By Esteban Fernandez
For Times West Virginian
Fairmont — Coal miners are returning to work after American Consolidated Natural Resources had to temporarily close them to sort out soil permit issues with the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection.
“Evidently the DEP, I’m just guessing they must have shut them down for just till they got something fixed or something like that,” Del. Guy Ward, R-74, said. “I did get this from the miners union. They said that they’re going back to work this afternoon. Some of them are, and the rest of them will start or be full shift starting at midnight. So they’re going back to work. That’s good news.”
The mine idling came up during a budget press conference Gov. Patrick Morrisey held on Tuesday. Morrisey said Concol is dealing with permit issues around its soil conservation district.
“I won’t go into all those details now, but the moment that was brought to our attention, we leapt into action,” Morrisey said. “And we’ve been working with the Department of Environmental Protection, working with the company. We can’t afford to see those people out of work. And so that’s been my motivation.”
Morrisey said some coal miners returned to work on Tuesday with more heading back into the mines on Wednesday.
Ward said the Northern Panhandle Conservation and Development Council was responsible for the mines being idled. The council is a partnership between local, state and federal agencies and organizations that are focused on land conservation and management, water management and conservation of natural resources.
There was a degree of uncertainty for the coal mining community after Consol idled its mines in Marion and Harrison counties on Monday.
“It’s unfortunate, because we really don’t have much information other than they were idled yesterday, idle today and after today, they said it was going to be on a day by day basis,” Erin Bates, United Mine Workers of America director of communications, said. “We don’t know what the reason is and we really don’t have much detail other than hoping tomorrow they’re up.”
Consol did not return a request for comment by press time. A different person within the UMWA said the mine was back up and running on Tuesday, but that the UMWA wanted to steer clear of issue.
The topic was also a subject of discussion at the State Capitol, Ward said, with legislators left wondering about the cause of the mine idling. The closure of seven mining operations in the southern part of the state have also been on Ward’s mind.
“Now, there were some mines closed down in the southern part of the state too, which is kind of unsettling, but now this, and the House talking to some of the union people, and they’re kind of confused, too,” Ward said.
Bates said some 700 employees in the region were affected by the mine idling. She said the situation has been nerve wracking for the workers and the union hopes this issue can be resolved sooner rather than later.
Ward reiterated how mining is big industry for West Virginia.
“Trump just came out the other day and signed some kind of agreement with the military buying coal, and now we’re buying energy made from coal, I think it was, and now, all of a sudden, our mines are shutting down,” he said. “That’s not good.”
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