Official Denied Mining Permits, Got Fired

[PVnRT]

Source: Lexington Herald-Leader

The former head of Kentucky's mine permit division, who was fired last week by Gov. Steve Beshear, said Tuesday he had been trying to block what he called illegal mining permit practices.

Ron Mills said he refused to issue about a half-dozen mine permits requested over the past year, chiefly by the politically connected Alliance Resource Partners of Tulsa, Okla., because they did not comply with federal and state mining law.

Coal companies are required to provide documentation showing they have a legal right to enter and disturb all of the areas they will mine, Mills said. Instead, the Beshear administration issued permits to coal companies that demonstrate the right to enter and mine as little as two-thirds of the land in question, he said.

"I refused to sign those applications," Mills said. "I thought they were illegal. There was no support for them under the law."

Read more: http://www.kentucky.com/latest_news/story/1024449.html

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Troubling, but not altogether surprising anymore in this state.

[Omaha Steve]

1. K&R!

[tomm2thumbs]

2. corruption in Afghanistan you say? Oh really... /nt

[Altoid_Cyclist]

3. It's not as if the environment gets harmed because of the mining.

I mean just look at how pretty this part of PA is after the coal companies "reclamation projects" are completed.








More pictures here plus a lot of useful information:

http://www.amrclearinghouse.org/

[hatrack]

4. And I hear they're building a Clean Coal plant there sometime in . . . . 2075 or so . . .

:eyes:

[Altoid_Cyclist]

5. Well, at least they're putting up a lot of wind farms now.

John Murtha even got a Spanish company to open a manufacturing plant in his district.

http://www.tribune-democrat.com/siteSearch/apstorysection/local_story_164001418.html

http://epod.usra.edu/blog/2009/10/wind-farm-in-meyersdale-pennsylvania.html

[PVnRT]

9. Look at how mountaintop removal improves the landscape!

:sarcasm:

[hatrack]

11. Wow! Can I buy mountaintop-removed land? I can see the condos now . . . .

"Ashpit Acres"

"The Collieries"

"Pavilions Of Dirt"

"Mordor Estates"

[Altoid_Cyclist]

13. I just can't believe that this is almost 2010.

No words can truly do justice to the hideous practice of MTR.

Pictures are a little better at getting the point across, but this BS has to be stopped while WV & Kentucky still have SOME mountains left intact.

[PVnRT]

14. I was in Huntington last weekend and saw this on a bulletin board at Marshall:

"WEST VIRGINIA: Almost flat!"

[Altoid_Cyclist]

16. I wonder what John Denver would think if he was still around.

WVU will have to change their name to the No-Mountaineers.

[hootinholler]

21. or the flat-Stanley Mountaineers n/t

[Altoid_Cyclist]

22. That will work too.

I still can't believe that this was/is allowed to happen.

http://www.ilovemountains.org/myconnection/

[dmr]

19. Absolutely heartbreaking.

:cry:

[pscot]

6. K&R

Crony capitalism. It's as Amerikan as apple pie.

[bertman]

7. Any chance this will get any traction toward holding the Governor accountable for

encouraging law-breaking? This shit will not stop until the guilty parties suffer the negative consequences of breaking the law--not the positive consequences such as huge political contributions from the Alliance Resource Partners.

Seems to me that firing a state employee for doing his job correctly would be an illegal act.

Rec.

[PVnRT]

8. Who knows

It seems every politician in this state is in bed with the coal industry.

[bertman]

20. Sorry to hear that, PVnRT. Does that include Dems and Republicans?

[era veteran]

10. RICO should be based in Frankfort

All political parties in KY corrupt. All levels of government corrupt. King coal will spend the money for their right to permanently ruin the land. When they steal enough they become Boca Raton Kentuckians. Lots of rotten Democrats here but Repubs worse. Sorry about inflicting Mitchie Mcconnell on you America.

[ensho]

12. apparently the coal Barons have stuffed Beshear's pockets

Beshear is BAD for W. Va. and should be voted out of office.

Ron needs someone guarding his back.

[PVnRT]

15. Beshear is Kentucky, not WV

Other than that, yeah, except that the Republican who replaces him would be even worse. No real good choices here.

[damntexdem]

17. Kentuckistan out of control.

We must invade! ;-)

Hmm, such blatant corruption, and outright ecological terrorism, in the US just doesn't seem to get the same attention as it does elsewehre.

[era veteran]

18. Ketuckistan LOL

Beware our tribal regions