CHARLESTON, W.Va. -– West Virginia environmental regulators are ordering a company to stop mining permanently at a surface coal mine near Kanawha State Forest.
Keystone Industries LLC signed the consent order with the Department of Environmental Protection last month to permanently halt Kanawha County mining operations near Marmet.
The Kanawha Forest Coalition, which has fought the Keystone Development No. 2 mountaintop removal mine for more than two years, will hold a press conference at 11 a.m. Tuesday at the Capitol.
DEP spokeswoman Kelley Gillenwater says Keystone requested the agreement to address multiple patterns of violations.
The company previously faced cessation orders and violations that halted mining, but left a possibility for mining to resume. Gillenwater says the site hasn’t been mined for a year or longer.
Keystone must backfill and regrade the permitted area within nine months.
This article has been corrected to indicate an event will be held on Tuesday, not Monday, at the Capitol.