Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, February 25, 1993 TAG: 9302250104
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DOUGLAS PARDUE and GREG EDWARDS STAFF WRITERS
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
STATE SEEKS MINING BAN ON COMPANY
New evidence uncovered since a December explosion that killed eight men at a Wise County coal mine has prompted the state to renew efforts to ban the company from mining.In a letter last week, the Division of Mined Land Reclamation told Jack Davis, president of Southmountain Coal Co., that evidence indicates his company's permit should be revoked or suspended because one of the company owners or operators has not paid for earlier violations of mine reclamation laws.
Davis was given 15 days to respond or request a hearing.
The company successfully escaped revocation of its permits following a hearing at the division's Big Stone Gap office more than a year ago.
In December 1991, hearing officer John Lamie ruled that the state didn't have enough evidence to prove that W. Ridley Elkins of Clintwood owned or controlled the Southmountain mine.
Federal and state law forbid a company from obtaining a mine license if ownership or control is held by someone who has outstanding environmental violations. Elkins is tied to companies that have $144,600 in unpaid civil penalties and unresolved violations of reclamation law.
State Corporation Commission records once listed Elkins as Southmountain's general manager, and a mine license application identified him as the mine's operator. But Elkins and Davis convinced Lamie that Elkins' only role at the mine was that of a $240,000-a-year consultant.
Now, however, the investigation by state and federal safety officials of the Dec. 7 explosion at the Southmountain Coal Co. No. 3 mine may strengthen the reclamation division's case.
Mike Abbott, a spokesman for the state Department of Mines, Minerals and Energy, said the new effort to strip Southmountain of its mining permits is based on new evidence showing that Elkins actually is an owner or operator of the mine.
Abbott said that evidence came out of lengthy interviews last month with employees and officials of mine No. 3. The interviews were conducted as part of an investigation into the explosion.
In those interviews many of the miners and officials said that although Elkins called himself a consultant, he was the person who made the major decisions and hired employees. Employees testified under oath that Elkins was the person giving orders at the mine and that he signed their paychecks.
Abbott said the state believes the testimony shows that Elkins was concealing his actual position of "ownership or control."
He said that if the state succeeds in its effort to revoke the mining permits, Elkins could be banned from ownership or control of mines in Virginia or any other state. Neither Davis nor Southmountain Vice President Robert Kyle would comment on the state's efforts to revoke the company's license. Elkins could not be reached for comment.
Records of the State Corporation Commission for 1990 and 1991 and a 1990 legal identity report filed with the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration had listed Elkins as general manager of Southmountain Coal Co. Elkins also had signed an application for a state license for the mine as the mine's operator.
It was because of this and other evidence that in May 1991, the state reclamation agency ordered Southmountain to show why three permits it held to conduct surface-mining operations should not be revoked.
Although the company mined coal underground, it couldn't operate without the permits for the surface area of the mine outside its entrance.
Keywords:
FATALITY