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In West Virginia, mining companies are literally moving mountains to uncover valuable, low sulfur coal reserves.
Mountaintop removal has become the dominant form of surface mining in the state. Coal operators are blasting off hilltops, and dumping leftover rock and dirt into nearby valleys.
An untold amount of the state has been flattened, and hundreds of miles of streams have been buried. Find out more in this Special Report.
July 13, 2008
Hobet given nearly two more years to end violations
CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Hobet Mining Inc. will pay a nearly $1.5 million fine to resolve a lawsuit ...
June 13, 2008
The Manchin administration must revisit two dozen orders that gave coal operators three addition ...
June 1, 2008
A federal judge has for the first time ordered a West Virginia coal operator to stop discharging ...
July 1, 2008
Arguments in the latest mountaintop removal court appeal have been scheduled for late September. ...
April 29, 2008
The Bush administration and the coal industry will have to wait another four months to argue their a ...
April 27, 2008
Selenium pollution from one of West Virginia's largest mountaintop removal mines is dangerou ...
December 7, 2007
Gov. Joe Manchin has joined with Massey Energy and the rest of the coal industry to fight two federa ...
October 12, 2007
Ruling might cost 39 miners their jobs at Castillo
A federal judge on Thursday blocked a coal operator from starting a new valley fill at a mountaintop ...
October 5, 2007
Coalfield residents on Wednesday night blasted a Bush administration plan to remove a key rule that ...
September 27, 2007
HUNTINGTON — Maria Gunnoe has lived most of her life at her family homeplace, at the mouth of Big Br ...
August 22, 2007
Coal operators continue to bury hundreds of miles of Appalachian streams, according to a new federal ...
July 29, 2007
Rep. Nick J. Rahall, D-W.Va., plans to review in more detail citizen complaints about lax enforcemen ...
July 26, 2007
Hearing held ahead of 30th anniversary of surface mine act on Aug. 3
A 30-year-old federal strip mine law has not stopped coal operators from blowing up mountains, displ ...
July 22, 2007
As the federal Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act turns 30 next week, major questions remain ...
June 14, 2007
Judge deals second blow to coal industry
Coal operators cannot evade the Clean Water Act by building sediment-treatment ponds just downstream ...
May 27, 2007
Two weeks ago, environmental activists Cindy Rank and Vivian Stockman took a drive through the Logan ...
April 6, 2007
HUNTINGTON — More mining permits will probably land in front of a federal judge, as lawyers for the ...
March 27, 2007
Federal regulators and coal industry officials began Monday to try to sort out the latest federal co ...
March 24, 2007
U.S. judge cites ‘alarming cumulative stream loss’ in decision
A federal judge blocked permits for four mountaintop removal mines late Friday, in a major ruling th ...
March 7, 2007
A fund meant to clean up abandoned coal mines could face a financial crisis within five years, accor ...
February 19, 2007
State regulators have not kept track of whether coal operators complied with permit requirements tha ...
January 30, 2007
Federal regulators have given final approval to the largest mountaintop removal-mining permit in Wes ...
October 17, 2006
A federal judge won't rule in the latest mountaintop removal case until lawyers for both sides have ...
October 5, 2006
GEORGIA ECOLOGIST TESTIFIES IN 2ND DAY OF TRIAL OVER RESTRICTING
HUNTINGTON - Coal operators are destroying a vital piece of Appalachia's ecology when they bury smal ...
October 4, 2006
LAWSUIT TARGETS CORPS OF ENGINEERS' MOUNTAINTOP REMOVAL PERMIT PROCESS
HUNTINGTON - Mountaintop removal mining is burying large parts of coalfield streams and increasing t ...
October 3, 2006
A federal judge this week will hear legal arguments and scientific testimony in the latest legal att ...
June 15, 2006
HUNTINGTON — A federal judge on Wednesday canceled a trial scheduled for next week in the latest leg ...
June 9, 2006
Federal regulators have suspended four mountaintop removal mining permits, saying they need to furth ...
April 3, 2006
From the headwaters of Cabin Creek to the town of Decota, coal operators have already stripped or ar ...
March 26, 2006
The latest courtroom battle to curb mountaintop removal coal mining is starting to heat up.
March 19, 2006
A lawsuit over mountaintop removal coal mining is headed back to U.S. District Judge Joseph R. Goodw ...
February 16, 2006
A federal appeals court on Wednesday declined to reconsider its decision to overturn a ruling that w ...
February 2, 2006
West Virginia environmentalists on Wednesday sought a new federal court order to block three mountai ...
November 24, 2005
Federal appeals court reinstates removal process
RICHMOND, Va. - A federal appeals court on Wednesday reinstated streamlined permitting for mountaint ...
October 30, 2005
Federal regulators abandoned plans for more detailed studies of ways to limit mountaintop removal be ...
October 29, 2005
Bush administration issues final environmental study
Federal regulators Friday released the final version of a landmark study of mountaintop removal, pav ...
September 25, 2005
RICHMOND, Va. - Early last Monday morning, a clerk at the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals posted t ...
September 23, 2005
Aracoma Coal Co. wants to mine 12.5 million tons of coal from the hills around historic Blair Mounta ...
September 20, 2005
RICHMOND, Va. - Federal appeals judges on Monday offered mixed reviews of the latest court decision ...
September 18, 2005
Does mountaintop removal coal mining cause only minimal damage to West Virginia’s hills, forests and ...
September 10, 2005
The state Surface Mine Board on Friday postponed next week’s scheduled hearing in a case over a cont ...
August 27, 2005
State never tested school for coal dust, chemicals
More than 200 students returned Friday for their first day of classes at Marsh Fork Elementary Schoo ...
August 9, 2005
State regulators may have taken the wrong enforcement action to stop construction of one of two Mass ...
July 31, 2005
West Virginia’s rule to block new strip mining operations near schools, churches and homes is weaker ...
July 29, 2005
Massey Energy will appeal an order that blocked construction of one of two coal storage silos near a ...
July 27, 2005
DEP says silo is out of permit area, orders removal
State regulators on Tuesday revoked a permit for one of two Massey Energy coal storage silos next to ...
July 25, 2005
Federal officials plan to investigate how West Virginia regulators review coal company proposals for ...
July 21, 2005
President Bush’s nominee to the U.S. Supreme Court helped the coal industry overturn a 1999 federal ...
July 21, 2005
Gov. Joe Manchin on Wednesday defended his administration’s handling of the controversy over two new ...
July 20, 2005
Location of silo near elementary school is at center of controversy
SUNDIAL — About 50 protesters marched past a Massey Energy operation Tuesday, demanding that the com ...
July 19, 2005
‘Tear it down’ is battle cry on Marsh Fork coal silo, residents say
Environmental activists and coalfield residents on Monday announced three days of marches to protest ...
July 17, 2005
Complaints of proximity to school ignored, boundary advances overlooked, Raleigh residents say
Permit files for Massey Energy’s Goals Coal preparation plant contain dozens of detailed topographic ...
July 16, 2005
Maps show facility outside site’s original permit area
State regulators on Friday suspended a permit for a new Massey Energy coal silo near a Raleigh Count ...
July 13, 2005
Massey began construction on coal silo before approval
State regulators allowed Massey Energy to start building a new coal silo more than two months before ...
July 8, 2005
Gov. Joe Manchin's chief of staff and the governor's in-house lawyer got an earful Thursday from Ral ...
July 6, 2005
Governor will explore moving of Marsh Fork school
A Raleigh County man ended his sit-in at the Capitol on Tuesday after Gov. Joe Manchin agreed to try ...
July 1, 2005
Manchin had promised to hear complaints
Last week, Judy Bonds, Bo Webb and other Coal River residents met privately with Gov. Joe Manchin. T ...
June 17, 2005
Bush administration officials announced Thursday that they will conduct a detailed environmental stu ...
March 28, 2005
Environmental activists from around the country are being urged to descend on Appalachia this summer ...
March 22, 2005
A federal judge overstepped his authority when he blocked the streamlined permitting of new mountain ...
March 15, 2005
Environmental group lawyers are wasting no time in seeking a ruling in a lawsuit aimed at curbing mo ...
February 11, 2005
The Bush administration on Thursday announced a plan to allow states to streamline the way coal oper ...
January 28, 2005
Three environmental groups filed suit Thursday to expand new restrictions on mountaintop removal per ...
December 17, 2004
A Charleston man is trying to alert his neighbors about the problems he believes will be caused by a ...
December 10, 2004
A federal judge has declined to hold the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in contempt of a ruling meant ...
December 5, 2004
A federal judge has been asked to step in and order proper enforcement of his own ruling to block th ...
December 3, 2004
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is allowing coal operators to begin new valley fills under a stream ...
September 14, 2004
The state Surface Mine Board has dealt environmentalists a setback in one of their legal efforts to ...
September 3, 2004
WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS — The Bush administration moved Thursday to appeal the latest in a series of f ...
September 1, 2004
U.S. District Judge Joseph R. Goodwin on Tuesday declined to clarify his July ruling on mountaintop ...
August 28, 2004
Sen. Robert C. Byrd, D-W.Va., and United Mine Workers President Cecil Roberts rushed Friday to defen ...
August 26, 2004
An operator of a Virginia strip mine did not have a permit for the road construction that caused a b ...
August 25, 2004
A federal judge should clarify his mountaintop removal ruling to stop coal operators from illegally ...
August 24, 2004
Federal strip mine regulators have no immediate plans to investigate the death last week of a Virgin ...
August 14, 2004
A federal judge on Friday expanded his July 8 ruling that blocked the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers f ...
August 9, 2004
Permit suspension was aimed at mine sites not yet started
A battle is brewing among environmental groups, the coal industry and regulators over enforcement of ...
July 18, 2004
Environmentalists are praising a new federal court ruling that could greatly reform the permitting o ...
July 15, 2004
Presidential challenger John Kerry should campaign against the Bush administration’s efforts to weak ...
July 14, 2004
West Virginians oppose mountaintop removal mining and Bush administration efforts to weaken restrict ...
July 9, 2004
Environmentalists see big win in fight against mountaintop removal
Coal companies must undergo a more rigorous government review of the effects of mountaintop removal ...
June 4, 2004
White House monitoring valley fill lawsuit, official says
President Bush’s top environmental adviser on Thursday toured a Boone County mountaintop removal min ...
May 30, 2004
Virginia scientist helped write tough W.Va. strip mining rules
In late 1999, state regulators, environmentalists and coal operators sat down to write new rules the ...
May 8, 2004
The state Supreme Court ruled Friday that a Lincoln County family was wrongly forced to sell its hom ...
April 11, 2004
Enviro-lawyers seek scrutiny of permits
Wayne Sears has lived on his 115 acres along Hominy Creek for more than 18 years. He and his neighbo ...
April 6, 2004
Full hearing scheduled for stream fill
A federal judge on Monday temporarily blocked a permit for a new Massey Energy Inc. preparation plan ...
March 31, 2004
Janet Fout thought strip mine regulators should hear the sounds of frogs and birds whose homes could ...
January 21, 2004
‘No wiggle room’ in mining limits
Lawyers for the West Virginia Highlands Conservancy on Tuesday renewed their fight to use a stream b ...
January 20, 2004
Federal government biologists have found troubling amounts of the toxic chemical selenium in fish do ...
January 8, 2004
Appalachian streams would lose the protections of a mining buffer zone rule under a regulatory chang ...
November 4, 2003
West Virginia coal operators continue to strip mine more acres than they reclaim, according to a fed ...
October 24, 2003
Lawyers for three environmental groups on Thursday kicked off a major new legal effort to try to lim ...
October 19, 2003
Lawmakers try to put cleanup in energy bill
Coalfield lawmakers were negotiating this weekend to try to insert language to extend the federal ab ...
October 12, 2003
Most damage claims paid by insurance
When West Virginia regulators sued Massey Energy for a huge slurry spill in Martin County, Ky., thei ...
September 5, 2003
Nearly 275 mining operations may have buried streams without the proper Clean Water Act permits, gov ...
September 5, 2003
The Bush administration plans to offer greatly reduced penalties for coal operators who buried strea ...
August 16, 2003
The Bush administration on Friday rejected recommendations from the National Academy of Sciences for ...
August 15, 2003
Feds extend study comment period
Coal industry critics and supporters will have another four months to review a federal government st ...
August 3, 2003
Federal regulators have determined, in their new study on mountaintop removal, that mine blasting is ...
July 25, 2003
Environmentalists outnumber coal supporters at 2nd hearing
Coalfield residents and environmental activists Thursday blasted the recommendations of a 4 1/2-year ...
July 24, 2003
HAZARD, Ky. - Coal industry supporters turned out in force Tuesday to oppose any tougher restriction ...
June 1, 2003
Two years ago, federal regulators studying mountaintop removal mining considered limiting valley fil ...
May 29, 2003
Report will push to 'streamline' permits
More than 700 miles of Appalachian streams were buried by coal-mining valley fills between 1985 and ...
December 1, 2002
Appeal to focus on Clean Water Act's meaning
When Congress passed the Clean Water Act in 1972, lawmakers made their goals pretty clear.
November 10, 2002
DEP success story in McDowell County offers warning about reclamation fund
GARY - Charlie Miller smiled as he drove his clean, white Jeep across a broad, green plateau atop a ...
November 10, 2002
DEP success story in McDowell County offers warning about reclamation fund
GARY — Charlie Miller smiled as he drove his clean, white Jeep across a broad, green plateau atop a ...
August 15, 2002
A federal judge was wrong when he concluded that the Clean Water Act generally doesn’t allow coal op ...
June 8, 2002
A federal judge has agreed to suspend a ruling that promised to protect coalfield residents from und ...
June 7, 2002
New mountaintop removal rule ‘violates the Clean Water Act’
Senate Democrats vowed on Thursday to introduce legislation that would affirm a federal court ruling ...
May 23, 2002
Sen. Robert C. Byrd said Wednesday that he has no immediate plans to seek legislation to overturn a ...
May 20, 2002
Suspension of permitting risks jobs, coal lawyers say
Coal industry lawyers want Chief U.S. District Judge Charles H. Haden II to clarify his May 8 mounta ...
May 19, 2002
In 1972, the U.S. Senate passed major amendments to the Federal Water Pollution Control Act.
May 15, 2002
Rep. Nick Rahall, D-W.Va., said Tuesday that he agreed with much of a new federal court ruling that ...
May 14, 2002
The Bush administration said Monday that a federal court ruling to limit mountaintop removal “casts ...
May 12, 2002
Fewer coal operations might actually be helpful, study finds
As part of a broad study of mountaintop removal, federal regulators have found that limits on valley ...
May 10, 2002
Haden ruling could alter state's face
CHARLES Haden is a very brave man. The federal judge has been in this same place before. In 1999, he ...
May 10, 2002
Key players react cautiously to mountaintop removal decision
West Virginia political leaders reacted calmly and cautiously Thursday to a new federal court ruling ...
May 10, 2002
The federal Office of Surface Mining wants to halt proposed reforms that would have ensured that coa ...
May 9, 2002
Corps of Engineers' practice illegal, violates Clean Water Act, Haden rules
Coal operators can no longer bury Appalachian streams to dispose of mountaintop removal waste rock a ...
May 6, 2002
Department of the Interior is manipulating impact study, environmentalists allege
THE U.S. Department of the Interior wants to provide coal operators with "one-stop permitting" for m ...
May 5, 2002
Federal study paints ugly picture for much of state
Future mountaintop removal coal mining may eventually destroy an area of Appalachian forest the size ...
April 27, 2002
Toilets, junk cars could go into fills
A U.S. Senate committee plans to hold hearings on the Bush administration's plan to rewrite federal ...
April 26, 2002
Cars, toilets could be dumped into streams
Bush administration officials have broadened the changes to an important stream-filling rule in resp ...
April 7, 2002
In June 2000, federal regulators proposed to rewrite a key water pollution rule to legalize mountain ...
March 20, 2002
Chief U.S. District Judge Charles H. Haden II on Tuesday again gave federal regulators more time to ...
February 26, 2002
The Bush administration plans to finish rewriting federal regulations governing mountaintop removal ...
February 17, 2002
In 1977, the Army Corps of Engineers wrote rules to define the "fill material" that could be dumped ...
February 8, 2002
Environmental group lawyers on Thursday moved forward with their request to have a judge block the A ...
January 23, 2002
Justices won’t hear mountaintop removal case
The U.S. Supreme Court declined Tuesday to weigh in on the legal battle over mountaintop removal coa ...
October 19, 2001
During a visit to Charleston on Thursday, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. harshly criticized mountaintop remov ...
October 12, 2001
Coalfield residents and environmentalists on Thursday asked the U.S. Supreme Court to revive a lawsu ...
October 3, 2001
Federal government lawyers on Tuesday asked the U.S. Supreme Court for more time to consider filing ...
August 15, 2001
Mountaintop removal coal mining may damage stream habitat, harming insects and the fish that feed on ...
August 12, 2001
Inadequate mine bonds leave abandoned lands, polluted water
ANJEAN - Roger Green walked to the edge of a bright orange pond and pointed at a small rubber hose. ...
April 29, 2001
Proposed Logan operation would be W.Va. record
April 26, 2001
Both pleased that mountaintop mine ruling overturned
April 25, 2001
State's sovereign immunity barred Haden from hearing lawsuit, appeals panel says
December 8, 2000
Mountaintop removal isn't feds' concern, DEP says
December 5, 2000
Case could be sent back for Haden to decide
December 3, 2000
Iimpact of decision on coal is still unlcear
On Oct. 20, 1999, Chief U.S. District Judge Charles H. Haden II signed a 49-page court order to limi ...
October 21, 1999
Landmark ruling prohibits mountaintop coal operators from burying state streams
Mountaintop removal coal operators cannot bury streams under millions of tons of waste rock and eart ...
August 17, 1999
A federal court lawsuit settlement won't make the mountaintop removal issue go away, lawyers for ...
August 8, 1999
Lawyers for citizens groups, state regulators and the coal industry on Friday asked a federal judge ...
July 31, 1999
Reports of settlement in mountaintop suit exaggerated, he says
Reports of a settlement in the mountaintop removal mining case have been greatly exaggerated, a fed ...
July 28, 1999
Leaders of the West Virginia Highlands Conservancy declared victory Tuesday with the partial settlem ...
July 28, 1999
On Friday, a federal judge will quiz lawyers for the coal industry, the state and citizens groups ab ...
July 27, 1999
An hour after the federal courthouse closed Monday evening, lawyers for state regulators and coalfie ...
July 24, 1999
Another week has passed without a settlement being reached in a federal court case over mountaintop ...
July 23, 1999
A ban on mountaintop removal mining with large valley fills would reduce West Virginia's annual ...
July 22, 1999
Shutdown to put 210 out of work
More than 200 Arch Coal Inc. employees who hoped to work at the largest mountaintop removal mine in ...
July 17, 1999
A week after a federal judge delayed trial in a case over mountaintop removal mining, a settlement o ...
July 13, 1999
In settlement, special panel would conduct a periodic review
A special committee will be appointed to periodically review mining permits under the proposed settl ...
July 11, 1999
Buffer-zone rule will go to judge, lawyers say
A year ago Friday, a group of environmentalists and coalfield residents went to court to try to curb ...
July 10, 1999
Arch Coal won't pursue blanket permit for Blair mountaintop removal site
A federal judge said Friday he will delay a trial in a case over mountaintop removal mining to give ...
July 9, 1999
The United Mine Workers made a last-ditch effort Thursday to save the jobs of 400 union miners who w ...
July 8, 1999
Arch Coal Inc. has quietly come up with a plan that might reduce the amount of streams buried by the ...
July 7, 1999
Lawyers for Arch Coal Inc. won't get to quiz federal regulators about their decision to withdraw ...
July 4, 1999
On June 24, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers withdrew its blanket approval of Arch Coal Inc.'s p ...
July 3, 1999
Sen. Robert C. Byrd and other members of West Virginia's congressional delegation said Friday th ...
July 2, 1999
They need more time, all parties say
State regulators, environmentalists and coal operators have made a "breakthrough" in negot ...
June 29, 1999
Lawyers for coalfield residents asked a federal judge on Monday to delay a July 13 trial in a landma ...
June 26, 1999
Arch challenges agency's authority to withdraw blanket permit approval
Lawyers for environmentalists and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers asked a federal judge on Friday t ...
June 25, 1999
'New material facts' send federal agency in opposite direction
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on Thursday withdrew its proposed approval of the largest mountaint ...
June 24, 1999
A state Division of Environmental Protection lawyer on Wednesday demanded that federal regulators ex ...
June 23, 1999
Citing new information that could affect the case's outcome, lawyers for the U.S. Army Corps of ...
June 20, 1999
Every year, the state Division of Environmental Protection fines coal operators an average of $5.2 m ...
June 19, 1999
Coal operators back out of some key parts
As a federal judge moved a mountaintop removal lawsuit closer to trial, negotiations toward a possib ...
June 18, 1999
A federal judge on Thursday approved a partial settlement of a lawsuit over mountaintop removal, pav ...
June 15, 1999
Private lawyers hired to defend the state's regulation of mountaintop removal have billed taxpay ...
June 14, 1999
Mountaintop removal critics have sued the U.S. Office of Surface Mining, arguing that the agency has ...
June 14, 1999
Federal mining engineers have reviewed six more pending state mountaintop removal permits and found ...
June 13, 1999
A committee of industry lobbyists and citizens will help write regulations to implement West Virgini ...
June 13, 1999
Former Division of Environmental Protection Director Eli McCoy has been hired as an expert witness t ...
May 30, 1999
By now, Arch Coal Inc. hoped an expansion of its Dal-Tex mountaintop removal mine in Logan County w ...
May 30, 1999
State doesn't have reclamation money
A month ago, Royal Scot Minerals Inc. abandoned its coal mine near Anjean in Greenbrier County. The ...
May 27, 1999