Flooding below a Blackjewel coal mine wrecks this community’s road and water, again

For the 10th time in six years, work crews in Harlan County found themselves repairing damage this week to Camp Creek Road and a water line that runs alongside it in the community of Wallins Creek, where it rained more than three inches in a 24 hour span Sunday.

The recurring floods, according to county officials and nearby residents, are worsened by chronic environmental violations at a surface coal mine that sits above the community and is slated for abandonment by a bankrupt coal company within months.

Year after year, the Foresters No. 25 mine, owned by Blackjewel, has been cited for environmental violations, which include problems with backfill and grading, impoundments and sedimentation ponds. When it rains, water from the mine roars down the mountainside, taking rocks, branches and trash with it.

In August, after another flood required the county to spend about $40,000 on repairs and installing a bridge, Judge-Executive Dan Mosley sent an email complaining about Blackjewel’s failure to reclaim its mine to Kevin Hembree, the assistant director of the state Energy and Environment Cabinet’s Division of Mine Reclamation and Enforcement.

“Failure to reclaim this property has caused Harlan County Fiscal Court repetitive damage to our road that we maintain for the citizens that live on this road,” he wrote.

The cabinet told Bankruptcy Court Judge Benjamin A. Kahn the “debtors’ failure to abate violations in accordance with the conditions of their permits is the type of violation that could lead to the ‘imminent harm to public health and safety,’” according to a court filing.

Kahn agreed, saying Blackjewel had caused imminent harm to the public’s health and safety, and ordered the company to abate the violations.

According to the cabinet, Blackjewel fixed the problem, but seven months later, more violations continue to impact 28 families that live along Camp Creek Road, and about 400 Black Mountain Utility District customers who lose water service.

“It’s a repetitive occurrence that our road department crews are having to come here to clean up mud, debris, replace tiles to where people can get from one side of the creek to the other to be able to get to services that we all depend on every single day,” Mosley said.

He estimates the county has spent $100,000 to repair the damage over six years.

Patchin Tidwell lives closest to the Foresters No. 25 mine. The creek runs under his driveway. During the floods, the tiles and rocks on his road wash out, preventing him from leaving his property. During Sunday’s flood, he didn’t have drinking water for almost two days and couldn’t access his road until Monday.

Tidwell lives with his 82-year-old mother who has COPD. He said if she had a health emergency when his driveway was washed out, she wouldn’t have a chance.

“It’s aggravating, and it’s scary that mom can’t get out,” he said.

Mosley said fortunately no one has been injured or killed.

“I am concerned for their safety,” Mosley said. “I have been concerned. They have dealt with it for so long. They have kind of adjusted their lifestyle to what they’re going to have to deal with. It isn’t fair that they can’t drive today. It’s not fair they have to lose drinking water every time it comes a heavy rain.”

He said the people of Camp Creek are the victims of Blackjewel’s negligence.

Representatives of Blackjewel did not respond to requests for comment.

The fate of this Blackjewel mine is unknown. Earlier this month, Kahn approved Blackjewel’s bankruptcy plan, which allowed the company to transfer about 170 mine permits to buyers and leave 33 permits in limbo as they attempt to find a buyer. If none is found, the company plans to abandon them in six months.

Forester No. 25 does not have a buyer.

The permit has a reclamation bond of $5.6 million, although the state estimates it will only cost about $600,000 to reclaim the permit, according to state data. The Foresters No. 25 mine has 36 pending environmental violations.

Mosley said it is time for the cabinet to seize the bond and reclaim the permit.

He said the county has multiple coal companies that do a fine job reclaiming their permits. The Foresters No. 25 permit is the only place in the county that continues to have issues, he said.

According to the Energy and Environment Cabinet, a Division of Mine Reclamation and Enforcement inspector visited the site on Monday morning and issued additional citations. The mine already has an Imminent Danger Cessation Order against it.

The cabinet said the bonding company, Indemnity National Insurance Company, has secured a contractor, and abatement activities are expected to begin immediately.

Blackjewel is a bad company that gives the coal mining industry a black eye, Mosley said.

“This particular company and its executives have caused more harm to coal mining than what has ever been caused and now their lack of attention to what they are required by law to fix back,” Mosley said. “It’s harming everyone who lives on this fork. It’s unacceptable.”

Mosley said Blackjewel has a history of not doing what they are told to, like paying their miners and reclaiming their permits.

Stephen Lerner, an attorney representing Blackjewel, told the court in March the 33 permits with no buyer didn’t represent an immediate threat to the health or safety of the communities near them. Attorneys said if there was an immediate threat, they would fix the violations.

This story was originally published April 2, 2021 at 2:50 PM.