds in Virginia and West Virginia.

The complaint also said road work, tree-cutting and heavy track traffic could disturb roosting bats and disrupt bat foraging, suggesting such operations could make the Cherry River watershed less habitable for the endangered Northern Long-eared Bat and the Indiana Bat.

The complaint was filed by the Arizona-based Center for Biological Diversity and North Carolina-based Appalachian Voices and California-based Sierra Club along with three West Virginia groups: Lewisburg-based Greenbrier River Watershed Association, ÂÒÂ×ÄÚÉä-based Kanawha Forest Coalition and the West Virginia Highlands Conservancy.

“With bankruptcy on the horizon, a window is opening for us to speak out about what we need this watershed to look like for future generations,� West Virginia Highlands Conservancy board member Tyler Cannon said in a statement.

DEP extended South Fork Coal violation notice 25 times

In January, the federal Office of Mining Surface Reclamation and Enforcement notified the DEP it had reason to believe the DEP had extended violation notices on South Fork Coal permits in Greenbrier County beyond what regulations allow. The OSMRE said it had reason to believe the DEP failed to promptly review and act on a pattern of violations for enforcement actions it issued on South Fork Coal permits.

The OSMRE’s January notification was a Ten-Day Notice, an enforcement tool that gives state regulators 10 days to respond to the agency if the OSMRE determines there’s reason to believe a violation exists after the federal agency gets information about a potential violation.

If a state regulatory authority fails to respond within 10 days or the OSMRE determines a state’s response is “arbitrary, capricious, or an abuse of discretion,� it will inspect and take enforcement action.

The OSMRE said the notice followed a July 2024 complaint from the West Virginia Highlands Conservancy.

The OSMRE noted in its notice the DEP extended a 2019 reclamation violation notice for South Fork Coal’s Blue Knob Surface Mine No. 1 in the Upper Kanawha River watershed 18 times before a 2021 consent order and seven times after it prior to September 2023 abatement action.

Last month, the OSMRE granted an extension of the Ten-Day Notice response deadline to March 31.

South Fork Coal delinquent penalties piling up

The DEP has notified South Fork Coal of 14 delinquent penalties totaling over $13,000 since November 2024, according to agency records.

DEP notifications to South Fork Coal have informed the company it owes $70,954 for civil penalty assessments issued across four permits this month, per agency records.

With cases aimed at holding South Fork Coal accountable for its poor environmental track record cast aside, conservationists aren’t abandoning their efforts.

Dodson said Appalachian Voices would keep monitoring South Fork Coal mines and educate group members and community partners about South Fork Coal impacts on the Cherry River and called on the DEP to be diligent in enforcing the law at company sites.

“It’s West Virginians that are left behind with the company’s mess,� Cannon said.