Thank you for your 355 signatures and comments requesting a public meeting about the surface mining and reclamation permit #S200710! We submitted these on March 6th, along with our official comments, and have received confirmation that the DEP will hold a public hearing. Due to the concern about spreading Coronavirus, the public hearing date is TBD. FOB will continue to update you as we learn more.
In the mean time, FOB met with representatives of Keystone Coal Reserves LLC on March 13th to review their mining and reclamation plans for the site across from Metiki Coal, 5 miles north of Davis and next to Beaver Creek. We poured over maps, learning about the history of the site and asking questions about potential pollution sources. Former DEP inspector Brad Moore, who has years of experience with this site, represented FOB’s interests and helped us learn as much as we could about how Keystone’s plans may or may not affect Beaver Creek.
The tour of the site revealed the awful state that Beacon Resources, Inc left the site in after they were finished mining coal and rock in 2013. As you can tell from the photo above, we were standing on a wasteland, overlooking the pit that is visible from the Corridor and watching coal trucks fill up at Metiki across the highway. There is a lot of reclamation work that must be done here.
If you would like to review the permit details, click here , then select “Electronic Submission System” (bottom left), select “query” (bottom right), and enter the permit number – S200710. The correct link should be third from the bottom of the list). Please email emmie@saveblackwater.org with any questions.
A link to the permitting map can be found here.
