West Virginia’s 3rd District Congressman Nick Joe Rahall is actively pursuing answers in the permitting dilemma being created by the federal agencies that are affecting both existing and new operations for southern West Virginia. We understand he wants resolution of the conflicting information being provided by the different agencies relative to their requests for additional information and the delays which continue to create uncertainty. EPA has told him they do not have a problem with a number of permits on the original list of 48, but the subsequent signals being received by the applicants, in the field, are seemingly different (see story below). Hopefully, he will be able to get “to the bottom” of this with reliable, consistent answers so permits can, once again, be issued in West Virginia and keep our miners working in this difficult economic time.
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