Kentucky Mining Company Fined for Clean Water Act Violations

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Kentucky’s Energy and Environment Cabinet has agreed to levy a stiff fine against a coal mining company that acknowledged thousands of Clean Water Act violations, effectively barring the company from operating in Kentucky in the future.

Frasure Creek Mining and its parent companies, Trinity Coal and New Trinity, will immediately pay the state $500,000, The Independent of Ashland reports. An additional fine of $2.75 million will be levied if any of the companies applies for mining permits in Kentucky in the future.

The agreement came in the final hours of outgoing Gov. Steve Beshear’s administration Monday and followed a five-year battle by a coalition of environmental groups.

In 2010, state officials reached a $310,000 proposed settlement with the company, but environmental groups argued that the fines weren’t high enough.

Ted Withrow of Morehead, one of the environmentalists who first brought the violations to the attention of the state in October of 2010, praised the new settlement.

“After a half of a decade of effort to bring this outlaw company into compliance with the law, this agreement shows what the Energy and Environment Cabinet can accomplish working with the citizens the cabinet is charged with protecting,” said Withrow, who is also a former member of the state’s Energy and Environment Cabinet.

The new order has been signed by Cabinet officials and attorneys for the companies and environmental groups that first brought the violations to light. It will become final when filed in the cabinet’s administrative court.

Frasure Creek at one time was the largest surface mining operator in Kentucky, according to data collected by Appalachian Voices, but no longer operates any active mining sites. It remains responsible for un-reclaimed sites in several eastern Kentucky counties.