CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Four groups filed a lawsuit in federal court Thursday seeking to get the site of the Battle of Blair Mountain back on the National Register of Historic Places.
The Sierra Club, the Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition, the Friends of Blair Mountain and the West Virginia Labor History Association filed the lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., seeking to preserve about 15 miles of mountain ridges along the Boone-Logan county border.
The National Park Service added Blair Mountain to the National Register on March 30, 2009, without objections from a majority of local property owners. (Under federal law, no site can be added to the National Register if a majority of people who own property inside the proposed site file objections.)
However, in December 2009, Carol Shull, interim keeper of the National Register, removed the site from the rolls. The Park Service had changed the original list of property owners, deciding that a small majority actually did object to placing Blair Mountain on the National Register.
Proponents of preserving the site say the new list includes some people who should not be on it. They appealed Shull's decision. She denied the appeal in July, and said state officials should re-nominate the site for the National Register.
West Virginia officials said last week they would do just that, but the groups who filed the lawsuit Thursday believe the original application should never have been denied.
"There is no need to spend time initiating a process to re-nominate Blair Mountain for the National Register, since the original listing, which took more than 13 years from start to finish, was proper the first time around," said Regina Hendrix, a member of the Sierra Club and OVEC who was involved in originally getting Blair Mountain listed on the National Register.
Hendrix believes state government plans to re-nominate Blair Mountain to the National Register "are too vague to provide any comfort."
The Battle of Blair Mountain, fought for five days in late August and early September 1921, was the largest armed confrontation in U.S. labor history.
At least 7,500 coal miners marched south from Marmet, trying to bring non-union Logan County miners into the United Mine Workers of America. The miners were confronted by a force of about 3,000 law enforcement officers, many of whom worked for coal companies.
The National Trust for Historic Preservation, which appealed Shull's decision to remove the Blair Mountain site, supported the filing of Thursday's lawsuit.
"We strongly support the lawsuit because we believe that de-listing Blair Mountain was a mistake that violates federal law," said Robert Nieweg, director of the trust's Southern Field Office. "The decision to remove Blair Mountain from the National Register has gravely endangered this important site."
Shull was named as a defendant in the lawsuit, along with U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar and Jon Jarvis, director of the National Park Service. The lawsuit was filed by Washington, D.C., lawyer Andrea C. Ferster and Sierra Club lawyer Aaron Isherwood.
Reach Paul J. Nyden at pjny...@wvgazette.com or 304-348-5164.